Well, the season has begun, and I have bested the forces of darkness yet again. Yes, John C. took a nosedive yesterday, as his team was left panting on the sidelines after a thorough drubbing by yours truly.
As large sweaty men pummel each other on the gridiron each Sunday, yet another of my neuroses surfaces. The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy is being battered to pieces by the aforementioned helmeted warriors, a small but significant portion of which are LDS. With a few notable exceptions, most of these seem not to mind.
So, what are your thoughts on professional sports and the Sabbath, particularly on LDS athletes/coaches, etc.? Are they truly accomplishing missionary work by being the public figures that they are, or is this just an excuse for them to ignore one of the Ten Commandments in the pursuit of the almighty dollar? Am I breaking the commandment if I watch sports on Sunday? What if I just check the fantasy stats on the internet?
FYI, you have to be a member of the team in order to view the page.Former Co-Owner of the Bad Pigs
whoops…. oh well, trust me, I beat him.
I really don’t have a problem with LDS athletes competing on Sunday. It is their livelihood, and I honestly feel that if the Lord gave them sufficient athletic talent to play on Sunday (read: to make it to the NFL, NBA, etc.), they should play. That, for them, is part of the commandment to magnify your talents. While I was in Texas on my internship, I didn’t watch TV on Sunday. I was living with LDS folks, mind you, and so it was a mutually agreed-upon concept that we didn’t need to do so. However, I’m home now & among my non-LDS family, and so watching TV on Sunday is common to them, and I don’t have any great disagreement with them. I watch football with them & don’t feel guilty about it. I don’t think it is an act of disobedience of any kind. That and consumption of caffeinated beverages…those are two things I think people can get a little too Jewish about.I don’t shop on Sunday…I don’t do anything specifically advised against by the leadership of the Church (to my knowledge). I try to listen to “better” music & watch “better” things on TV than I do the other six days of the week…but I don’t put the kibosh on it completely. And I don’t think you should either…but, again, to each their own. ~~
A few comments from the prophet on Sunday sports:”Still another Sabbath I noticed long lines of people standing and waiting their turn to get into motion picture shows and others obviously on their way to the beach or canyon with picnic baskets and athletic equipment.We have become largely a world of Sabbath breakers. On the Sabbath the lakes are full of boats, the beaches are crowded, the shows have their best attendance, the golf links are dotted with players. The Sabbath is the preferred day for rodeos, conventions, family picnics; even ball games are played on the sacred day. “Business as usual” is the slogan for many, and our holy day has become a holiday. And because so many people treat the day as a holiday, numerous others cater to the wants of the fun-lovers and money-makers….To hunt and fish on the Lord’s day is not keeping it holy. To plant or cultivate or harvest crops on the Sabbath is not keeping holy the Lord’s day. To go into the canyons for picnics, to attend games or rodeos or races or shows or other amusements on that day is not to keep it in holy remembrance….When men and women are willing to work on the Sabbath to increase their wealth, they are breaking the commandments; for money taken in on the Sabbath, if the work is unnecessary, is unclean money…Sabbath-breakers, also are those people who buy commodities or entertainment on the Sabbath, thus encouraging pleasure palaces and business establishments to remain open—which they otherwise would not do. If we buy, sell, trade, or support such on the Lord’s day we are as rebellious as the children of Israel, the dire consequences of whose transgressions against this and other commandments should be a permanent warning to us all.”
Sorry, forgot to finish the citation… that last was from Pres. Spencer Kimball in 1978. President Benson also made a similar statement about sports being inappropriate Sabbath activities, back in 1971. Far as I can tell, he didn’t say “unless that’s your livelihood.”
You have an interesting argument style here, Rob. You post a discourse on how you feel like you’re doing wrong by doing such things on Sunday, and invite responses. Well, actually, you just ask whether these things are wrong – you don’t actually admit to it. (If I did this, would it be wrong?) This sort of post invites others to share their own views on it, and some will even try to support you on it. (Insert Admiral Ackbar quote here.)Then, POW!!! you come back with a direct quote from a prophet that basically lays down the law pretty clearly, which, I suppose, answers your questions originally posted. It also (in this case) answers other posters’ comments.But then the icing on the cake is your snarky last line, which seems to imply that you have a loftier position.The question is: why do you pose questions to which you already know the answers?It’s your blog – you can do whatever you want with it – but my advice would be to try to tone down the effects. You could have worded your last response a little differently and produced a much more friendly atmosphere. “So, I was doing some research and found this quote by some prophets.” –insert quote here–“Well, I guess that proves that what I was asking about, watching sports on Sunday, for example; is wrong.” (See, self-deprecation is ok.) Then you leave it at that, without attacking anyone else’s post.Dang, I’m turning into my wife! “See, what you should have said was …”I’m really trying to be constructive here.