Christians Watching the Super Bowl?

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I really have no interest in the Super Bowl this year. That said, I don't have a church that offers night services now that I have moved.
 
Record it and watch it on Monday (though you'll probably find out who won before then). An added bonus is that you can fast-forward through all the ads.

In New Zealand it plays on Monday afternoon so there's no issue. I'll be watching it Monday evening.
 
For Sabbatarians, and those who have taken public vows to adhere to the teaching of the WCF (assuming they haven't taken the now almost obligatory exception at presbytery), I think the issue is pretty straightforward:

"This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations,but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy" (WCF 21.8; see also HC, Q. 103).
- See more at: Christians Watching the Super Bowl? - Reformation21 Blog

This was, for me, the most poignant part of this article. How, as an officer of the church (who took no exceptions), do I read this and not evaluate my Sabbath practices? Thanks to Mark Jones for such a clear, straight forward reminder.
 
I hear the possibility of taping the Super Bowl and watching it later, and am sympathetic somewhat to that concern. However, there is a deeper concern that we must also think about. The players themselves are breaking the Sabbath. Watching it at all, no matter what day we actually watch it, is contributing to their breaking the Sabbath, is it not? While it is certainly true that watching it on a day other than the Sabbath is better than watching it on the Sabbath, there is still this other issue to consider. In my mind, it is somewhat parallel to going out to a restaurant on Sunday. I may not be working, but I am contributing to other people working for pay on the Sabbath day. At the very least, this issue deserves consideration.
 
I agree with Rev. Keister. Consider the scope of the fourth commandment. It not only addresses the individual, but it extends to those who serve the individual.
 
I hear the possibility of taping the Super Bowl and watching it later, and am sympathetic somewhat to that concern. However, there is a deeper concern that we must also think about. The players themselves are breaking the Sabbath. Watching it at all, no matter what day we actually watch it, is contributing to their breaking the Sabbath, is it not? While it is certainly true that watching it on a day other than the Sabbath is better than watching it on the Sabbath, there is still this other issue to consider. In my mind, it is somewhat parallel to going out to a restaurant on Sunday. I may not be working, but I am contributing to other people working for pay on the Sabbath day. At the very least, this issue deserves consideration.

I certainly appreciate your sentiment, however if recording the game and watching on another day is tantamount to enabling Sabbath breakers, could not the same be said of patronizing establishments that are open on Sunday even if done on another day?
 
I hear the possibility of taping the Super Bowl and watching it later, and am sympathetic somewhat to that concern. However, there is a deeper concern that we must also think about. The players themselves are breaking the Sabbath. Watching it at all, no matter what day we actually watch it, is contributing to their breaking the Sabbath, is it not? While it is certainly true that watching it on a day other than the Sabbath is better than watching it on the Sabbath, there is still this other issue to consider. In my mind, it is somewhat parallel to going out to a restaurant on Sunday. I may not be working, but I am contributing to other people working for pay on the Sabbath day. At the very least, this issue deserves consideration.

I certainly appreciate your sentiment, however if recording the game and watching on another day is tantamount to enabling Sabbath breakers, could not the same be said of patronizing establishments that are open on Sunday even if done on another day?

I think the difference is that you are at the establishment on a day other than the Lord's Day and the employees are working on that day which is not the Lord's Day. Whatever day, month, year you watch the Super Bowl, you are watching a video of people in the act of Sabbath breaking.
 
This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
 
This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
How is someone working at the power plant a violation of the standards as it relates to duties of necessity and mercy (Isa. 63:13; Matt. 12:1-13)?
 
This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
How is someone working at the power plant a violation of the standards as it relates to duties of necessity and mercy (Isa. 63:13; Matt. 12:1-13)?

These last two posts reminded me of Judaism and their extremely legalistic Sabbath restrictions. The legality of using electricity generated in Israeli power plants on the Sabbath has been debated. Jesus came to set us free from legalism.
 
If Christians do not keep the Sabbath day, then there is no need of the church. Its observation
is as obligatory as thou shalt not kill. God's moral reflection as delineated in the commandments
is not subject to relaxation or change. We are commanded to "remember the sabbath day" and
keep it holy. To remember it before it comes,(preparation),remember it when it comes,( participation),
rememember it when past,(meditation), on the Monday and successive days.
 
Brothers and Sisters:

This is not really a matter of great debate for someone who holds to the Westminster Standards.

