Christians Watching the Super Bowl?

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The Super Bowl is not a duty of necessity or mercy.

But to be consistent one should not use electricity, running water or a whole host of other things that are not necessary for 99% of us.

Unless we are just going to be arbitrary in deciding what we should abstain from?
 
Much of this conversation has focused on the prohibition to work on or support those who work on the Sabbath day.

An important perspective not to forget...

Sundays are filled with tremendous privileges! We can set aside our normal labors and dedicate our time to the service of the Lord. This includes worshipping Him, fellowshipping with the body of Christ, spending extra time reading the Word and praying, studying the Reformed faith, etc.

Watching the Super Bowl deprives us of several hours we could spend enjoying such privileges…
 
Our modern society and the observance of the Lord’s day has been discussed before I think. To whatever extent we may use conveniences on the Lord’s day, they are at least needful in order that we may devote the day to the Lord. But that question and any issues it may raise, does nothing to justify entertaining ourselves with the Super Bowl instead of worshipping God as we are commanded to do.
Potter said:
The Super Bowl is not a duty of necessity or mercy.

But to be consistent one should not use electricity, running water or a whole host of other things that are not necessary for 99% of us.

Unless we are just going to be arbitrary in deciding what we should abstain from?
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What if you didn't "demand" the restaurant make the meal? What if they made the cheeseburger on Sunday, and it was in your fridge as someone's leftovers, would you eat it on Monday? I think that's a more accurate correlation.
 
John Lanier said:
Whatever day, month, year you watch the Super Bowl, you are watching a video of people in the act of Sabbath breaking.
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Didn't think of it that way for some reason, just didn't click. Its on our TV live on a Monday and I was thinking of watching it, fishing is looking like a better option now me thinks.
 
Potter said:
The Super Bowl is not a duty of necessity or mercy.

But to be consistent one should not use electricity, running water or a whole host of other things that are not necessary for 99% of us.

Unless we are just going to be arbitrary in deciding what we should abstain from?
Click to expand...

As Chris mentions - we have had these discussions before, and there have been good discussions and debates about this in the past. These are things that are up for some debate. For instance, since our church sanctuary doesn't have exterior windows (our meeting space used to be office space or something), we have no natural light. So, electricity is pretty much necessary for the lighting conditions we find ourselves in. Hospitals need electricity, my fridge needs electricity, and so forth.

However, the Super Bowl is so completely outside of the parameters of Sabbath keeping, it should not even be up for debate. The only way you can be consistent and hold to watching the Super Bowl being okay is to say that the 4th Commandment has been done away with. The players are not making food on the Lord's Day, they are not doing anything remotely productive in a classical sense. It is pure frivolity. There is no thoughtful analysis how the half-time show can be a deed of necessity or mercy. There's none of that. In fact, one might even make the case that the players are breaking the 6th Commandment by their actions on that day. But I think that's a topic for a different thread.

I mention this often, but I think it needs to be said in this thread.

For some reason, I never find the other commandments scrutinized nearly as much as I see the fourth. For instance, all of the men here must think they hold to the 7th Commandment quite well. I don't hear, "it's hard for me to keep the 7th Commandment in its entirety and consistently, so what's the use? I might as well have an adulterous relationship with another woman... You know, just to be consistent". Such words, I pray are never uttered from the mouths of God's People.

Maybe I am just a terrible Christian, but I struggle with all of God's commandments, not just the fourth. Do not think the 4th Commandment is somehow a burden, and the others are "easy". None are possible to keep without the aid of the Spirit of God and a heart right with Him. All should be a delight, though we like Paul exclaim, "O wretched man that I am!... Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Here's a look at the 7th Commandment - judge how well you keep it.

