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Question

Gramps,

Our granddaughter’s birthday is on the same Sunday as the upcoming General Conference.  I am uncomfortable for a few reasons in going to the party.

  • It is on the Sabbath Day
  • It is General Conference
  • The party is at an amusement environment

My husband does not want to cause any problems in the family by not going. I am struggling on what to do. I know in my heart that Our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ comes first. I would like to hear your point of view giving up the Sabbath.

Louann

 

Answer

Louann,

The commandment from the Lord in this matter is to keep the Sabbath day holy. Generally speaking it can be very hard for us to do this. To help us we sometimes come up with lists of ‘things’ that we should or should not do. We hope that if we do everything on the to-do list and avoid everything on the don’t-do list we have kept the Sabbath day holy. It is a good start, but keeping the Sabbath day holy is much more then just checking off a list.

In Christ’s lifetime, He was accused of dining with publicans and sinners. This accusation came about, because the Hebrews had put so many other restrictions around the commandments so that they could have their ‘lists’ and claim to be ‘holy.’ But Christ was the real thing. He was holy. And He was about his Father’s business among those who needed it most, thus those ‘lists’ did not matter in the least.

I can’t give you an answer because it entirely depends on you. Keeping peace among the family is also extremely important as well. Can you keep focused on keeping the Sabbath day holy while you are within an amusement environment for your granddaughter’s birthday? Only you can answer that question. I would encourage you to pray and ask God if his purposes would be better served by your attendance or your absence from the party.

 

Gramps

 

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