Question
Gramps,
I have a question that I have wondered about for years. We have been asked to keep the Sabbath day holy. Not working if possible, and no activities that cause others to work. So why is it ok on general conference Sunday that caterers are hired and paid to feed the Prophet and authorities, and the church asks that the trax trains run longer so members can pay money to ride it. Isn’t all that kind of contradicting what we are told to do?
Holly
Answer
Dear Holly,
Perhaps the best way to answer your question is to consider alternatives. Suppose that the Leaders did not pay for their meals, what then should they do? Fast? Or ask sisters to volunteer their time to prepare meals? (That would be a major production and most likely a lot of sisters would end up missing out on Conference in order to make that happen) Perhaps bring a brown bag lunch, as I assume they don’t have time to travel home between meetings.
If no one takes Trax to Conference, where would all those people park? What about the attendants of parking lots? Perhaps everyone could ride bicycles, heh heh. Maybe they should all stay home and watch conference on TV? By the way, I don’t believe the Leaders ask Trax to run the trains longer. Much more likely is that Trax saw the need (and the potential to make more money) and chose to do this on their own. I imagine they do the same for other events. I know other cities do similar things for big events like sports or music concerts. This is a normal and expected part of capitalism.
I’m not making light of your question. I’m simply trying to illustrate that it is easier to resolve these issues by paying for meals and using Trax. The Lord did not give us the Sabbath to make our lives unnecessarily difficult. We have the Sabbath as a time to worship the Lord and to rest and be renewed for the coming week. We should take care not to become as the Pharisees in setting rules and regulations around the Sabbath that the Lord did not intend. We should also be careful not to look for “loop holes” that the Lord did not intend. For example, working on the Sabbath so one can pay more tithing. That is merely an excuse to make more money. The Leaders having a meal between Conference, or people using Trax are needful things so that we can enjoy worshiping Heavenly Father through listening to our Leaders at General Conference.
Gramps
