Minecraft, Anyone?

[Carborendum]

When I first started this current job, I had to spend almost a month in another state for orientation.  My wife thought that it would be great if we could play together on her minecraft server.

So, I bought a copy and we tried playing for a bit.  It didn't seem all that fun.  It was really frustrating. My whole family mocked me for not being able to figure out something so simple.

Now it has been many months.  And I can pretty much do anything on the game.  But just as I'm getting good at it, my whole family decided that they're bored and don't really want to play anymore.

Does anyone else play?

[NeuroTypical]

I feel your pain.  Back when my kiddos were smaller, I was only invited into the family server a small handful of times.  I wasn't especially mocked, but I was the butt of many jokes and the target of all of the pranks and traps everyone knew about.  My tactic was to grab the first flower I could find and just pour all the love I could into it before I got set on fire or blown up or whatever.  

We'd sit at our different PCs in different areas of the house.  One time my daughter started screaming, and in the game I saw her run past me as she was being chased by a baby zombie riding a pig.   The 2010'ses were fun years.

[mordorbund]

4 hours ago, Carborendum said:

Does anyone else play?

The kids got it one Christmas on the gaming console. One of them asked to play on Sunday and I told him it wasn’t really a Sabbath activity. Since all children are lawyers, he asked if he could Minecraft on Sunday if he was making a temple.

And that’s how my son and I built an 1890’s Salt Lake City temple in Minecraft.

[NeuroTypical]

There was quite a bit of that about.  

 

And I've lost the images, but apparently some people in 2nd life recreated the salt lake valley, and you could fly into the conference center and sit in a pew and they would be broadcasting General Conference.  

 

[Ironhold]

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

There was quite a bit of that about.  

 

And I've lost the images, but apparently some people in 2nd life recreated the salt lake valley, and you could fly into the conference center and sit in a pew and they would be broadcasting General Conference.  

 

Second Life was at one point quite popular for people to do things like virtual get-togethers, to the point that some companies were looking to use Second Life to conduct remote meetings in the years before Zoom was a thing. It was even quite popular among members of the church, who created replicas of church buildings in there and broadcast Conference as well as other bits. 

The problem, however, was that Second Life *also* had a not-so-secret adults-only section. It took a while for word to slowly get out, but after a while there was a surge of people essentially using Second Life to create adults-only content, at which point it seemed like people were finding other platforms for their social gatherings and other events. 

Edited October 21, 2024 by Ironhold

[HaggisShuu]

9 hours ago, mordorbund said:

The kids got it one Christmas on the gaming console. One of them asked to play on Sunday and I told him it wasn’t really a Sabbath activity.

This brings up an interesting question for me. How do we come to conclusion of what is and is not sabbath acceptable? 
 

I know people in my ward who won't even put the TV on on a Sunday which seems extreme to me. My brother in law who is inactive now used to exercise on the sabbath. His family used to say that the Sabbath was a day of rest and so he shouldn't, but they don't have an issue with going to restaurant as that to them is a wholesome family activity, but other members of the ward refuse to spend on the Sabbath so much so that they won't even place an order on Amazon. 
 

I think it's fascinating how the only thing we are really asked to do in temple recommend interviews is keeping the sabbath "holy" and people come to wildly different conclusions on how to do that. 
 

I have to work alot of Sundays but I will still have a family member bless the sacrament for me, and make time for prayer and study after my shifts - while not ideal I'm still striving to keep the Sabbath holy.

[Carborendum]

4 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

This brings up an interesting question for me. How do we come to conclusion of what is and is not sabbath acceptable? 

A lot of what I thought were hard and fast rules as a child turn out to be not so hard and fast.  So, I have no idea other than: Pray about it.

[NeuroTypical]

8 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

How do we come to conclusion of what is and is not sabbath acceptable? 