Q: What are the duties required in the seventh commandment?
A: The duties required in the seventh commandment are, chastity in body, mind, affections, (1 Thess. 4:4, Job 31:1, 1 Cor. 7:34) words, (Col. 4:6) and behavior; (1 Pet. 3:2) and the preservation of it in ourselves and others; (1 Cor. 7:2,35–36) watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses; (Job 31:1) temperance, (Acts 24:24–25) keeping of chaste company, (Prov. 2:16–20) modesty in apparel; (1 Tim. 2:9) marriage by those that have not the gift of continency, (1 Cor. 7:2,9) conjugal love, (Prov. 5:19–20) and cohabitation; (1 Pet. 3:7) diligent labor in our callings; (Prov. 31:11,27–28) shunning all occasions of uncleanliness, and resisting temptations thereunto. (Prov. 5:8, Gen. 39:8–10)

----

Q: What are the sins forbidden in the seventh commandment?
A: The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, (Prov. 5:7) are, adultery, fornication, (Heb. 13:4, Gal. 5:19) rape, incest, (2 Sam. 13:14, 1 Cor. 5:1) sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; (Rom. 1:24,26–27, Lev. 20:15–16) all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections; (Matt. 5:28, Matt. 15:19, Col. 3:5) all corrupt or filthy communications, or listening thereunto; (Eph. 5:3–4, Prov. 7:5,21–22) wanton looks, (Isa. 3:16, 2 Pet. 2:14) impudent or light behaviour, immodest apparel; (Prov. 7:10,13) prohibiting of lawful, (1 Tim. 4:3) and dispensing with unlawful marriages; (Lev. 18:1–21, Mark 6:18, Mal. 2:11–12) allowing, tolerating, keeping of stews, and resorting to them; (1 Kings 15:12, 2 Kings 23:7, Deut. 23:17–18, Lev. 19:29, Jer. 5:7, Prov. 7:24–27) entangling vows of single life, (Matt. 19:10–11) undue delay of marriage, (1 Cor. 7:7–9, Gen. 38:26) having more wives or husbands than one at the same time; (Mal. 2:14–15, Matt. 19:5) unjust divorce, (Mal. 2:16, Matt. 5:32) or desertion; (1 Cor. 7:12–13) idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, (Ezek. 16:49, Prov. 23:30–33) unchaste company; (Gen. 39:19, Prov. 5:8) lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays; (Eph. 5:4, Ezek. 23:14–16, Isa. 23:15–17, Isa. 3:16, Mark 6:22, Rom. 13:13, 1 Pet. 4:3) and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others. (2 Kings 9:30, Jer. 4:30, Ezek. 23:40)
 
Potter said:
The Super Bowl is not a duty of necessity or mercy.

But to be consistent one should not use electricity, running water or a whole host of other things that are not necessary for 99% of us.

Unless we are just going to be arbitrary in deciding what we should abstain from?
Click to expand...

This has been discussed before on the PB. Q.V. such posts.

Suffice it to say that these utilities are necessities - probably for 99% of us - and great blessings from God, and not having them would entail more and not less works of necessity and/or mercy on the Lord's Day if they were cut off for the duration of the day.

Ethical casuistry is inescapable and can be bad or good. It shouldn't be done arbitrarily, but using Scripture and sanctified common sense.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2
 
I'm with Rom; but it is not a new puzzle. The Puritans met with the same objection early on. I have used this quotation a lot lately but it is a good one.
"Lastly, though no man can perfectly keep this commandment, either in thought, word or deed, no more than he can any other; yet this is that perfection that we must aim at; and wherein, if we fail, we must repent us, and crave pardon for Christ’s sake. For as the whole law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Gal. 3:24); so is every particular commandment, and namely this of the Sabbath. And therefore we are not to measure the length and breadth of it by the over-scant rule of our own inability, but by the perfect reed of the Temple (Ezek. 40:3); that is, by the absolute righteousness of God himself, which only can give us the full measure of it." From Nicholas Bownd, Sabbathum Veteris Et Novi Testamenti: or, The True Doctrine of the Sabbath (1606; Naphtali Press, forthcoming Spring 2015), 8-9. A reminder this is on prepub; see here.

kodos said:
For some reason, I never find the other commandments scrutinized nearly as much as I see the fourth.
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Again, I'm noticing the similarities to the Jewish Sabbath restrictions. "Duties of necessity and mercy" seem very similar to the Jewish concept of pikuach nefesh (the teaching that Sabbath restrictions (and almost any other Jewish law) can be broken in order to save someone's life). I noticed this especially with regard to generating electricity.

