If you asked the average person what the Day of Atonement was they would not even know. Most Christians today would look at this day as bondage. In the Orthodox Jewish community this is the most holy day of the all the holy days. This is the day that God reconciles all man back to Him. The core of the Old Testament is where man was kicked out of the Garden of Eden and began to have to learn how to be brought back to God. This day shows how God does not just cover your sins but they are totally blotted out. Why do we as members of God’s Church keep this day?

Gary Petty

Beyond Today Presenter, United Church of God Pastor

Gary Petty is a 1978 graduate of Ambassador College with a BS in mass communications. He worked for six years in radio in Pennsylvania and Texas. He was ordained a minister in 1984 and has served congregations in Longview and Houston Texas; Rockford, Illinois; Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin; and San Antonio, Austin and Waco, Texas. He presently pastors United Church of God congregations in Nashville, Murfreesboro and Jackson, Tennessee.