Why are you confused; about the use of the medium? Otherwise what we aim to talk about here online on Lord's days is not different from what folks should aim to talk about with others face to face.
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Why are you confused; about the use of the medium? Otherwise what we aim to talk about here online on Lord's days is not different from what folks should aim to talk about with others face to face.
I dunno; does using lights, refrigeration, etc.? At some point we draw a line of minimal use of the things that modern advancement brings us. Should we not read the Word when it gets dark on Lord's day evenings; or try to read by candlelight? The board management has determined to keep the board up but to restrict conversation to those forums amenable to Lord's day profit. Those that think that is wrong don't get online. Those that do get online have a place to converse that is trying to take the Lord's day seriously. And how in the world is that kind of struggle with Lord's day keeping in this modern age equate to simply kicking back and watching "the big event" for several hours on the TV?
Westminster Confession of Faith
Chapter XXI
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
....
VIII. 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,[38] 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.[39]
All the what-ifs matter not as to what our duty is. IF, in some way using the internet -which is not so clearly and easily understood, particularly in light of the many things which are works of necessity and mercy (hospitals, etc.) require the use of the internet (for communication, etc.); ergo, it follows a little may go a long way, and the ISP providing that is not limited to helping only a hospital, yada yada yada- is inherently wrong on the sabbath day, then we should amend our ways. That may be the case? What does it have to do with whether it is appropriate to pay men systematically to violate the sabbath day, and violate it ourselves by watching them violate it? Nothing. It has nothing to do with that. The Lord is clear that we should remove our feet from His property, the sabbath day. How is it that we trample it? Doing our own pleasures. Thinking our own thoughts. So on, so forth. It is especially His Day. We do not have the right to take His time and do with it what we will, unless what we will is that which He wills. The difficulty of doing our duty, or knowing our duty, never negates the fact that is a duty, and we are called to obey it. Watching men at play, and often brutally at play, and doing this for their income, and our watching it for our entertainment's sake during God's Holy Time, is most certainly not appropriate on the Lord's Day, because those men -just like every other man in the world- are bound to take up those labors which God commands on His Day. No one is exempt. God, as sabbath keeper par excellence, rested one day in seven, as an example, and He is not even bound by such; how much more, then, ought we, His creatures, throw aside our lust for our own pleasures and recreation , for one day to honor Him all the day?
I wonder who would even choose to watch large, overpaid men pummel each other
I would even say recording it to watch on another day is a violation of command four because we are indirectly encouraging the violation, hindering others from keeping the sabbath, causing others to stumble, etc.
While I fully agree that we must honor the Lord on the Sabbath, how many of us actually do this for the entire 24 hr period? I know I haven't.
In re: the DVR question, while I am not defending my own practice (I am immune to the Super Bowl), I can see an argument for it.
Can you enjoy reading a letter that got delivered on a Monday but mailed on a Sunday? Can you wear your red shirt if the dye was manufactured on a Sunday? Can you enjoy a bowl of ice cream if it was delivered to the store last Sunday? Can you write a nice card to someone with a pen that was sold on a Sunday but bought by you at a garage sale? Etc.
Same dif, I think. If one watched it on the DVR, presumably they are not enjoying the Sunday aspect, but the playing and sport and etc. Just like you enjoy the letter, wear your read shirt, eat your ice cream, write something down not at all for the reason of the Sunday part, the Sunday part is incidental and out of your control, really.
I take your point, Matthew, but how into that teaching should we go? Does it become incumbent upon us to investigate these things? Or, if we did incidentally find out that the letter was posted on a Sunday, should we not read it? It seems to me against the spirit of keeping the Sabbath, really. Where is the rest if we are consternated about these things all the time?
From all reports it sounds like the game was totally worth breaking the fourth commandment over.
It strikes me your questions go more to boycotting certain companies or brands, if I'm understanding you correctly. More to that than one, by God's grace, trying to keep the fourth commandment."can you give a clearer example?"
Well, I mentioned enjoying wearing a red shirt if the dye was manufactured on Sunday,
IF???
We know the Super Bowl is played on Lord's Day. IF we knew the clothing company did much of its work on Sunday, that might be grounds to boycott that brand of clothing. But, that's rare and infrequent, not a typical case.
or a bowl of ice cream if it was delivered to the store last Sunday, or using a pen that was bought on a Sunday even if you re-bought it at a garage sale, in an earlier post.
I think it is well nigh impossible not to enjoy things if they have any Sunday work associated with them.
That's not quite the whole story. Some things that are mercy or necessary (not for our convenience, but necessary to be done at that time) would be "excepted." The Super Bowl is not one of them.
If we bother to investigate. Some may say we are under no obligation to investigate. I don't know.
I am not attempting to justify my DVRing of the Super Bowl. I didn't watch it.
The thread topic is much clearer than the incomplete, unlikely hypotheticals you suggest.
The Super Bowl not only is played on Sunday, earns its money, (the most expensive commercials in the world during it), but is also a sin for Christian to focus on on the holy sabbath, because it distracts from the holiness of the day.
"can you give a clearer example?"
Well, I mentioned enjoying wearing a red shirt if the dye was manufactured on Sunday, or a bowl of ice cream if it was delivered to the store last Sunday, or using a pen that was bought on a Sunday even if you re-bought it at a garage sale, in an earlier post.
I think it is well nigh impossible not to enjoy things if they have any Sunday work associated with them. If we bother to investigate. Some may say we are under no obligation to investigate. I don't know.
I am not attempting to justify my DVRing of the Super Bowl. I didn't watch it.
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:9-13)
can you give a clearer example?
We're all agreed (happily) that it is immoral to watch the Superbowl on the Lord's Day, which almost certainly means we are all agreed it is immoral to play organized football (or other sports) on the same day. What about a casual game at a church event? What about throwing the ball back and forth? I am curious what others think. I take the position of the Larger Catechism, but many who subscribe to the Westminster standards don't. I wonder, then, what the consensus is here and what your reasoning might be. If this is something for another thread please accept my apologies and do let me know.