Honestly, if you look into how the Sabbath is observed by Orthodox Jews, you'll see just how absurd they have made it.
 
MichaelNZ said:
Again, I'm noticing the similarities to the Jewish Sabbath restrictions. "Duties of necessity and mercy" seem very similar to the Jewish concept of pikuach nefesh (the teaching that Sabbath restrictions (and almost any other Jewish law) can be broken in order to save someone's life). I noticed this especially with regard to generating electricity.

Honestly, if you look into how the Sabbath is observed by Orthodox Jews, you'll see just how absurd they have made it.
Click to expand...

If you compare the Sabbath of the Pharisees/ Orthodox Jews to the Sabbath of Christ/Reformed Christians, you'll see the difference.

Jesus observed the Sabbath in the way it was meant to be observed from the beginning.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2
 
MichaelNZ said:
Again, I'm noticing the similarities to the Jewish Sabbath restrictions. "Duties of necessity and mercy" seem very similar to the Jewish concept of pikuach nefesh (the teaching that Sabbath restrictions (and almost any other Jewish law) can be broken in order to save someone's life). I noticed this especially with regard to generating electricity.

Honestly, if you look into how the Sabbath is observed by Orthodox Jews, you'll see just how absurd they have made it.
Click to expand...

Pardon me, brother - but this is a fallacious line of reasoning. Because Orthodox Jews do some thing, and because in your mind it appears similar to what Reformed Christians believe, there must be something wrong with it. But that doesn't wash.

Duties of necessity and mercy come straight from the Word of God itself. Not through the muddled reasonings of Rabbis who turn away from The Lord of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:7 - But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
 
Thanks very much for this brother. It raises a lot of issues that we will all do well to consider. I felt rebuked by this, but this is good, because it has awoken me to my responsibility of obeying God, including keeping the Sabbath, for my sanctification.
 
This year is more tempting than others since my Falcons are in it, but it is hard to succumb to this particular temptation when you don't have a television. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.
 
Every Lord's day during 'football season' as I look through my facebook newsfeed to see many quotes from puritans and pastor's little quotes, etc. I am also extremely grieved by many elders of Christ's church (and those who hold to the Standards without stated difference) and yet so wrapped up in football, watching football, getting emotional about play calls, that it shows forth an idol they have. For obvious reasons that they are breaking the command of God, but the zeal they have for it compared to everything else the speak of. I think, "These are the Reformed Confessional guys." And then I question, "Where are we as the Church when our elders are more passionate about a sport on the Lord's day than about the Lord's day itself?" Lord's day became for them Lord's morning, and then take pleasure in football day.
 
We can look at rules, theology, and philosophy, but as well, our heart's desire should be to be with our triune God on the day he has appointed, and see that others honor this as well. The super bowl should bring sadness to us because there is a relational disconnect between those who participate in it and their desire to be with their Father. We should desire the spiritual rather than be satisfied with the earthly.
 
I don't know if it has been mentioned, but it seems to me that there are 6th commandment questions as well with the recent revelations about CTE.

These spectacles are so ingrained in the culture that one receives tremendous pushback if any questions are raised about them at all, whether the argument is related to a specific commandment or simply a considered judgment. Think about the recent popularity of women in MMA. Wouldn't this (and combat sports in general) have been considered barbarism and something akin to the old Roman bread and circuses by our forefathers? Were they wrong? If memory serves, a prominent former college basketball coach said several years ago that a civilization that pays its athletes and entertainers such exhorbitant sums is a civilization in decline.

(My apologies if this too far off topic. Feel free to delete if so, and maybe I'll revisit it at a later time.)
 
