National Super-Sabbath Breaking Sunday?

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Glenn Ferrell

Puritan Board Junior
How will you respond to the imminent national celebration of professional Sabbath breaking for fun and profit?
 
I thought the Sabbath was on Saturday? :think:

edit: I'll probably pray for a blizzard. You?
 
I too will be enjoying food and beer, probably with just the wife and kids. I don't have strong feelings towards either team playing, but I guess I will be leaning towards the Cardinals.
 
As I don’t want to be discourteous and disturb anyone’s celebration of the events of this coming Lord’s Day, I hope I’m not violating any board rules by responding to this post on a new thread:

Glenn

The problem is that this issue has been debated/argued/etc. time and time again. I am certain you meant nothing by your post at all and I am certain most don't any time it comes up. However, it's come up so often that non-sabbatarians just get "fed up".

Now, this being the PURITAN board your view is the "accepted" view and promoted here heavily. However we don't restrict non-sabbatarians from discussing the NFL and other such things except on the Lord's day. They all know they are in a minority here and that Sabbatarians believe they are sinning.

What can we do, well my position is not one to enforce anything but if you want my opinion I feel a general statement that the board is by confession Sabbatarian but non Sabbatarians are permitted to discuss the NFL and other such things so far as they do not condemn Sabbath keeping or promote non Sabbatarianism out right (example: Calling Sabbath keepers legalistic, etc.)

It's that, or we start insisting all members be Sabbatarians.

I certainly have no problem with the NFL, or other sports. I’d have no problem with enjoyment of the Super Bowl, if it were played on Saturday or some other day of the week other than the Lord’s Day. Perhaps one could justify recording the game and watching it on Monday. I find myself watching the Super Bowl commercials on you tube later in the week.

I will be more careful not to violate the sensitivities of our less than confessional participants on this forum and leave such threads alone in the future.

However, I think the PB policy may be inconsistent here. Would a discussion presupposing the intention to commit adultery, theft, murder or idolatry be permitted? Would discussion of that sin after the fact be tolerated, apart from the need for repentance?

Somehow, with many otherwise faithful Christians, the Fourth Commandment doesn’t rate with the other nine. How many wives would tolerate, how many congregations would permit their members, to commit a little adultery on occasion? Maybe just once each year?

I understand the historical causes for this lack of regard for the Lord’s Day. There is a need for patience with believers while they are taught correctly. But, this evangelical disregard for the Sabbath is a scandal for the Church of Jesus Christ. May the word and Spirit bring conviction on this matter.
 
I guess I don't understand why there needs to be a calling out to non-sabbatarians. :flamingscot::eek:
 
I'm sure this discussion has been worn out several times on PB, but being a new guy I have not seen them.

So is it out of line for me to ask how watching a football game is breaking the 4th commandment? How is this not in line with the Confession?
 
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. [Is. 58:13-14]​
 
Lord willing, I will spend all day in worship at Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, and lament privately the perpetual breaking of the 4th Commandment practiced every Lord's Day by all men, including many Reformed Brethren. But it will be more than just this Lord's Day, and I will include myself in lamentation for my own breaking of God's Law in word, thought, and deed. Then I will thank the Lord for the Truth of the Gospel.

:pray2:

Amen!

Except I'll be worshipping at my home church.
 
I'm sure this discussion has been worn out several times on PB, but being a new guy I have not seen them.

So is it out of line for me to ask how watching a football game is breaking the 4th commandment? How is this not in line with the Confession?

I'm thinking it depends upon whether you've got the Puritan or Continental view on the Sabbath.
 
So is it out of line for me to ask how watching a football game is breaking the 4th commandment? How is this not in line with the Confession?

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 XXI:viii]​

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:30:19 EST-----

I'm thinking it depends upon whether you've got the Puritan or Continental view on the Sabbath.

The “Continental view” is repeatedly used as an argument for Sabbath indifference.

Can anyone demonstrate a consensus of the Continental Reformed prior to 1900 approving the playing or watching organized sports on the Lord’s Day?
 
I disagree with the broad brush that's being used to paint a standard for what is acceptable Sabbath keeping.

We can't even agree on what is good and acceptable worship on the Lord's Day. Some are offended by the instruments, some by the Trinity Hymnal, and let's not even mention the alternate song book.