Yes, we can cite using electricity and the like, but we can also distinguish duties of necessity and mercy. We may disagree among ourselves about what such duties are in every case and we may even say things like "I would not ordinarily go to a restaurant but make exception if I'm away from home and there are no clear alternatives." I freely admit then that we may differ about what constitutes duties of necessity and mercy (think of the debates about whether it is permissible to take public transport to Sunday worship). I also admit that the question of when the Sabbath begins and ends is also differently understood and practiced among us. My arguments that follow all assume that the Super Bowl is being regarded as part of the Sabbath proper.

Having said that, dear PB friends, the matter of the Super Bowl, I repeat my opening remark, is not a matter of great debate for someone holding the Westminster Standards (and not scrupling on this point). This is not a case of disputable allowability, under any construction. The Super Bowl is a clear violation of the Standards. It is not something that under any construction might be deemed, even arguably, a work of mercy or necessity. It seems, in fact, very much in line with the prohibition against "recreations," that usage in the plural evoking the language of the Book of Sports that James I issued in 1617 and that was republished under his son Charles I in 1633.

While good men can differ over instances of duties of necessity or mercy (is x really such a duty?) or differ in their views of when the Sabbath begins and ends, and I am of a mind to believe that we should allow good-conscience differences of application with respect to this--I do not want a new legalism or Pharasaism with respect to these sort of things which seem "in bound" matters--as long as one holds to the Westminster Standards on this point, I do not see see how there can be any reasonable question about the matter: the Super Bowl is a violation of the parameters of the Lord's Day.

If the office-bearers, and especially the ministers, of the church do not maintain such a view, how can we expect it to be upheld in the church? And if the church does not uphold the Sabbath day, granted that we might have some different interpretations about things that I've mentioned above (what, e.g., constitutes duties of necessity and mercy), what witness do we bring to the world? American culture especially worships at several altars (like the Athenians) and this one event (we must not be blind to it) brings them all together: not just the worship of sport but of entertainment more broadly, of covetousness and crass commercialism, of illicit sexuality, etc. And all of this takes place on the day that we are to give to the worship of our great God and King.

Let us resist this, first of all, out of obedience to Christ our King, for His glory; secondly, for the good and peace of our own souls; and lastly, for a burning and shining witness to a world that is dying and has this, and other things like it, as one of its primary feeble and futile attempts to find joy while continuing to shake the fist and say "I will not have this Man to rule over me." Yes, He made the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath. But if anyone thinks that he can seriously argue that this is what He made the Sabbath for, God have mercy on us all.

Peace,
Alan
 
Often people when stating that "Christ came to set us free from legalism" forget too that "Christ also came to set us free from lawlessness (sin)."

I think it is interesting that of all the Commandments, the 2nd and 4th Commandments are the most heavily under assault within the Church. Both directly are connected with the Worship of God.

But it is no wonder that Satan and the Sinful Nature despise the 4th Commandment. It is the Commandment that gives us time for deepened Communion with God, for being fed by the Means of Grace, for proclaiming Salvation to the Lost, for Performing Deeds of Mercy to the Poor and Afflicted.

It is rest for those who have labored, both physically and spiritually - those who have been slaves to sin and the world. It is a time of refreshment for the Church. It is time spent when her Lord recharges her, and gives her the Spiritual Food for the following 6 days of warfare. It loudly proclaims the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, that this world is passing away, that a New Creation has come, old things have passed, all things being powerfully brought under the feet of Jesus Christ. It teaches us of the gospel - that salvation is not by works, but by rest in the finished work of Christ. It gives us a foretaste of heaven, time being spent with our Lord and His People for all eternity. It should excite us that heaven will be like this, yet more glorious!

In kindness we also have strangers to the promises of God (Exodus 20:10) cease from their labors towards us so that they too can hear of these things and may be saved by the faithful preaching of the Word of God (Romans 10:17) by the working of the Spirit. We do not try to shut them out of the means of grace, praying that they too will come and attend the worship services and hear of the spiritual rest that is found in Jesus Christ, and that they may be saved.

Powerfully bound up in the 4th Commandment are Love to God and Love to Neighbor! How can the Church not see these things, as we see people wishing instead to waste away the day on trifles, and vanities. The pots of meat back in Egypt as it were.

No wonder Satan and the Sinful Nature of our Flesh have managed to deceive ourselves that the Sabbath is Cruel, Unkind, Uncharitable - when it is the very opposite of all of these things.

The Super Bowl attempts to rob God of His Glory, and to weaken God's People.

