The following guest post was submitted by a frequent commenter and past guest blogger at M*, Mike. He describes himself as “the husband of my wonderful wife, married five years, and father of two great kids. I am most proud of that. I’m a graduate of BYU in Computer Science, and currently work as a software developer in Wisconsin, where my wife grew up and where I am growing to love. My personal blog is The Horebite.
By: Mike
Last Sunday I broke the Sabbath. Yes, I confess. My wife had a severe pain in the neck (no, it wasn’t me this time), and we didn’t have any ibuprofen or icy-hot. I considered calling some friends to see if I could borrow some, but thinking of the hassle of calling around got the best of me (besides, how exactly do you borrow icy-hot), and so I decided to drive down the street to the grocery story. Yes, on Sunday.
As I drove I thought of what I would say if I saw someone else from church. The best line I came up with was, “Brother Jones, there you are. Your wife said I might find you here. I need to get your home teaching numbers for last month.” So I picked up the medicine, and her favorite candy on the way out (ok, I picked up mine also), and was glad to get out of there without being seen, as far as I know.
The thing is, I don’t feel any guilt. I stand by the decision I made to do what would help my wife feel better as quickly as possible.
Shopping on Sunday is not something most church members brag about. Strangely, though, watching TV on Sunday–such as, let’s say… a sporting event–is not so. I often hear conversations in church about games occurring later that day. But mention that the teachers quorum advisor had to run out to pick up bread for the sacrament from the nearby gas station, because someone forgot it, and what follows is awkwardness. As I drove home eating my candy bar, I wondered why this is so. Is watching TV less sinful than shopping on Sunday? Watching TV makes people work too, you know.
“If you are worshipping false gods—such as football, baseball, golf, tennis, or money or technology or automobiles or houses or gold or silver—and you can tell what a man worships by what he does on Sunday—repent and start worshipping the true and living God.”
Ouch.
But the point of my post is not to make anyone feel guilty or debate the finer points of what is acceptable Sunday behavior. Rather, I want to discuss whether the Mormon culture is contaminated with Pharisaical thinking.
Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and canise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Perhaps like the Pharisees of old, we Mormons have a list of no-nos such as shopping on Sunday, watching R-rated movies, or saying a curse word (or may I add, taking a swig of ice tea). Of course, I’m not suggesting that we should do any of those things, just as Jesus was not suggesting that the Pharisees should not pay tithing. But do we too often neglect the “weightier matters of the law” in favor of these rules? Do we spend too much time talking about how many steps we can take on the Sabbath, metaphorically speaking, and too little time
talking about following in Christ’s steps?
Thank you for this thought-provoking post.
These teachings work *so* much better on a personal level than in public discourse. Just like most any very specific gospel teaching. By bringing focus to them it’s easy to risk “looking beyond the mark” and starting a feedback loop – people who want to make these decisions arguing with people who want to bring up those decisions to public scrutiny, and back and forth. On one side, “it’s just common sense – people shouldn’t do X, Y, Z.” On the other, “I know my circumstances better than you.”
In times of personal reflection I’ve made many life-changing decisions about how I will or will not act on the sabbath, or give money to beggars, or drink caffeine, or watch R-rated or PG-13 movies, and so on. I think that’s the true teaching – we teach people correct _principles_, not edicts, and let them govern themselves.
When I teach deacons and beehives at church, I notice that about 9 of 10 come from families with at least one less-active or non-member parent. I’ve changed the way I teach these principles based on that fact alone.
Thanks for this post. I think you’ve touched on some important points.
In my opinion the church exist to help each member to fulfill their covenants. The first covenant we make is at baptism. When we’re baptized we’re commanded to receive the Holy Ghost.
Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is essential to our spiritual growth. In my opinion this is not stressed enough. I believe it is possible for a church member to be active in the church but not the gospel. This is vividly portrayed in the parable of the Ten Virgins.
Great post, Mike. I think there is a bit of Pharisaical thinking in Mormon culture when it comes to keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Having lived in Utah, I encountered a great deal of “Utah” guidelines for keeping the Sabbath day holy. Many of the people I spoke to in Utah considered it a sin to watch any television on the Sabbath. Personally, I enjoy waking up and watching the Sunday morning news shows (Meet the Press, Fox News Sunday, etc.) Could I use my DVR to record and watch these on a weekday? You bet. Of course, by Monday afternoon, its old news and seems pointless to watch it.
I’m curious to know if the Bloggernacle considers watching the “big game” sinful and a violation of the Sabbath. 🙂
Don’t worry about meeting church members at the grocery store on Sunday. After all, they’d be in the same boat you’re in, shopping on the sabbath.
I don’t think you broke the sabbath by buying medicine or anthing needed for your family’s immediate health needs.
Sabbath-keeping is also another motivation to keep a year’s supply of food and consumables, and at least a 3 month supply of things we use on a regular basis.
I’m curious to know if the Bloggernacle considers watching the “big game” sinful and a violation of the Sabbath.
