Follow us @WheatnTweet!Never Never on a Sunday: Weekend Poll
By: wheatmeisterAugust 4, 2012
Saturday is reputedly a Special Day. But what do you think about Sunday?
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It says the maximum number of choices when I try to submit is 1…
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2
I could see myself doing any of this things.
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4
I’m the same as Bob. Should have ‘None of the above’ and ‘Other, will say in comment’ options.
I see breaking the Sabbath as anything you do in spite of God or for attention. It’s up to the individual to determine what that is.
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4
Keep the Sabbath day holy is an oft quoted and never elaborated phrase. I am trying to figure out what it even means in any context, never mind the context of the 20th century.
OT quotes tend to list forbidden activities: kindling fires, bearing burdens, servile work, buying things, and Isaiah also mentions turning away from doing your own pleasure on the Sabbath. The intent was to remembering Egyptian servitude (where there was no rest) and the covenant the Lord made to rescue Israel, and also the rest period of the Creation. (According to my understanding of the relevant scriptures, anyway.)
NT quotes tend to refer to it as a time reference or in showing how Jesus ignored the Sabbath restrictions.
Modern revelation doesn’t really add anything besides keep the Sabbath holy.
So, in a 21st century context, where there are essential services (police, medical, power, water) that can’t be interrupted, how do we reinterpret the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy? Many of us have a 2 day weekend to not do our ‘jobs’ built in to general society, remembering the Exodus is very far removed from Christian Sabbath practice, and things like don’t kindle fires or bear burdens are no longer culturally relevant.
And, we have the example of Jesus, who kicked over all the rules of what to do and not do.
I guess that what I would take away from all this is the focus on covenants (or worship) and relationships, while remembering that it is also a day of *rest*, a chance to recharge our batteries – which we often fail at spectacularly in the church.
I understand the whole concept poorly and am still struggling to incorporate it into my world view. How important is it, really? Covenants and relationships are important every single day. Do we need a special day to focus on those? Rest is important every day, and to me indicates a need for a healthy balance of work, family and self. Is a separate day needed? What are we really resting from and how do we rest from it? Abstaining? Doing recreational activities to recharge?
Sorry for the long comment, but this has been on my mind for several weeks now… :)
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8
Is going through the drive-thru the same as eating in a restaurant?
I’d do all of the above on Sunday without breaking the Sabbath.
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There are a number of things that I wouldn’t do myself (especially I’d avoid anything that requires others to be working – except in real emergency), but I wouldn’t point fingers at those who do differently either. There are also things I specifically try to do. It is between God and the individual/family ultimately.
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4
I enjoy reading the kind of working through prometheus is doing, I suppose because I work through things that way.
What did it mean for someone of a different era? What do I think God meant when he gave it to the people he gave it to? How has understanding evolved? Why do current prophets point to the Sabbath as a measure of our current societies? And what did Isaiah mean when he equated the Sabbath and the care of the poor?
For me, the Sabbath is about reflection. There are times when I have traveled and times when I would never consider it. Such is true of all the options. I am not an Israelite and I don’t count knots or steps. I do think, however, that I don’t always do a very good job of communicating to my children the purpose of the Sabbath.
Once, well over a decade ago, my oldest was on a team that would be playing a final championship softball game on a Sunday. We were not going. The coach and his wife came over to plead, because my daughter was the catcher for a very fast and powerful pitcher and they needed her. I tried to kindly say, no. In frustration the coach’s wife said, “Well, what DO you do on Sundays?”
I had no quick answer, and it ate on me for a long time. We talked a lot about the Sabbath in those days after, and we tried to incorporate good things, things that qualified as worship. I have never forgotten that. It doesn’t matter what we don’t do if we don’t do something good.
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People are making whoopie on the Sabbath?!!
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7
I tried to vote none but it wouldn’t let me.
I agree that if it weren’t for a couple pesky D&C passages and a bunch of conference talks it wouldn’t make much sense to “obey” the sabbath in the way we now do. The sabbath observence in the Old and the Gospels was pre-Christian and has little to do with the goals we have now. The New Testament passages about the switch to Sunday and exactly what they did or didn’t do on that day is limited.
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I just fixed the poll so it now allows multiple votes. I hope it’s not too late to fix the poll.
Traveling on Sunday better not be breaking the Sabbath. I’ve seen GA’s traveling on Sunday.
Multiplying and replenishing on the Sabbath seems like an acceptable (and enjoyable) activity.
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At the time I made this comment, the number 1 way of “breaking the Sabbath” was “Eating in a restaurant”, with 78% of the voters agreeing that this is wrong.
But, how about eating in one of the Church’s new City Creek restaurants that’s open on Sunday? Is that ok or is it still wrong?
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6
The only day my dad didn’t work was Sunday, so we often had picnics or ate out. When I think of Sundays, I think of my family and especially him. I will never view these things as anti-Sabbath. Let’s not start codifying things. We’ll end up like the Pharisees.