So yes, please do decry legalism. But decry true legalism, and do not decry the Sabbath Day of the Lord - where Love to God and Love to Neighbor are rightly and lawfully expressed.
 
I certainly appreciate your sentiment, however if recording the game and watching on another day is tantamount to enabling Sabbath breakers, could not the same be said of patronizing establishments that are open on Sunday even if done on another day?

Not quite. It would be like someone demanding a restaurant make them a meal on Sunday that they would pick up on Monday. That would be the correlation. Here, the person is not going in and eating what was demanded to be made on the Lord's day, but they are ordering and eating on another day.

These last two posts reminded me of Judaism and their extremely legalistic Sabbath restrictions.

I do hope you are not equating Patrick's understanding of necessity and mercy (both of which power is in our day) with legalistic arguing. The legalistic side would be the stricture that power cannot be made use of because it is work (of any sort), rather than take into account the provisions of our Lord for works of necessity and mercy.
 
This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
How is someone working at the power plant a violation of the standards as it relates to duties of necessity and mercy (Isa. 63:13; Matt. 12:1-13)?

These last two posts reminded me of Judaism and their extremely legalistic Sabbath restrictions. The legality of using electricity generated in Israeli power plants on the Sabbath has been debated. Jesus came to set us free from legalism.

I was not saying you were sinning by using electricity on the Sabbath. Only saying that people could get legalistic and take it there. Which I think someone mentioned below that post. As for eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath only when out of town and traveling, in that case you would probably be glad that someone is working on the Sabbath. I agree that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I also have been in situations, like the Army, where I worked on Sunday. I think we are all in agreement that most people today don't keep the whole day for prayer and rest. We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.
 
We don't commend or fail to condemn prostitution because some make a living at it.
We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.
 
I would not correlate an athlete with a prostitute. ( yes I know jokes can be made doing so). Again, this is one of those topics that will and can continue forever. I can think of many professions that work on Sunday. Firefighters,police,Military, athletes,public works, doctors etc. and if we REALLY want to get legal about it, everyone of them signed up for their job, knowing they probably would have to work on Sundays. If everyone took it to the same level, everyone would choose a profession that did not work on the Sabbath. Would that be what God intends? I think Jesus answered that question. I do feel that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I am not arguing that we shouldn't. I am just saying that at some point it seems man is deciding what jobs are ok to do and what is not ok.
We don't commend or fail to condemn prostitution because some make a living at it.
We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.
 
This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
How is someone working at the power plant a violation of the standards as it relates to duties of necessity and mercy (Isa. 63:13; Matt. 12:1-13)?

These last two posts reminded me of Judaism and their extremely legalistic Sabbath restrictions. The legality of using electricity generated in Israeli power plants on the Sabbath has been debated. Jesus came to set us free from legalism.

I was not saying you were sinning by using electricity on the Sabbath. Only saying that people could get legalistic and take it there. Which I think someone mentioned below that post. As for eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath only when out of town and traveling, in that case you would probably be glad that someone is working on the Sabbath. I agree that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I also have been in situations, like the Army, where I worked on Sunday. I think we are all in agreement that most people today don't keep the whole day for prayer and rest. We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.

It is certainly possible to become overly legalistic regarding the Sabbath, as the Pharisees clearly had become, and certainly all of us fail in keeping it completely. But our inability to completely keep a commandment of God in no way mitigates its authority over us. In my estimation, part of keeping the Sabbath holy is striving to completely keep it even though we will most certainly fail, as opposed to simply throwing our hands up and determining that since we can't keep it completely then there is no sense in even making the attempt.
 
I would not correlate an athlete with a prostitute. ( yes I know jokes can be made doing so). Again, this is one of those topics that will and can continue forever. I can think of many professions that work on Sunday. Firefighters,police,Military, athletes,public works, doctors etc. and if we REALLY want to get legal about it, everyone of them signed up for their job, knowing they probably would have to work on Sundays. If everyone took it to the same level, everyone would choose a profession that did not work on the Sabbath. Would that be what God intends? I think Jesus answered that question. I do feel that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I am not arguing that we shouldn't. I am just saying that at some point it seems man is deciding what jobs are ok to do and what is not ok.

Working as an athlete on the Lord's Day is in no way a work of necessity or mercy.
 
I agree 100%

This argument could keep on going forever...do you use electricity on the Sabbath? Someone is working at the power plant...
How is someone working at the power plant a violation of the standards as it relates to duties of necessity and mercy (Isa. 63:13; Matt. 12:1-13)?

