ENGINEERING REVIEW AND KEEPING THE SABBATH DAY HOLY

by: Norberto Betita

The Lord Jesus Christ taught, “The Sabbath was made for man.” (Mark 2:27). I always think of the Sabbath Day as the Lord’s Day---a day to find joy in doing the Lord’s work and to glory in His service. It is not only a day of rest but on the whole, I think of it as a day of worship, a day to come into the table of the Lord’s Supper to partake of the Sacrament and renew my covenants. It is a day to do service to God’s children, to visit the fatherless and the widows, and invite men to come unto Christ. Since my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I strived to really keep the Sabbath Day holy. There may be times when I failed, but I always make it a point to sincerely observe the law. As a matter of fact, it was for such reason that I leave a good paying job in the island which required me to work on a Sunday. 

Even in periods of great trials and pressing problems; in times when I felt guilty of sin and transgression; and such other days of life’s turbulence, I always make serious effort to be in the Church to have the opportunity to recommit myself in my covenants with the Lord through the Sacrament. Through the years I found that my continued obedience of the Sabbatical law allowed me to experience and gain greater spiritual strength and power that had since sustained me as a member of the Church. Church attendance and Sabbath observance had become a permanent shelter and refuge from the recurring storms of mortality. On many occasions I felt the Holy Ghost bearing witness to me that the messages given during Sacrament meetings and lessons learned in the different classes are infinite truths that come from God necessary to guide me in my personal journey. Time and again these revelatory experiences are felt even in such simple testimonies of a member’s first time experiences in the Temple; in singing the hymns with conviction; and in listening to earnest testimonies from members for personal experiences of receiving blessings from gospel obedience. I rejoice with tear-filled eyes as I felt of the influence of the Holy Ghost through a burning feeling in my heart. Once, after our Sacrament meeting, I was asked by the presiding authority, “Why did you cry?”

When the Lord commanded that, “the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant, as a sign between me and the children of Israel forever” (Exodus 31;16-17, He was not referring to the Israelites alone, but also to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well as the whole world. 

John H. Groberg once told of his experience in the island of Tonga: “The small island kingdom of Tonga lies immediately next to the international dateline, so it is the first country in the world to greet the Sabbath day. It is a small country and, in the counting of the world, a poor country. But years ago a wise Tongan king decreed that the Sabbath would be kept holy in Tonga forever.

“Modern civilization has come in many ways to Tonga. If one goes to the capital of Nuku’alofa on a weekday, he finds the usual heavy traffic of trucks and cars and the bustle of thousands of shoppers making their regular purchases from well-stocked stores and markets. One sees people line up to view the latest movies and to rent videos. One can watch modern buses whisk tourists off to catch their jet planes, or observe the speed and clarity of a satellite call to the United States. The streets are crowded and business is good. You might wonder, “What is so different about this town from hundreds of others like it throughout the world?

“But when Sunday dawns on the kingdom of Tonga, a transformation takes place. If one goes downtown, he sees deserted streets—no taxis or buses or crowds of people. All the stores, all the markets, all the movie theaters, all the offices are closed. No planes fly, no ships come in or out, no commerce takes place. No games are played. The people go to church. Tonga is remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy.

“It is significant that the first country in the world to greet the holy Sabbath keeps the Sabbath holy.

“Has the Lord blessed them? Maybe the world cannot see his blessings, but in the ways that really count, he has blessed them abundantly. He has blessed them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a larger percentage of the population there belongs to the Church than in any other country.”

“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20-21). Keeping the Sabbath day holy is a divine law and the obedient shall therefore receive the promised predicated blessing. 

On December 7, 2013 I was touched by a message given by Bro. Quim Torres, our Branch Mission Leader. He is a Civil Engineer by profession, a returned missionary and a former Branch President himself. He shared as his message during the Sacrament Meeting three fundamental principles---magnifying a calling; obeying the law of tithing and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. He explained in very clear details and solemnly testified of the blessings that come from magnifying our calling and obedience to the law of tithing. On the subject of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, he related a personal experience as a young college graduate.

He said, “I expressed my concern to my Priesthood leader about my planned engineering review classes for the Civil Engineering Board Examinations. I was told by my Priesthood leader never to study on the Sabbath Day but instead to earnestly keep it holy. It seemed difficult at first to take the advice considering that I would be missing 24 days of studies, but I accepted the counsel seriously. For many weeks I tried to sincerely keep the Sabbath Day holy, but I found it difficult to pass my weekly evaluation exams.”

Throughout their classes and until the six months review period was finished, he has been consistently worried about the results of his weekly evaluation exams, but he was grateful that he has been able to come to a more meaningful understanding of the deeper import of keeping the Sabbath Day holy by not studying on Sunday notwithstanding the ridicule he received from fellow review students. Despite his unfavourable performance in the review he still decided to take the Board examinations. He took courage from the promise of his Priesthood leader. He said that, “for about thirty minutes inside the examination room I felt very uncomfortable remembering of my many failing results in the review evaluation examinations. Yet I prayed for guidance, and the Lord gave me the confidence and opened my mind to the memory of my review lessons.”

The result of the Civil Engineering Board examination was released and Brother Quim Torres made it to the list of successful new licensed civil engineers. Then he told the congregation that, “it even surprised me greatly to know that my rating was one per cent higher than that of the consistent top student in our review class.”

Accordingly the promise of the Lord served its purpose, ”If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 58: 13-14).