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3
For us the rule is: does the activity make you forget it is the sabbath? Swimming does for us, hiking does not.
But there are exceptions to every rule. We would avoid buying gas on sunday, more to show forethought and preparation for the sabbath, but it’s not the end of the world if circumstances dictate an exception.
That said, our sunday rules have gone out the window. Our new “church” we’ve been attending is a lovely national park nearby where we spend our sundays now. Good family time.
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Here in the South, it seems popular to go out to eat after church, even among some Mormons. People see it as renewing bonds among friends and family.
I think that Bonnie is on to something when she said, “It doesn’t matter what we don’t do if we don’t do something good.”
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It took me a while to vote, because I realized we have done all these things on Sunday at one time or another, and still consider ourselves keepers of the Sabbath. We aren’t very wealthy and so we don’t often get to travel to far away places, but our daughter got married in Florida and we took advantage of the one Sunday to go to Sacrament meeting and then see famous Cocoa Beach; naturally, we “swam”. We will likely never see the Atlantic again. We have eaten in restaurants on the Sabbath, but don’t make a habit of it. If you eliminate all serendipity from any Sabbath day, you’ll not only look like a Pharisee, you’ll also be bored and that is not what the Sabbath is for, IMHO. In general, we don’t swim, hike long distances (we do lots of nature walks, though), or eat out on the Sabbath. All the other ones are more common things we do ocassionally on the Sabbath.
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I need a “none of the above” checkbox. I was going down the list, and for all of them, if it was something that could be reasonably done on another day, I’d have checked it, but then I though of the “ox in the mire” situations that allowed exceptions. There are also exceptions for things you can do as part of meditation, family building, etc. If you do your best meditating while foating (hopefully face-up) in a pool, who am I to judge? (who am I to judge anyway?)
A while ago I decided that I needed to not play any video games on Sunday. They were getting in the way of spending time with my family and taking time from other, more productive things I could have been doing. I spent the first few weeks being bored like a teenager with “nothing to do”. I still may not fill my day with the best pursuits, but I have taken away one thing that was an obstacle for me, and it has made my Sabbaths, and the rest of the weeks, just a little better.
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Really? Someone voted marital intimacy as a violation of the Sabbath. I feel very sorry for that person’s spouse.
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4
MD, now wait a minute, if the idea is for Sunday to help us focus on important things we tend to forget about because of everything else we do during the week, then perhaps that spouse is actually very lucky. As for me, well, I thank God for Sunday!
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I agree with those who said that any one of these items could be justifiable depending on the Sunday or the circumstances. There are a few I wouldn’t pause for a second on. The only ones that I think would make me feel like that Sunday was less special (which is my marker for Sabbath observance) are any which cause others (including myself) to work unnecessarily. So, for me, swimming in my own backyard pool is not an issue. Playdates are fine. But I wouldn’t buy unnecessarily or eat in a restaurant without feeling like the day was ordinary and not special.
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Keeping the Sabbath “holy” can be either a way to “pause for the cause” by FOCUSING the day on worship and spending time with the family. Or we can get so wrapped up in heuristics about what is “allowed” and what isn’t that the “Lord’s Day” becomes a trial.
I’d say when at all possible do the shopping, housework, and “phun” stuff on the other six days. However, as it’s baseball season and the Giants are (narrowly) in first place, I have them on the DVR and usually watch the game while puttering about (often fast-forwarding during the commericals). But if other things like home teaching mean I can’t settle down to it right away, I get to it when I can. “Business” before pleasure.
About 20 years ago, this “principle” caused an interesting “dilemnna” which at the time I THOUGHT that I was solving with technology. The Cowboys and 49ers are in the NFC Title game. At the time, that WAS the “Super Bowl” (the AFC participant would usually get trounced so the game never was “super”). I record with a VCR, and resolve to not turn on the car radio nor inquire as to the score. Since our war had the afternoon block, I’d do Church and therefore put the “Lawd” first, and quietly bring the family home, have a quick dinner, and THEN turn the telly on and enjoy a time-shifted game. Well, thanks to someone nitwit who blurts at the beginning of Priesthood, “Hey, did ya know the Cowboys are ahead by 10 points?”, the whole plan was screwed up. I said a silent prayer, but knew that it wouldn’t be “answered” since the Lord wouldn’t cause Brother “Big Mouth” to struggle for breath and croak right there.
I did make a point to mention that scores of important games shouldn’t be blurted out as a Priesthood meeting announcement for the very reason that some of use do use technology to have it both ways. Let the Lord be our Judge on this one.
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Our lesson in priesthood today was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. After someone mentioned the evils of texting during church, I mentioned the poll in priesthood meeting. I also quoted prometheus’ comment #6 above. I would have quoted more comments, but it was a lively discussion already. (When quoting the poll, I did leave out the nookie option.)
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