The New Zealand women’s Olympic basketball team has three Latter-day Saints on it. Two have chosen to honor the Sabbath by not playing on Sunday’s game; the third has chosen to play. What would you do?
by 
the Otter
ANSWERS: 6
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I am also a Latter-day Saint, and barring any revelation to the contrary, I would sit out of the game. However, I personally think it would be a major, MAJOR decision and would DEFINITELY make it a matter of prayer and fasting. (I have previously been instructed to do certain things that I normally wouldn’t do, on the Sabbath, and the results have been nothing short of AMAZING.) So what does everybody else think?
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I can tell you what they would do. They would come to my house, and knock on my door while i hide inside and watch the game.
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I would hope I would make the same decision as the two and not play. That would be a tough temptation under those circumstances.
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I'm sure that in the long run, Otter, the Lord would honour those that honour Him and Keep His commandments. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break in; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven ... " I'm sure many of us, on many an occasion have already faced this type of choice. I wouldn't like to even guess just how common this must fall into the lives of many if not, most LDS at some stage. A vast percentage even choose not to work or find or accept job offers that require Sunday work; so I'm sure that for the sports honour, even of country, that God's blessing will fall to 'the swift'.
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Honour whatever contract I signed when I joined the team or leave if my convictions were that strong. Frankly, they have a commitment to their team members and if their faith gets in the way of that then they should leave.
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My assumption is they were honest with the coaches up front and told them in advance they would not play on Sunday. If that is the case and the coaches accepted them anyway, then I don't see any conflicts of interest. In international competition you have people representing many cultures and many religions with different holy days. How long would the Olympics last, and at what expense, if only a few days out of the week were available for competition? If I were an athlete at that level, I could consider Sunday competition one of the requirements of the job, and as a coach, I would not accept candidates unwilling to meet the requirements of the job.
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