I am a former 7th day sabbath keeper and so I lean toward a more strict interpretation of sabbath keeping but I am not ready to compare HOW we keep the sabbath to committing adultery.

If your neighbors wife falls in a ditch on the Lord's Day can you commit adultery with her. NO! We all agree that the Lord's Day is ordained to be different but we all disagree on the length of the list of acceptable and unacceptable acts for the Lord's Day.

There is also the questions that true believers answer differently.

1. Is Jesus our Sabbath rest or is it a day of the week?
2. Is the Sabbath still the seventh day as ordained at creation?
3. Is there sufficient evidence for a change in the day from scripture?
4. Is Sunday the new sabbath?
6. Is the Lord's Day always the same as the Day of the Lord in scripture.
7. Is the Sabbath one day out of the week, or the 1st or the 7th?
8. What things are acceptable on the sabbath?
9. Can a believer watch tv?
10. Can a believer watch tv programming that was recorded on the Sabbath?

There is no way we can come to a place where we can point the finger at another believer and accuse them of spiritual adultery because they keep the Sabbath differently.

The problem is, we think we are comprehenders when it comes to spiritual truth but we are all merely aprehenders. God has revealed some things with great clarity and others he has left us to struggle with, have strong opinions and love one another.
 
However, I think the PB policy may be inconsistent here. Would a discussion presupposing the intention to commit adultery, theft, murder or idolatry be permitted? Would discussion of that sin after the fact be tolerated, apart from the need for repentance?

Somehow, with many otherwise faithful Christians, the Fourth Commandment doesn’t rate with the other nine. How many wives would tolerate, how many congregations would permit their members, to commit a little adultery on occasion? Maybe just once each year?

I think that the difference between the fourth commandment and the others, when it comes to what we would allow in debate or practice, is that there has been a clear dissent/difference of opinion within Reformed Christianity from the writings of Calvin and Ursinus onward, regarding our understanding and application of that commandment.
 
So is it out of line for me to ask how watching a football game is breaking the 4th commandment? How is this not in line with the Confession?

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 XXI:viii]​

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:30:19 EST-----

I'm thinking it depends upon whether you've got the Puritan or Continental view on the Sabbath.

The “Continental view” is repeatedly used as an argument for Sabbath indifference.

Can anyone demonstrate a consensus of the Continental Reformed prior to 1900 approving the playing or watching organized sports on the Lord’s Day?

I just get my info on this from R.C. Sproul. He watches football on Sundays...he's a "Continental viewer."
 
Sorry, I wasn't going to enter back into this, but how does a clear difference of opinion among the Reformed mean something isn't didactic? If someone appears to get 98% of Scripture or theology "right", are we willing to listen to them about some thing they differ on, even if it might appear to be antithetical to Scripture?

Not trying to be a jerk, but it seems like the argument is along the lines of "Well some smart people disagree, so they have a point." I just can't follow that and I urge others to question it as well.

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:43:33 EST-----

So is it out of line for me to ask how watching a football game is breaking the 4th commandment? How is this not in line with the Confession?

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 XXI:viii]​

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:30:19 EST-----

I'm thinking it depends upon whether you've got the Puritan or Continental view on the Sabbath.

The “Continental view” is repeatedly used as an argument for Sabbath indifference.

Can anyone demonstrate a consensus of the Continental Reformed prior to 1900 approving the playing or watching organized sports on the Lord’s Day?

I just get my info on this from R.C. Sproul. He watches football on Sundays...he's a "Continental viewer."

Ya, and some former students of his that I know are appalled and shocked at it.
 
Sorry, I wasn't going to enter back into this, but how does a clear difference of opinion among the Reformed mean something isn't didactic? If someone appears to get 98% of Scripture or theology "right", are we willing to listen to them about some thing they differ on, even if it might appear to be antithetical to Scripture?

Not trying to be a jerk, but it seems like the argument is along the lines of "Well some smart people disagree, so they have a point." I just can't follow that.

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:43:33 EST-----

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 XXI:viii]​

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:30:19 EST-----



The “Continental view” is repeatedly used as an argument for Sabbath indifference.

