Is it a sin to watch the Super Bowl on the LORD's Day?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Is it a sin to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday?

  • Yes, it is a sin objectively.

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • No, it is not a sin, whether it violates your conscience or not.

    Votes: 4 33.3%
  • No, it is not a sin objectively, but only if it violates your conscience

    Votes: 6 50.0%
  • I don't know.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    12
Jun 10, 2019
4,304
1,659
113
#21
Sabbathkeepers typically have a long list of do's and don'ts on the Sabbath, and the day beforehand (Friday was called the Preparation Day).

And, the opinions vary.

For instance, some say all of your food must be prepared prior to the Sabbath, and your clothes need to be set out for the next day's service. All your garbage should be taken out, and all your dishes should be done before sunset.

Additionally, some would consider it forbidden to go to a restaurant, because you are making someone else sin by preparing your meal.

Your time should be spent in worship services, fellowshipping, and spending time with family.

You should not do your pleasure on this day, which includes watching football games.

Studying the Bible and prayer would be part of the expected activities, too.

Some would think it's fine to take a walk in a park, enjoying God's creation.

Sports would almost certainly be off limits for serious Sabbath keepers, though.

This is basically the way the cult I belonged to as a young man considered acceptable activity on the Sabbath.

They support their beliefs with Scripture. My objection would be that the Sabbath is not applicable anymore, as it is part of the Mosaic Law. One can compare Col 2:16-17 with Heb 10:1-4, 9:9-11 and see that it is part of the ceremonial "shadows and types".

But they will simply not accept this.

Funny thing is that some Sunday observers can be almost as bad as Judaizers.

To be honest, I believe it is perfectly fine to observe Sunday because of the resurrection, but I would not have a problem with observing Saturday with a sound, balanced congregation but there are few. Jews for Jesus seem to be balanced in this regard, but many Sabbathkeeping people are just a bunch of nuts looking to accuse other Christians of being false believers. Hebrew Roots Movement and "Church of God" groups are at the top of this list. You will find out that a lot of them have other beliefs that are unorthodox, such as denying the Trinity. This is because many of them basically consider Protestants to be cuckolds of the Roman Catholic Church, following Sun worship on Sunday.
yea a long list of dos and donts, sounds like Pharisees
 

Deade

Called of God
Dec 17, 2017
16,724
10,530
113
77
Vinita, Oklahoma, USA
yeshuaofisrael.org
#22
To be honest, I believe it is perfectly fine to observe Sunday because of the resurrection, but I would not have a problem with observing Saturday with a sound, balanced congregation but there are few. Jews for Jesus seem to be balanced in this regard, but many Sabbathkeeping people are just a bunch of nuts looking to accuse other Christians of being false believers. Hebrew Roots Movement and "Church of God" groups are at the top of this list. You will find out that a lot of them have other beliefs that are unorthodox, such as denying the Trinity. This is because many of them basically consider Protestants to be cuckolds of the Roman Catholic Church, following Sun worship on Sunday.
Yet you are bouncing around from a strict seventh-day Sabbatarian to a zeal for the Reformed side. The Reformed Protestants did assimilate much of the erroneous Catholic doctrine. If you shelve some of your zeal, you might just find Christ somewhere in between the extremes you identify with.

While I allow the trinity belief, I still find it an oversimplification. I find all the labels we assign God lacking and limiting and don't use them. So I am not trinity, oneness, or dualism. I just leave the labels off. When someone can explain how the HS is everywhere at once, I might listen to that.

I am with Noose on this topic. I allow that Christ is fully God but a separate being from the Father. While the Holy Spirit is not separate from either the Father or Jesus. In fact, that Spirit is what makes them God and gives them that unity. I feel we can't define the HS with our finite minds and I will not call It/He a person. The good news is we have a seeding of that same Spirit that will lead us to life everlasting. Praise Him, for He is worthy!
 
Dec 9, 2011
13,715
1,723
113
#23
The Biblical Sabbath starts on Friday at sunset and ends at Saturday sunset.. So engaging in an activity on sunday cannot be breaking the Sabbath..

The Law of the Sabbath is to not do any work on the Sabbath Day.. So watching a sporting event is not Working..
😀What If you pick up the remote and briefly change the channel?LOL just kidding.
 

Deade

Called of God
Dec 17, 2017
16,724
10,530
113
77
Vinita, Oklahoma, USA
yeshuaofisrael.org
#26
My wife and I will be leaving for church soon to praise and worship the Lord and fellowship with other believers and later today, we will be watching the Super Bowl with family and friends. Go Chiefs!:D

Yeah, Chiefs! We won Dan, how about that!

Chiefs-ftball.jpeg

 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
20,395
113
#27
My wife and I will be leaving for church soon to praise and worship the Lord and fellowship with other believers and later today, we will be watching the Super Bowl with family and friends. Go Chiefs!:D

WOOOHOOOOO and they won......good game by the way.........

AND GUESS WHAT......IT IS MONDAY IN AUSTRALIA so.....contrary to the OP.....I did not watch the game on SUNDAY.....not that it would matter
 

mailmandan

Senior Member
Apr 7, 2014
25,036
13,041
113
58
#28
The Chiefs are Super Bowl champions!!! :D:D:D What a great come back win from behind! BELIEVE!!!
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
#29
Yet you are bouncing around from a strict seventh-day Sabbatarian to a zeal for the Reformed side. The Reformed Protestants did assimilate much of the erroneous Catholic doctrine. If you shelve some of your zeal, you might just find Christ somewhere in between the extremes you identify with.

