Sabbath Day

LDS Quotes on the Sabbath Day

There is no need for people to shop and desecrate the Sabbath day by buying things on Sunday. That is not the time to buy groceries. You have six days of the week and you all have a refrigerator. You do not have to shop on Sunday. Do not buy furniture on Sunday, buy it the other days of the week. You will not lose anything if you do your shopping the other days and do not do it no Sunday. Let this day be a day of meditation, of reading the scriptures, of talking with your families, and of dwelling on the things of God. If you do so you will be blessed.

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Jordan Utah South Regional Conference, 3/2/97

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The Sabbath breaker shows early the signs of his weakening in the faith by neglecting his daily family prayers, by fault-finding, by failing to pay his tithes and his offerings; and such a one whose mind begins to be darkened because of spiritual starvation soon begins also to have doubts and fears that make him unfit for spiritual learning or advancement in righteousness. These are the signs of spiritual decay and spiritual sickness that may only be cured by proper spiritual feeding.

Harold B. Lee  |  Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee, p. 179

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Sunday is more than a day of rest from the ordinary occupations of the week. It is not to be considered as merely a day of lazy indolence and idleness or for physical pleasures and indulgences. It is a feastday for your spirit bodies. The place of spiritual feasting is in the house of worship. . . .You who make the violation of the Sabbath a habit, by your failure to “keep it holy,” are losing s soul full of joy in return for a thimble full of pleasure.

Harold B. Lee  |  Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee, p. 178

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My belief is that it is the duty of Latter-day Saints to honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, just as the Lord has commanded us to do. Go to the house of prayer. Listen to instructions. Bear your testimony to the truth. Drink at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, as it may be opened for us from those who are inspired to give us instruction.

Joseph Fielding Smith  |  “Chapter 26: Observing the Sabbath: That Your Joy May Be Full,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (2011), 230–39

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“Over a lifetime of observation, it is clear to me that the farmer who observes the Sabbath day seems to get more done on his farm than he would if he worked seven days. The mechanic will be able to turn out more and better products in six days than in seven. The doctor, the lawyer, the dentist, the scientist will accomplish more by trying to rest on the Sabbath than if he tries to utilize every day of the week for his professional work. I would counsel all students, if they can, to arrange their schedules so that they do not study on the Sabbath. If students and other seekers after truth will do this, their minds will be quickened and the infinite Spirit will lead them to the verities they wish to learn. This is because God has hallowed his day and blessed it as a perpetual covenant of faithfulness. (See Ex. 31:16.) . . .What is worthy or unworthy on the Sabbath day will have to be judged by each of us by trying to be honest with the Lord. On the Sabbath day we should do what we have to do and what we ought to do in an attitude of worshipfulness and then limit our other activities.”

James E. Faust  |  “The Lord’s Day,” Ensign, November 1991, pp. 34-35

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“The Almighty provided that we should observe a sacred Sabbath each week. We have flouted this law to his face, and most of us have turned his holy day into one of pleasure or of ‘business as usual,’ and yet the Sabbath was given as a symbol of allegiance to our Creator.”

Mark E Petersen  |  “Warnings from the Past,” Ensign, June 1971, 47.

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Let us ask ourselves how important the Lord’s atonement is to us. How dear to us is the Lord Jesus Christ? How deeply are we concerned about immortality? Is the resurrection of vital interest to us? We can readily see that observance of the Sabbath is an indication of the depth of our conversion. Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us. Do we realize that most national holidays are observed more widely than is the Sabbath, so far as its divine purpose is concerned? Then have we put God in second or third place? And is that what we want to do? Is that where he belongs? I bear you testimony that to properly observe the Lord’s holy day is one of the most important things we can ever do. It is an essential step toward our eternal salvation.

Mark E Petersen  |  “The Sabbath Day,” Ensign, May 1975, p. 49

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“Sabbath observance was a sign between ancient Israel and their God whereby the chosen people might be known.”

Earl C. Tingey  |  Ensign, May 1996, p. 10

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing not he Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.

Spencer W. Kimball  |  Ensign, January 1978, p. 4

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“Now, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or on excursions on the Sabbath day – and there is a great deal of this practiced – are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts and their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the Kingdom of God and go to destruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to your neighbors. “

Brigham Young  |  Journal of Discourses, 15:83

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