This question is primarily for those who watched the Super Bowl yesterday.

For some on the PB, it would have been a sin to watch the Super Bowl. Its my impression, though, that its not a legalistic type thing of do's and don'ts, but that they'd rather be focusing on the Lord on Sunday. Their delight for the Lord on that day far outweighs any delight they might have gotten watching the Superbowl. That's a neat work of grace, 'cause I'm sure for many there would have been a time when they would have enjoyed watching and not thought twice about it.

For those who did watch it, I assume, since you watched it, that you don't believe its a sin to watch. What is your biblical basis for believing that its not a sin?

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Bob Howes
Framingham, MA

A reoccurring thought:

Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

I don't just watch...I partake in the Super Bowl 52 times a year, it is great!!!

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Andrew
Husband to Dena
Candidate of the MVP in the PCA
MDiv graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS
Pastor (elect) of Tchula Presbyterian Church, Tchula, MS

"What do you think about when you are not thinking about anything else? This is what you worship!"

My 'Skins were not there. Period!

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~etexas~

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Anne Ivy
Christ Chapel Bible Church
Fort Worth, Texas

Married to Don, mother of six, grandmother to an ever-increasing brood.

The Ivy Vine (my blog)

EX 20:8 (ESV) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

How is watching the Superbowl considered "work"? Unless you have Talmudic view of work (no phone calls, radio, TV, computer, cooking, etc., the Lord's day is a day for rest and worship. Now if one blows off attending services to watch the SB, that's a different story.

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Michael Masztal
Chapel By The Sea, ARPC
Melbourne Beach, FL

Good "pernt"!

The Lord's Day is my favorite day of the week. Most of the time, I am so occuppied with church activities and Bible study that I don't have time to think of TV and sports. Though it's not an intentional thing, I tend to feel the Lord's Day ends somewhere around sunset. It really starts for me around sunset on Saturday.

As far as watching the superbowl? We had no church service or Bible study last evening, so I was home. The truth is, I could live my entire life and be happy to never watch another football game. I did watch the superbowl with my husband, not because I wanted to watch the superbowl, but because my husband wanted me to keep him company. I found no sin in that.

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

J, I'm not going to drawn into a debate on this subject. My conscious is clean. Thanks for your comments sister.

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Bill Brown
Elder
Grace Baptist Church
Anne Arundel County, Maryland

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Those of us who hold a more Puritan/Scottish view of the Sabbath would argue that the word "work" used in the fourth commandment is only a summary statement; we contend from Isa. 58 that the Sabbath law also forbids recreation as well.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

I didn't mean to presume a conflict - I was just making an observation that, though for them its a sin, when the time comes for the Superbowl, they'd rather be focusing on (or delighting in) the Lord rather than watching the game. For them, there's no conflict (its seems). They don't want to watch the game.
Do you think its wrong (ie. a sin) for the football players to be working on Sunday? Why or why not?

What if the Superbowl runs past midnight? Can we watch the end of the game? (I guess that's when the modern Sabbath ends). If we want to adopt the OT 6PM to 6PM law, then the Super Bowl wasn't on the Sabbath.

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Scott Kessler
Covenant Community OPC
Staunton, VA
Covenant Theology
Christian Skepticism
Christianity In History

Most modern Sabbath-people observe midnight to midnight. Though if you can prove that the alternative view is correct, then you are right to assume that it would not be a breach of the Sabbath.

"I was just making an observation that, though for them its a sin, when the time comes for the Superbowl, they'd rather be focusing on (or delighting in) the Lord rather than watching the game. For them, there's no conflict (its seems). They don't want to watch the game."

Well, if they consider watching the Super Bowl - or any other professional sporting event, one assumes - on Sunday to be a sin, it's to be hoped they wouldn't watch the game.

The sticking point I'm seeing is "they'd rather be focusing on (or delighting in) the Lord rather than watching the game." What activity would be preferable to focusing on or delighting in the Lord?

"They'd rather be focusing on (or delighting in) the Lord rather than [fill in the blank]."

This is still putting those in conflict with each other, as if performing Action A (focusing on or delighting in the Lord) precludes Action B. Is it wrong to play Scrabble with the kids on Sunday, seeing as how that appears to mean one is choosing Scrabble-playing over focusing on and delighting in the Lord?

My husband's pacing back and forth since we need to leave for a funeral.

To be continued..... ;^)

Personally, I attempt, though fail miserably to focus on the Lord 7 days without elevating one above the other. The Jew elevated the 7th day beyond what was required. It became the 'holiest' of Law keeping. It is as if God said, Remember/Honor/keep it holy meant dont worry about the other 6. Then they devised man made interpretations of what it meant. A I have stated before, this became so complex, noone knew what one could do. It created a colossal structure of minutia, that blinded them for the messiah. Some will maintain that sabbath keeping is a means of sanctification. But Christ is left out or basically just a helper for sanctification. For some odd reason, Jesus does all for His chosen, yet we are left alone to fend for ourselves to become sanctified. So the less we do on sabbath, the more sanctified we become. Once we realize that we are concentrating on doing less and less, then we realize we are useless to anyone.

