No Spelling on Sunday

Good for him.:godisgood: Way to take a stand.

 

Dittos.......

 

Since when did Sunday become the seventh (sabbath) day of the week?

I very glad to see that he is trying to stand of his convictions..........

 

When does the preacher take a rest?

 

Reminds me of the interview that Art Linketter had with a 6 YO girl on his TV show years ago:

Art: Tell me, sweetheart, what kind of work does your Daddy do?

Girl: Oh, my Daddy doesn't work at all.....He's the pastor of a church! :laugh: :laugh:

 

While he is standing firm on what he believes, and while he is to be applauded for that, I think he is on shaky theological grounds. However I am not going to be critical of him. If his conscious tells him that it would be a violation of God's command(s) to involve himself in this kind of activity on Sunday then he should obey his conscious. I am glad to see a young person taking such a stand. :thumbs:

 

This kid's got some guts. Way cool! :thumbs:
DRF

 

Comparisons to Olmypic runner Eric Liddell!? Really, those are the same thing? Give me a break---typical World Mag hesteria over a nonstory. So I guess we now we have Spelling Bee marytars.

 

I disagree with your reaction. You sound awfully harsh in your opinion of this young man.
I competed in the National Spelling Bee at the state level, and I did it on a Sunday almost 40 years ago. I did not and do not share this young man's convictions, but I greatly admire his being willing to stand up for them. By the way, it is martyrs, not marytars. :laugh:
He may indeed have given up quite a bit by not competing. Even 40 years ago, it could mean significant college scholarships, tvs, trips, money, and other prizes. To get to his point of competition already, he has probably spent many a long hour studying. I sent an email to the publisher, disagreeing with his decision not to reschedule.

(Eric Liddell at the time had plenty of Christians who disagreed with him.
I could be mistaken about this, but it is my understanding that one of the other characters in the movie is shown to be a Christian and is also shown running on Sunday in the same Olympics. He admired Liddell without sharing the same conviction. Also, contrary to the dramatic license of the movie, Liddell knew about the Sunday schedule months ahead of time and had things rearranged before he ever got on the boat train for Paris.)

 

Why did he choose to compete in the first place? Isn't his choice after the fact?

 

That's what I was wondering. The date had to have been out there from the beginning. That's like accepting a job where you know you have to work Sunday's...and once hired, you tell them you can't work Sunday's due to religious reasons. I loathe this kind of behavior. It's what gives Christians a bad rep.

 

In spite of not having or practicing this conviction when I competed in the National Spelling Bee many years ago, I don't loathe this kind of behavior.
And if the linked article is correct, this was the very first time that spelling bee was ever held on a Sunday.
I have some other experience in this area, too. For 3 or 4 years, I ran the spelling bee at the Christian school my kids attended. I took the winners to the district meet. It was always on a school day.

No, all the dates are not necessarily made clear from the beginning. And a given person has no idea how far he or she will proceed. There are always alternate competitors due to many situations that arise.

It seems to me that an accommodation could have been made. If not, it sounds like the young man was prepared to accept that. I am not reading some kind of martyr complex into it.

But some here are willing to call his actions a disgrace. I deny the concept that a Christian standing up for his convictions is a disgrace.
Sure, some Christians do some things that are not so good. But that isn't ultimately why Christians have a bad reputation. The Lord was called names, after all, while He was on earth. The most Christ-like person around would grate on a non-Christian because of the sinful nature of the non-Christian.

 

Even so, he would have known this when he signed up. It's really no excuse even if this was the first time it was on a Sunday.

I think the possible martyr complex stems from the fact that he should have known it was on a Sunday. I find it hard to believe that they picked a Sunday to hold it at the last minute.

They just randomly pick a day and date? How? How do you sign up for something if you don't know when it is taking place? How do parents plan taking their children to these without knowing when?

 

Take a look at who published the article. It simply makes mountains out of mole hills. The students refused to compete because it was scheduled for Sunday. That is his choice. For most of my life I worked on Sunday. My parents owned a dairy farm. Whoever condemns any work on Sunday and buys milk is a hypocrite.

Life is filled full of choices we must make in our lives.

When was the last time they wrote an article about a doctor who skips a church service to operate on someone on Sunday in the emergency room. When was the last time they wrote an article about a nurse who works on Sunday? Jesus healed on the sabbath and was ridiculed for that.

Any Christians who refuse to buy from WalMart because they operate trucks on Sunday? Any Christians who refuse to go to church because the preacher works on Sunday?

Ther is a proper place for work on Sunday.

 

gb,
I was raised on a dairy farm, too. Although I personally did not have to milk. My grandfather milked twice a day 365 days a year.
I don't see that as relevant. Many Christians would differentiate between deeds that are necessary and deeds that are optional.

I also guess we will just have to disagree. He asked for a change. It was not granted. He did not participate. He maintained his convictions.
I am disappointed he could not participate. I do not think he did anything wrong. He did a lot of things right. Would I do the same thing? No. As I said earlier, I participated on a Sunday decades ago.

Sometimes I think the worst criticism we will get as Christians is NOT from non-Christians, but from other Christians.

 

First of all, he calls it the Sabbath. Makes him look ignorant.

Second of all, the secular world is not bound by our schedule. We are a very religious community here, so when we schedule a football game, it is on Saturday. This irks people in other cities.

But, when we go to their cities, we go by their rules, and it's usually on Sunday.

If he doesn't want to be hypocritical about keeping Sunday holy, then he needs to make sure not to use any electricity, water, gasoline, or almost anything. Those things are all produced on Sunday, and the people at the electric power plant and water plant are all working at that moment to provide it for him.

What about the 7th Day Adventists and Jews? Should they demand that nothing be held on Saturday?

Oh, they need to quit driving to church on Sundays, because driving is work. I get paid to drive, although it's a bus, but there are lots of cab drivers out there. Just becuase the parents don't get paid to drive, doesn't mean it's not work!

However, I do agree that if he thinks that it's wrong, then he should not compete. But, to denigrate those holding the competition? Why would expect them to conform to your standards instead of their own?

 

No, calling it the Sabbath makes him look a certain brand of Reformed. You must not lurk on certain message boards like I do.
Honestly, the way most American Christians observe Sunday is a product of the last few decades. May be right, may be wrong, but it is recent.

They can ask, just like he did.

Where are you seeing him denigrating people? All I read was a quote saying what he believed he should do. Asking does not = demanding automatically. Christians can ask, just like anybody else in this society.