Top 10 list of rules and counsel that we didn’t know, or like to pretend we didn’t know.
Ixnay on the Shopping and Eating Out on the Sabbath.
(This one also falls under the willful disobedience column, rather than ignorance, but there are some nuances that brighten some of those pesky grays.)
President Hinckley said: “There isn’t anybody in this Church who has to buy furniture on Sunday. There really isn’t. There isn’t anybody in this Church who has to buy a new automobile on Sunday, is there? No. There isn’t anybody in this Church who, with a little care and planning, has to buy groceries on Sunday. No. … You don’t need ice cream to be bought on Sunday. … You don’t need to make Sunday a day of merchandising. … I don’t think we need to patronize the ordinary business merchants on the Sabbath day.”*
WAIT A SECOND.. Didn’t Luke give us a super loophole in Luke 14:15? “And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?”
I think back to when I was attending BYU, the ox always seemed to fall into the pit on Sunday. And by pit I mean Albertsons. And by ox I mean Cheetos.
(I try not to use the word “ass” in my blog – unless I decide to write about Balaam, or Harry Reid)
LAST THOUGHT: Talking with my EC the other night. It seems it never really occurred to us that Sunday online shopping is still Sunday shopping. Travel tickets, music from iTunes, hundreds of dollars on Farmville oxen for the pit, etc. I had better tighten that up.
When I was going to subscribe to the Sunday paper for the coupons, my mom reminded me that even though you pay for it ahead of time, someone has to deliver that paper to you on Sunday…hmmm. I decided to skip it, it was hard since it is pretty gray, but now I am not sad at all.
What about vending machines? I remember when I was in the MTC seeing a lot of Elders pumping quarters in the vending machines on Sunday to get food. It seemed wrong to me. I realize that using a vending machine doesn’t require someone else to work on the Sabbath, but it seems against the principle of Sabbath observance. What say you, MMM?
This is a little late to reply, but when I was in the MTC in 1997 they announced that the vending machines were not to be used on Sundays about a week into my stay. Since the turnover is so high in there, it probably has to be announced regularly.
That’s good to know. I was in the MTC in ’96, so I’m glad they made that a rule later.
WOW! What an interesting observation! I had not considered online shopping before! But you’re right…it’s still shopping!