These last two posts reminded me of Judaism and their extremely legalistic Sabbath restrictions. The legality of using electricity generated in Israeli power plants on the Sabbath has been debated. Jesus came to set us free from legalism.

I was not saying you were sinning by using electricity on the Sabbath. Only saying that people could get legalistic and take it there. Which I think someone mentioned below that post. As for eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath only when out of town and traveling, in that case you would probably be glad that someone is working on the Sabbath. I agree that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I also have been in situations, like the Army, where I worked on Sunday. I think we are all in agreement that most people today don't keep the whole day for prayer and rest. We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.

It is certainly possible to become overly legalistic regarding the Sabbath, as the Pharisees clearly had become, and certainly all of us fail in keeping it completely. But our inability to completely keep a commandment of God in no way mitigates its authority over us. In my estimation, part of keeping the Sabbath holy is striving to completely keep it even though we will most certainly fail, as opposed to simply throwing our hands up and determining that since we can't keep it completely then there is no sense in even making the attempt.
 
An entertainer, be they an athlete or what ever, who works on the Lord's Day, breaks the fourth commandment just as clearly as the prostitute in making a living at that profession breaks the seventh commandment. They may both claim the "job" makes it necessary; but what they are doing is a sin regardless. Entertainment licet or otherwise is not a work of necessity or mercy.
I would not correlate an athlete with a prostitute.
 
I would not correlate an athlete with a prostitute. ( yes I know jokes can be made doing so). Again, this is one of those topics that will and can continue forever. I can think of many professions that work on Sunday. Firefighters,police,Military, athletes,public works, doctors etc. and if we REALLY want to get legal about it, everyone of them signed up for their job, knowing they probably would have to work on Sundays. If everyone took it to the same level, everyone would choose a profession that did not work on the Sabbath. Would that be what God intends? I think Jesus answered that question. I do feel that we should keep the Sabbath holy. I am not arguing that we shouldn't. I am just saying that at some point it seems man is deciding what jobs are ok to do and what is not ok.
We don't commend or fail to condemn prostitution because some make a living at it.
We consider the Super Bowl a game. But for the football players, nascar drivers etc, it is a job, and the way that they feed their families and support themselves.

If you are confounding works of necessity and mercy like being a nurse or a firefighter with being involved in sports on the Lord's Day, which subordinate standards did you say you agreed with in joining the Puritan Board? You obviously don't understand the distinction that e.g. the Westminster standards - based on the example and teaching of our Lord - make between works of necessity, mercy and worship, which should be done on the Lord's Day, and works which are not to be done on the Lord's Day. There is nothing legalistic in working out the proper shape and scope of Sabbath observance from these principles exemplified by our Lord in distinction to the genuine legalism of the Pharisees, and in distinction to those who do not care to have Christ as Lord of the Sabbath and who wish to abuse it with sports and all sorts of labour.


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Thank you all for your replies to my statements. I am nowhere near where I strive to be in my Reformed education. I am newly reformed as in 3 years and yes I am learning everyday. I appreciate the insight I gather here and fully recognize that I have a lot to learn. Discussions like this help me to grow in my understanding of Gods word. I don't mean to sound as if I am arguing, I may come across that way, but that is not my intention.
 
Thank you all for your replies to my statements. I am nowhere near where I strive to be in my Reformed education. I am newly reformed as in 3 years and yes I am learning everyday. I appreciate the insight I gather here and fully recognize that I have a lot to learn. Discussions like this help me to grow in my understanding of Gods word. I don't mean to sound as if I am arguing, I may come across that way, but that is not my intention.

Thanks for that Edm. I was a bit concerned that my post might sound a bit censorious or that it would dissuade you from continuing with the PB, and was maybe going to say something to that effect.

The PB can be "an education in itself" in learning about the Reformed faith, and the Fourth Commandment can be more mangled and confused than the other nine by the depradations of dispensationalism, liberalism and antinomiamism, even in the minds of those who have been exposed to Reformed teaching for some time.

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Eric Liddel when in China in a prison camp was a teacher over hundreds of students and agreed to referee their game's on the Sabbath.... so they didn't kill eachother I guess....

I was dissapointed that my son is graduating and the school insists on having students show up early Sunday mornign for graduation preparation ... not very sensative to issues of diversity of conscience for such a liberal Universisty
 
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