I don't have an answer, just a fun tidbit.  I once got to attend a symposium given by of the LDS researchers who worked on one of the original Dead Sea Scrolls translation projects.  As he was telling us about the people who wrote and preserved these scrolls, one interesting tidbit: Their Sabbath observance apparently prohibited not just the usual law of Moses-ey stuff like no work or cooking, but also prohibited pooping.   

I guess maybe I do have an answer.  The answer is "it depends on culture to a certain extent".   So, if the Sabbath is a day of rest, what of playing games and tv?  If the Sabbath should be a spiritual endeavor and an opportunity to focus on sacred things, then what of playing games and tv?  I figure our hearts should be pointed in good ways, but how we accomplish that is influenced by culture.

I take comfort that God gets it.  What with Jesus getting in trouble for eating the shewbread and working on the Sabbath and all.  Mark 2 and Mark 3 and all that.

Edited October 22, 2024 by NeuroTypical

[Ironhold]

8 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

This brings up an interesting question for me. How do we come to conclusion of what is and is not sabbath acceptable? 

I think it's largely person by person. 

In my case, being with a newspaper means that I've had to work on Sundays before, either because a story broke or because a holiday on Friday meant that many of the customers (re: businesses or city offices) I deliver to were closed and so I have to choose between delivering after church or delivering before the sun's up on Monday. I also, TBH, hit up 7-11 and Walgreen's on my way home because for the longest time the paper I was with printed *twice* a week and so I had no choice but to do some of my errands on Sunday as I had no guarantee I'd have time on Monday. And as I've noted before, I spend most of the day listening to the radio, with me using earbuds to listen to rebroadcasts of Casey Kasem during most of the day. 

Am I far too casual for most? Probably. 

As a contrast though, I'm reminded of a book I tried to read for rebuttal some years ago, "Turmoil In The Toybox II". It was a book from 1989 / 1990 in which the author, Joan Hake Robie, was screaming about how most toys that were available during the 1980s were "Satanic" in nature because of this, that, and the other, usually something that was a significant leap of logic. The opening chapter is a long diatribe about the nature of toys, with her claiming that once upon a time the only toy that kids were allowed to play with on Sunday was Noah's Ark since that tied back to the Bible. The tone of the book made it seem like she wanted a return to those days. 

[zil2]

7 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

going to restaurant as that to them is a wholesome family activity, but other members of the ward refuse to spend on the Sabbath so much so that they won't even place an order on Amazon.

This one should be obvious as the nose on one's face:

Quote

Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

How is this not obvious?  We are not to cause others to work on the sabbath.  I set my Amazon preferences (it was not easy) to not deliver on Sunday.  It took a while, but it finally seems to be working.  I can't stop them from boxing things on Sunday or shipping them, but I can stop them from delivering, at least.

As to all the rest, the answer is in the scriptures for all the world to see:

• BD Sabbath
• BD Sabbath day's journey
• BD Sabbatical Year
• TG Sabbath
• TG Sabbatical Year

Study them not for what they say, but for what the Spirit teaches you through them.  Note the reference and what you learn.  When you're done, reorganize your notes (I reorganized twice) - I grouped them into categories of teaching (ended up with 8 categories).  My notes filled an A3 sheet of paper.  I was shocked by how much I learned - things I had never been taught nor considered.  As someone born and raised in the Church, I thought I knew the sabbath inside and out.  Boy was I wrong.

If you wish to study further:

• Gospel Topic Overview for Sabbath Day
• Gospel Study Guide for Sabbath Day

There will be overlap, but also links to GC talks, magazine articles, videos, etc.

My 8 categories are:

• Meaning / origin
• Covenant / sign
• Attitude
• Blessings
• Importance
• Lessons from Sabbatical Year
• How to keep
• Violation leads to destruction <-- did you note that one!

Some other note categories I added later include:

• Prepare for the sabbath
• Types of sabbath observance

So, study, note what the Spirit teaches you (get out your pen and paper, or your keyboard - they tell the Spirit you're serious), organize and summarize your notes.  Soon you will have all the guidance you are ready for, with enough left over to continue improving your sabbath for years.