Why the Christian day of worship was changed from Saturday to Sunday

As we see in our Calendar, the week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday, and according to the Bible, God rested on the seventh day, so why do Christians rest and worship on Sunday? It might be of interest to note, that this was not always the way. Sunday is not, in fact, the traditional day of rest for Christians, that day was Saturday. If we believe God rested on the seventh day, that day was clearly Saturday, however several hundred years ago a change was made, making the new day of worship to be Sunday.

Sunday, the first day of the week, was the day of worship observed by early Pagans. They worshiped Mithra, who, interestingly enough, happened to be the Sun-God. Sunday? See the reference here?  It was not the original day of worship for Christians. 

Early Christians observed Saturday as their day of rest under The Laws of Moses. However Jews also worshiped on this day. It is believed that since the Roman governments of the time occasionally persecuted Jews, that the early Christians, around the 4th century, and especially under the guidance of Emperor Constantine, changed their day of worship to the Sunday.

In 321 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine declared Sunday as the official day of rest in the Roman Empire. It is important to note that although he did convert to Christianity later, he was still a Pagan Sun worshiper at the time, and Sunday had always been his day of worship. He even wrote a law that all work shall cease on this day. He was gracious enough to remember our friend the farmer, and allowed those who work in agriculture to continue to work on that day.

It is notable that historians cannot agree whether Constantine fully did come to accept Christianity or merely went through the motions. Clearly if he did convert it was after the age of forty. Interestingly enough he never did outlaw Paganism.

Other theories abound as to why the day was changed. Of course one belief is that because Paganism was so popular and hard to turn people against, that by allowing the two religions (Christianity and Mithraism) to mix, the early Christians were able to encourage people to join Christianity without giving up their own ways of worship. It is a well documented fact that Christianity also adopted two very popular Pagan holidays, Easter and Saturnalia (now Christmas) for the same reason.

Later, in 364 AD, the Church Council of Laodicea, an early Church in Rome, ruled “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day.”.

Many Christians will say they worship on Sunday because that is the day that Jesus came out of the tomb, however it is important to note that historically speaking this was not the reason the day of worship was changed.. Enough proof is out there that notes the day of worship being changed for different reasons, although that may have been an explanation given, or used at a later date.

Until the 12th century in Wales, and the 15th century in Norway, Saturday was the regular day for worship for many Christians.

The Bible has many passages that both support a Saturday sabbath and reference the moving of the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. In Acts there are several references to worshiping on the Sabbath, meaning Saturday. At other points references are made to suggest Sunday as being the day of worship. Of course it is important to note that many of these references are probably due to the fact the Bible was also being compiled around the time of this days of worship being changed. Much of the early editing of the Bible took place during Constantine's rule, and under his direction.

It is extremely important to note that while Christians have been taught to believe that they are to worship on Sundays based on Jesus leaving the tomb on a Sunday, this is a reference to Easter. As mentioned, Easter was a holiday of Pagan origin. Even the Easter bunny, and eggs, associated with it, come from Pagan traditions (they are fertility symbols). As you see, most Christians were given new explanations to use as to why these symbols were associated with Easter, it is no surprise they would also be given a separate explanation to why they were to change their date of worship from Saturday to Sunday.

Thoughts:

If God is so perfect, why did he/she require a day of rest?

Did Constantine trick early Christians into worshiping on a Pagan day of worship for his own reasons?

Should the Christian work week be six days long?

If the Bible was changed for this reason, and excuses given to show other reasons, what other changes to the Bible and system of belief have been changed or given new meaning?