I have prayed and thought about this since joining this board. It is not discussed in my denomination and I lament that. So when I first heard about all this, my initial raction was 100% fleshly and obstinate. But I realized we (RCA) have taken it to the opposite extreme of not even recognizing any importance in Sabbath. So I have come to prematurely conclude that the truth has to be present somewhere in the NT. I am not a jew, therefore what the Jew regarded as sabbath truth has been perverted so much, its no wonder that are blind to Messiah. I will use the OT as a guide and nothing more. When I read of things like my wife wearing a hair clip and wondering if she is carrying it or wearing it to determine if it is a 'burden' I realize how grateful I am for Christ. Or if I open my fridge, therefore 'kindle' the light by causing a spark, i pity the jew or anyone who adheres to such nonsense. Or even think of Max's thread about doing dishes, which falls into the same category as above, I am left in pure wonder on how it became such a huge ediface for NC believers. I guess you can say, "You can take the Christian out of israel, but not Israel out of the Christian." How far off are those who consider washing dishes a sin from not having their wife wear a hairclip? Not very far if at all. But even with realizing that these thoughts of do's and don'ts are not the primary reason for even talk about the Sabbath, I am left with a void of honestly wondering where the truth lies. So I then have to go to the NT. And one thing I find which strikes me as odd is Christ is recorded as offending the Pharisee about what He did on the Sabbath more times than not. Jesus did something about destroying their belief about the Sabbath. Admittedly, I do not know exactly what it was, but He did something to make them so irate. For some reason, He found it fit to chose this for the field of battle. He could have chose many others, yet the Sabbath is where the battle took place many times. His miracles were recoreded as happening on the Sabbth. Something struck me about this. Why did He pick this day so 'hallowed' by the Jewish leaders? He could have picked any other day, but saw fit to actually/purposely pick their holiest day. Now some will say "Well they were acts of mercy''. Yet there has to be something more to this that that. He could have just said that without irritating them so much. So even the NC believer uses this 'acts of mercy/charity' as a cloak for not knowing the true meaning. I mean he couldnt have just waited a few hours till the sun went down to heal these people? As the healings increased in complexity and in overt confrontation to the Pharisees legalistic traditions, so likewise the Pharisees’ opposition increased. The wanted to kill Him!!!!! Starting with healing a man in a Capernaum synagogue and culminating with giving sight to the man born blind (John 9), Jesus systematically displayed the need to refocus our thoughts and objectives. He repeatedly challenged the Pharisees on the points they would consider most holy, to find out if they could somehow elevate their minds beyond their own traditions. ANd they could not. They became more hardened, save nicodemus. the Lord Jesus found a people who had thoroughly created their own traditions with the word of God. They zealously strove to protect both themselves and the Torah with their "fences," but those fences obstructed their view of the Messiah. They couldn’t see the signs of God’s son when he preached and healed in their very presence. So blind were they because of tradition, they couldn’t see a man walking who had never walked before, they only saw a man carrying a mat on the Sabbath, forbidden by their traditions.

The Jewish leaders self sanctification meant nothing in God’s eyes and still is repulsive towards Him.. The Sabbath had/has a greater meaning than doing it as a command or sanctification on our own. So the Lord Jesus went right to their perceived stronghold, they themselves burdened the people with picayune rules and nonsense.

This is why I watched the superbowl last night. I also shoveled my driveway becasue it was an ice rink. I fixed my toilet becasue it was leaking. I made some pizza, opened up some nice red wine. Had 4 brothers in Christ over, debated election/freewill, and watched Belichick pout as he lost.

This above post was not meant as inflammatory towards anyone here. I am surely not settled on the Sabbath issue, but will rest comfortably where I am unless the Lord sees fit to correct me.

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N. Robert; Trinity Reformed Church RCA, Holland MI

Once in a while you can get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

I'm familiar with Is 58, and if you are referring to "pleasure" v. 3, 13, that word I interpret as business, not enjoying a recreational activity.


QUOTE=Daniel Ritchie;352928]Those of us who hold a more Puritan/Scottish view of the Sabbath would argue that the word "work" used in the fourth commandment is only a summary statement; we contend from Isa. 58 that the Sabbath law also forbids recreation as well.[/quote]

7. As it is the law of nature,[1] that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, He hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto Him:k which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,l which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day,m and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.n
8. This Sabbath is then 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,[2]o 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.[3]p

[1]“it is of the law” (III): III–J&H;† ARP; BOFC; BP; PCUS; PCUSA-UP. †Correct in: VII; BURGES et al.


[2]“recreations; but” (DNLP): DNLP–J&H;† YNG; UPC; ARPe-g; BOCF; BP; PCUS; PCUSA-UP. In later editions, only †KNCDa is correct.


[3]Under “p”: MAT 12:1-12: ARPg.



7 k EXO 20:8,  10-11. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. ISA 56:2,  4,  6-7. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. 4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

7 l GEN 2:2-3. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 1CO 16:1-2. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. ACT 20:7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

7 m REV 1:10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

7 n EXO 20:8,  10. [See 7k]. With MAT 5:17-18. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

8 o EXO 20:8. [See 7k]. EXO 16:23,  25-26,  29-30. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. EXO 31:15-17. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

8 o ISA 58:13. [See 8p]. NEH 13:15-19,  21-22. In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. 16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. 19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. 21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

8 p ISA 58:13. 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: MAT 12:1-13.

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Chris Coldwell
Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
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When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of great improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy,’ and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors: but when taxed with deviations from the received faith, they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers, as they ‘differ from it only in words.’ This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. Samuel Miller, Introductory essay, The Articles of the Synod of Dort (1841).

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- Oh, I loved it!

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Ryan Barnhart - Pastor of OGBC
Husband to a beautiful wife, Father to two beautiful girls
"But by the grace of God I am what I am." I Corinthians 15:10

"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms. And in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." - John Paton

I respect what your saying, though the text refers to "speaking your own words" which IMHO would refer to idle chat rather than business affairs. By implication, this would seem to mean that all our ordinary affairs (business, recreation etc) are not to be done on the Sabbath - except for works of necessity and mercy.


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