What Constitutes Proper Sabbath Entertainment?
29 March 2019 |
Dear Aunt Sevvy:
We’re having an argument in our family about Sabbath entertainment. I take a broad view: I feel like anything that’s wholesome entertainment can be enjoyed on Sabbath. For example, I’d watch the movie The Sound of Music: it has clean, unsexy music, and even some nuns. My spouse feels like we have to stick to nothing but explicitly spiritual stuff—even Veggie Tales, because it’s funny, is questionable. Can you help?
Signed, Sabbath Questioner
Dear Questioner
You may be asking the wrong questions about Sabbath. This is a trap so many Adventists fall into as they deliberate what is and is not appropriate on Sabbath. Rather than arguing specifics, Aunt Sevvy suggests you and your spouse ask this question: what is the purpose of the Sabbath for our family? and what activities would fall in line with that purpose?
Aunt Sevvy, for example, believes that the Sabbath’s purpose is about relationships. So when there’s a question about whether or not an activity is appropriate Aunt Sevvy asks herself, “Will this activity improve my relationship with God? Will it improve my relationship with the people in my life? Will it improve my relationship with myself?”
If you are watching Veggie Tales alone on the couch it won’t accomplish any of those goals. If, on the other hand, your whole family is watching Moana while snacking on popcorn and snuggling together, that does accomplish the goal of improving relationships with the people around you.
If, after talking to your spouse, you discover that you have similar goals but different ways of implementing those goals, Aunt Sevvy believes it is an act of love to respect your spouse’s religious convictions. It is not too much to ask that you refrain from watching The Sound of Music until sundown on Saturday night.
Aunt Sevvy
You can write to DearAuntSevvy@gmail.com. Please keep questions or comments short. What you send us at this address won’t necessarily be, but could be, published—always without real names. Aunt Sevvy writes her own column, and her opinions are not necessarily those of Adventist Today’s editors.