I’ve lived in places where wards and stakes schedule meetings during the Game. And … I don’t have a problem with that.
Good to know, queuno. I wouldn’t have a problem attending a meeting during the game either.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
I think it’s clear from the Elder Rector quote in the post that at least he considers it sinful to watch football on Sunday. And I don’t disagree that it would be more in keeping with the Sabbath to not watch it and do other more spiritually fulfilling things instead. But I can’t say I never watch TV on sunday either.
But that’s my point. We have all of these rules which are good, and it’s good to keep those rules, but it’s more important that we be charitable, faithful, loving, and… well, Christian, to sum it up.
Lex, I definately agree that the solution to this problem is to allow members flexibility (meaning, other members shouldn’t judge) to apply principles to their own lives. The Joseph Smith quote you refered to, which says something like “I teach them principles, and they govern themselves” is one of my favorites. In church talks and lessons, we should focus on principles and not what’s appropriate on Sunday. It may be good to give examples on how others have applied those principles and seen benefits in their lives, but there needs to be a distinction made between the unchanging principles and how they may be applied.
Let me also say that I’m just using the Sabbath-day breaking as an example. There are plenty of other examples in the church of people, in my opinion, confusing the application of a principle with a principle. Sometimes the line is not so clear, like in the case of the Word of Wisdown. I’m not entirely clear on where the line is here. What’s the principle? Is the principle to keep our bodies healthy, and the application is to avoid coffee? Or is avoiding coffee the principle itself? It seams the we believe it is the principle itself, since it is part of the temple recommend interview, but some might argue that is Pharasaical. I haven’t quite figured out that issue. If, in a moment of weakness, I take a swig of iced tea, should I skip the temple trip I have scheduled next week? Should I talk to the bishop first?
Another example: Home teaching. The principle is too look after your families and make sure their needs are met and they are doing well spiritually. One application is to visit them at least once a month. Am I sinning if I don’t?
I’m not trying to spark contentious debate. I’m just giving examples of places it seams the church does embrace these sorts of rules, rather than just teach the principle.
As far as the Sabbath goes, it’s a day that should be dedicated to the Lord- for thoughtful worship, family time, and to break free from a week of living “in the world”.
I try to make my Sundays like that, but I don’t spend the day worrying if something I’m doing is Sabbath-worthy or not. If sitting down to a nice CSI: Miami re-run on A&E after the kids go to bed gives my wife and I an opportunity to finally chill out for the day, I’m not breaking the Sabbath.
If we’re visiting relatives or taking a family drive and we get low on gas, we stop to buy some. Swiping my card at the gas pump hardly detracts from my Sunday goals. I won’t go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, but if in the hectic life of young parents we forget to fill a prescription or buy an ingredient for the night’s dinner on Saturday, I think we’re ok to go to the store.
But we put on grubby clothes first to make ourselves fit in more with the Sunday crowd there (you gotta admit they’re a pretty unkempt bunch), and to make us less recognizeable by the rest of the ward over there doing the same thing.:)
I feel guilty for watching the superbowl as much for the raunchiness of what I see during the game as for it being on Sunday. It just ain’t the family kind of thing it used to be (or least that is how it seems).
I agree that our church culture seems to focus too much on the things we should abstain from doing, whereas Christ focused on things that we should be doing (e.g., love).
P.S. If watching TV is out for a Sunday activity, what about blogging (or worshiping “technology” in Rector’s parlance)?
There’s nothing more awkward than running into the bishop after the block at the QT when you’re buying a Dr. Pepper…unless you’re the bishop.
I’ve been pondering this a bit since this morning and came to this conclusion.
The primary function of the church is to teach correct gospel principles (as I discussed earlier) and also to perform necessary ordinances.
But is that the only function of the church? Clearly not, since we also have countless programs (some might argue too many) that fall outside of this. Enrichment meetings, home teaching, family home evening, scouting, just to name a few. But when we stand before God he is not going to ask us, “Did you hold family home evening every monday?” I think he would ask us, “Did you teach your children the gospel?”. But the prophet instituted family home evening as a mechanism to help us teach our children. I don’t necessary think it’s a sin to not have family home evening, but we ignore the counsel at the risk of also ignoring the commandment to teach our children. The same can be said for other programs in the church.
Likewise, I don’t think Heavenly Father will ask me, “Did you ever shop on Sunday?” But he may ask, “Did you show your love for me by honoring the Sabbath?” The counsel to avoid certain things doesn’t necessary mean they are sins, but they are suggestions to help us, imperfect beings, from forgetting about the important things.
The first Church Education System fireside was originally scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time on February 3, 2008. Sometime late last year that fireside was re-scheduled for January 13.
Hmmm, I wonder what inspired the change in the date.
The commandment is to remember the sabbath day and “keep it holy.” The question I ask myself is not, “What is *wrong* with this?” but, “What is holy about this?” I hope I’m getting a little closer to what the Lord expects of me.