Can anyone demonstrate a consensus of the Continental Reformed prior to 1900 approving the playing or watching organized sports on the Lord’s Day?

I just get my info on this from R.C. Sproul. He watches football on Sundays...he's a "Continental viewer."

Ya, and some former students of his that I know are appalled and shocked at it.

Hey, hey. Easy, Greasy! He's my fav! :)
 
I disagree with the broad brush that's being used to paint a standard for what is acceptable Sabbath keeping.

We can't even agree on what is good and acceptable worship on the Lord's Day. Some are offended by the instruments, some by the Trinity Hymnal, and let's not even mention the alternate song book.

I won't be watching the game this Lord's Day, as football is as boring as it gets, and I would rather spend the time with my family.
 
I love them man too. To me, he's a celebrity. My wife assures me that I might get to meet him and I'd be so excited to do so.

I don't agree with everything that exits the man's mouth though, namely the sure election of all dying infants and activity on the Sabbath.
 
Maybe I'm getting off topic, but what all is included with the Puritan view of "recreation"? I gather watching football on TV would be out of the question, but what about throwing a football with my son out in the yard?
 
How will you respond to the imminent national celebration of professional Sabbath breaking for fun and profit?

Christians in the early Church were considered "rude" not because they paraded around their convictions but because they didn't participate in certain social activities that were considered part of the culture. "Hey, are you going to the Coliseum with the rest of the crowd to watch the gladiator fights?" "No, thank you".

There's a huge difference between observing something in the liberty of your conscience and desire to worship God and telling everybody else what a great Sabbath keeper you are.
 
Maybe I'm getting off topic, but what all is included with the Puritan view of "recreation"? I gather watching football on TV would be out of the question, but what about throwing a football with my son out in the yard?

Sinner.

*joking*

I think throwing a football is great because you have to spend time and fellowship with each other and not beside each other.

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:56:31 EST-----

There's a huge difference between observing something in the liberty of your conscience and desire to worship God and telling everybody else what a great Sabbath keeper you are.

But we are the best though, right?
 
Maybe I'm getting off topic, but what all is included with the Puritan view of "recreation"? I gather watching football on TV would be out of the question, but what about throwing a football with my son out in the yard?

Sinner.

*joking*

I think throwing a football is great because you have to spend time and fellowship with each other and not beside each other.

-----Added 1/29/2009 at 02:56:31 EST-----

There's a huge difference between observing something in the liberty of your conscience and desire to worship God and telling everybody else what a great Sabbath keeper you are.

But we are the best though, right?

:eek::wwbd::bueller:
 
As I said, I used to be a deacon in the Seventh Day Baptist church. A great bunch of people who are dear to my heart.

The SDBs settled the town I used to live in. I looked into the history and found out that there was once another SDB church on the other side of town and I couldn't understand why the folks didn't meet in the middle. There was only two miles between the churches.

It turned out that there was a great split 100 years ago. The church on the west side it turned out were a bunch of libertines. They were the flagrant wretches who came to the conclusion that one could play croquet on the Sabbath. So Milton, Wisconsin was split into the croquet players and the abstainers.
 
As I said, I used to be a deacon in the Seventh Day Baptist church. A great bunch of people who are dear to my heart.

The SDBs settled the town I used to live in. I looked into the history and found out that there was once another SDB church on the other side of town and I couldn't understand why the folks didn't meet in the middle. There was only two miles between the churches.

It turned out that there was a great split 100 years ago. The church on the west side it turned out were a bunch of libertines. They were the flagrant wretches who came to the conclusion that one could play croquet on the Sabbath. So Milton, Wisconsin was split into the croquet players and the abstainers.

:lol:
 
After the evening service on Sunday, I will come home and catch what's left of the game. I'll probably quaff a couple of beers and eat chips, too.
 
I'm hosting a SuperBowl Party/ Birthday Party at my house... lots of fellowship, food and beer :)
 
How will you respond to the imminent national celebration of professional Sabbath breaking for fun and profit?

By ingnoring it completely. I can't stand Grid Iron.

I'd rather watch a good Rugby match on a Saturday.

BTW: I'm one of those non-sabbatarians.
 
Since I hate football, anyone having lots of food and beer anyway minus the football?...can I come? :doh:
 
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