While I allow the trinity belief, I still find it an oversimplification. I find all the labels we assign God lacking and limiting and don't use them. So I am not trinity, oneness, or dualism. I just leave the labels off. When someone can explain how the HS is everywhere at once, I might listen to that.

I am with Noose on this topic. I allow that Christ is fully God but a separate being from the Father. While the Holy Spirit is not separate from either the Father or Jesus. In fact, that Spirit is what makes them God and gives them that unity. I feel we can't define the HS with our finite minds and I will not call It/He a person. The good news is we have a seeding of that same Spirit that will lead us to life everlasting. Praise Him, for He is worthy!
You are non-Trinitarian, then, and a polytheist.

The belief in two or more god beings is polytheism.

I would also define it as semi-Arian, or I'm guessing that is what it is. It is a belief that Jesus and the Father are composed of similar substance, but they do not share the same essence.

In other words, homoiousious and not homoousious.

Christianity believes that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the same substance; they are coessential.

All of these "definitions" are necessary because the beliefs of these various groups degrade from a correct understanding of God, which is Scripturally observable.

For instance, John 14-17 teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person who will lead the Christians into truth, and he is like Jesus, being a paraklete, but he is not Jesus. However, he mediates the presence of Jesus in the believer.

By the way, your view is similar to the cult that I was raised in. Their teaching was, in essence, that the Holy Spirit is a force and not a person. They also had an anthropomorphic view of God, viewing him as "composed" of the Holy Spirit, rather than being a spirit. They certainly did not understand concepts like union with Christ because of their poor understanding of God's nature.

When a thing is "composed" of something, that implies the substance comprising it existed before the thing. The Holy Spirit is God and has eternally existed, just like the Father and the Son.

John 14:25-26 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
(ESV)

Concerning Reformed theology, it is the most biblically accurate view, in my estimation. Perhaps you'd like to identify your affiliation, and I can likely tell you the problems I would have with it. Certainly if you claim that the Father and the Son are two separate beings, I would not hold your views because they are pagan polytheism. There is only one God, which is taught continually throughout the Bible. Also, it is plain that the Holy Spirit is a distinct Person, despite the claims of cultists.
 

UnitedWithChrist

Well-known member
Aug 12, 2019
3,739
1,928
113
#30
This is where I'm at too.

Just curious, did the pastor of the observant Christians you had fellowship with ever talk about how the Sabbath they were keeping at that very moment pointed to and was all about Christ, or was it always about how you have to keep the Sabbath? Did the Sabbath get glorified or did the Christ to whom the Sabbath pointed get glorified?
No, they never did introduce this typology of Christ being the spiritual rest of believers.

I am pretty sure Seventh Day Adventists do understand this typology, but they downplay it, because they would use this as a reason to observe the Sabbath, rather than to depart from it.

However, many Sabbatarians will deny that "Jesus is our Sabbath" because they think that this would lead people to view the typology as being fulfilled, and not applicable.

Funny thing is that Jesus was not exalted by them, and in fact they made fun of Protestant organizations that focused too much on Jesus and not enough on the Father. I don't think that any of the evangelical churches I have been involved with do that, though.

For instance, they would mock how certain groups say the word "Jesus". There was an "evangelist" for the Church who was particularly fond of ridiculing other Christians and their adoration of Christ. At the same time, though, some members didn't care for his attitude, but I am guessing many members thought it was humorous (including me in my earlier, ignorant years).
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,425
3,474
113
#32
WOOOHOOOOO and they won......good game by the way.........

AND GUESS WHAT......IT IS MONDAY IN AUSTRALIA so.....contrary to the OP.....I did not watch the game on SUNDAY.....not that it would matter
Your currently in Australia ? Cool..
 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
20,395
113
#33
Your currently in Australia ? Cool..
Yeah I been here almost three months....my 26th or 27th trip here in last 5 years........HAHAH been fun but smoking hot this summer.....had 119 degrees a few days ago.......was blistering hot......
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,425
3,474
113
#34
Yeah I been here almost three months....my 26th or 27th trip here in last 5 years........HAHAH been fun but smoking hot this summer.....had 119 degrees a few days ago.......was blistering hot......
Yep been a hot and smokey summer where i live.. Been a lot better over the past week.. Summer is slowly coming to and end.. Soon my favorite season in Australia will arrive Autumn.. Sunny and cooler weather mostly..
 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
20,395
113
#35
Yep been a hot and smokey summer where i live.. Been a lot better over the past week.. Summer is slowly coming to and end.. Soon my favorite season in Australia will arrive Autumn.. Sunny and cooler weather mostly..
Yeah I like fall here and even spring and winter...the winter here in AU is nothing compared to winters in Missouri..where are you located? I have a house in Castlereagh just north of Penrith between Penrith and Richmond........
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,425
3,474
113
#36
Yeah I like fall here and even spring and winter...the winter here in AU is nothing compared to winters in Missouri..where are you located? I have a house in Castlereagh just north of Penrith between Penrith and Richmond........
I live in the Hunter Valley in a town called Maitland.. Castlereagh is semi rural.. Just looked at it on google earth.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,425
3,474
113
#39
Yep Wine and coal mines.. Mainland is more to do with farming And a place people live who commute to work in other areas.
Sorry Mainland = Maitland.. :rolleyes:
 

rstrats

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2011
723
42
28
#40
UnitedWithChrist,
re: "...it is plain that the Holy Spirit is a distinct Person..."

Not that it necessarily means anything of course, but with regard to the Trinity, I think it's interesting to note that Paul never once includes the Holy Spirit in any of his letter's salutations.