A verse from 1Cor13 came to mind. Charity rejoices not in iniquity. Which can mean, love does not have full cheer or joy in moral wrongfulness of character, life or act. So to delight or have ones spirit raised in entertainment on the Sabbath is to rejoice in sin. Much as I love my national rugby team, and want them to win every game, and am shattered when they lose, they will be playing a week this Sabbath and I am not concerned whether they win or lose. I cannot delight in wrong doing by them or any temptation to me to break the holy Sabbath in viewing.
 
I have a few questions that I have been curious about, this is particularly aimed at those who would see watching the Super Bowl as an act of breaking their understanding of the 4th commandant.

Is the problem with watching the Super Bowl the fact that you, yourself, the believing Christian, are partaking in the activity of watching a sport on the Lord’s Day?

Or, is the problem with watching the Super Bowl the fact that you are watching people who are in the act of breaking your understanding of the 4th commandant and its implications on the Christian life?

Or is it both?

If it’s both, then would it be improper to watch highlights of the game on ESPN the following day, week, month year?

What about other sports, such as baseball or basketball, which occasionally have games fall on Sunday, would watching highlights the following day also be outside your understanding of the 4th commandant and its implications on the Christian life?

I noticed a few on here also engage in the NCAA football league on the PB (Myself included :)). Many of the players in those games are looking to one day play on Sunday’s. Would watching them, knowing their intention to hopefully one day break your understanding of the 4th commandant, be okay, being that, in some sense we are supporting them?

I know there are many questions along these lines, but I am curious to know if anyone has really thought them through.
 
Amen! Thanks for sharing. I just forwarded the link to my church brethren for their enjoyment and appreciation.

On a side note, since I learned to so understand and practice the Christian Sabbath years ago, my life as a woeful Buffalo Bills fan sure got a lot easier! (A few Monday, Thursday, or Saturday games a season is about all the self-inflicted wounding I can take!) ;)
 
Douglas Padgett said:
I noticed a few on here also engage in the NCAA football league on the PB (Myself included :)). Many of the players in those games are looking to one day play on Sunday’s. Would watching them, knowing their intention to hopefully one day break your understanding of the 4th commandant, be okay, being that, in some sense we are supporting them?

I know there are many questions along these lines, but I am curious to know if anyone has really thought them through.
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No. It is about breaking the commandment and not who might break the commandment some time in the future. I am with Andrew.

All kinds of vain, screaming sports talk clutters up mens' thoughts and speech all of the time with the Lord's Day proving to be no barrier. I have a job that could fall under a "necessity " provision but a staple petition of my family's prayer life is to keep it to an absolute minimum and that I may have the Lord's Day to worship. Spending a precious Lord's Day other than in rest and worship is heartbreaking anymore.

That has only been in recent years. Due to some system errors I've got to go into into work this coming Lord's Day and approve my employee's time cards. It won't take long but it is still unpleasant, let alone working the entire day when it comes up from time to time.
 
Surely the NFL can be considered the stranger within our gates? Of all the commandments, the fourth most stridently shows the application of the law to all types of people.

A few other things to consider, Edm, that aren't mentioned in the able responses already given:

First, we were created to live in a world governed by creation (work) and rest. From the beginning, before our bodies were weakened from the fall, we were commanded to rest. Most exceptions people raise can be answered by re-engaging this God-given cycle. All of the other six days may be used to ensure a day of worship and rest.

Secondly, what we see in the New Testament isn't about eliminating law. Quite often, what is dismissed are the elaborate schemes of fencing the law. Make a mental note and as you read through the gospels, look up what the law actually says, and see how often Jesus dismisses the scribes (Pharasees, leaders etc.) as enforcing traditions of man.
 
Ask Mr. Religion said:
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)?
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I'm not trying to be cheeky, but I was told by someone that electricity is not a necessity (in relation to the Sabbath). Their reasoning was that technological progress shouldn't negate keeping the Sabbath. Ergo, working at a power plant is not truly a work of necessity. Perhaps the person who told me that was straining at gnats, but it does give pause to consider whether the attitude one has towards the Sabbath is at least equal to its outward observance.
 
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