I think every Mormon has that cousin or friend who believes firmly that you should not swim on the sabbath. I am not one of these people. Sure, there are plenty of good reasons NOT to swim on the sabbath--like if it takes you away from family, or interferes with your spiritual focus, or what have you. I have no problem with Sunday swimming bans based in this logic. But the myth that both my husband and I were exposed to by our respective backwater cousins was this....don't laugh, okay?
The devil is in the water on Sunday.
Both of us heard it, so it can't be that uncommon of a belief. I had almost forgotten about this gem of my youth until we really wanted to go swimming and it happened to be a Sunday and the only people we knew with a pool were Mormon. I have no idea where this comes from, but there's not much doctrinal foundation that I can see. And even if there were, this is one of those things so absurd that my skepticism would win out.
Again, if you don't swim on Sunday, that's fine. I can definitely see an argument there for keeping the sabbath day holy. But the devil being in the water? What? Like he reserved it on the calendar for himself and his demon buddies and doesn't want a bunch of lame-o Mormons crashing his pool party? Please. My husband and I are so amused by this thought that we've concocted a rather elaborate pool party vignette for satan in our minds.
In this scene, satan appears at the Richey's pool. It's the best pool in town, and it seems appropriate that he'd want to visit it--even if it is the bishop's house (or perhaps, especially because it's the bishop's house). Old scratch is most definitely wearing a speedo, a goatee, and holding an alcoholic fruity drink and pushing people off the diving board. Demon friends can be found straddling the crocodile floaty toy and the hot pink pool noodles and laughing inappropriately. The music is something a little retro--a bit of bossa nova--because this is a swanky party. A couple of them are lounging on the pool chairs in immodest clothing, reading The Origin of Species and Al Franken.
When you spend Monday through Saturday torturing the damned, it's understandable that you'd need a little break. So anyway, that's your spiritual thought for the day. What other Mormon folk doctrines have prevented you from having harmless fun? Is the swimming thing just a Mormon thing?
11 comments:
So, should one also not bathe on Sundays? And not go out (even to the car) if it's raining on the Sabbath? Can I use water to cook with? Am I permitted to flush the toilet?
Or is Satan only in pools? What volume of water is necessary to sustain the Devil?
Ah, the old D&C 61:13-19 fear:
"Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.
Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters."
People are silly. If I had a pool, I would totally swim on Sunday. Satan is not in your pool, folks.
I completely forgot about that! I remember who told me that too. I think it is completely ridiculous, I can understand keeping the sabbath holy, but really the devil is in the pool on Sunday's....... It is utter nonsense!
"Sure, there are plenty of good reasons NOT to swim on the sabbath--like if it takes you away from family, or interferes with your spiritual focus, or what have you. I have no problem with Sunday swimming bans based in this logic."
Logic? really?
As far as Mormon folklore, I had a companion on my mission who insisted on fasting for EXACTLY 24 hours.
What you have to understand is that in the Ecuador Quito Mission, almost every meal (read: lunch... it's the only real meal they ear) was with members. They loved feeding us, and even though Ecuadorian food ranges from generally "mostly terrible" to "so awful I want to die," it was nice spending time with them as they were lovely people.
Here's the problem: Our lunch schedules radically changed each day, especially on weekends. This created havoc when we'd have a late lunch on Saturday (like 2 p.m) start our fast... and then have a relatively early lunch on Sunday (noon). My companion was so concerned with not having a 24 hour fast, he could never enjoy the meals and would get very emotionally distressed. I wanted to punch him in the face. I told him numerous times that the missionary discussion lessons about fasting clearly said "two consecutive meals," and that 24 hours was an approximation, not a strict rule punishable by death. And yet, the whining and bitching continued for the 5 months I was with him. Blargh
To me the swimming ban on Sunday makes sense in the context of public swimming pools. Sunday is the day of rest. If you're making people be your life guards, take care of your detritus, take your money etc. then you aren't honoring the sabbath because you're making other people work. But if you're by the lake? I'm not sure I care. I remember a Sunday lake day with family members and we spent the whole day aggressively doing clean up (getting ready to leave) but couldn't swim. Because you know beating rugs isn't work, but swimming is?
We aren't using much water today, but only becuase we're in the midst of a recaulking project and have to be extra careful. But we all KNOW satan is in the caulk.
I always heard it as "the devil has power in the water." So I was told that's why missionaries couldn't swim. We don't swim on Sundays simply for the sake of keeping the day holy, but that sounds like something people made up to tell their kids.
I'm pretty sure missionaries don't swim because in lots of places, especially foreign countries, swimming can be really dangerous. Plus, then you'd have missionaries surfing and water skiing on P-Day, which just increases the risk of injury (and you thought missionaries faking knee injuries to mask a dishonorable release was bad...).
We weren't even allowed to go on the beach in Ecuador... so I have lots of photos of me on high ground with the ocean safely in the background.
This feels to me a bit more like "The Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight" than an actual thing—a silly little slogan to roll out that's not meant to be taken literally, although I'm sure there are some people who do.
This is not Mormon doctrine and I bet you would have a very hard time finding a member that believes Satan controls the water on Sunday. Is that what the Richies told you? Maybe it was a strange deep doctrine surmised rumor that past through Eugene in the early 90s or something.
No, this is not what the Richeys told them. Sunday is the one day that we are guaranteed to have a peaceful backyard to ourselves. Not that we don't love backyard swim parties with all the fun and laughter and noise that goes with it, and I would honestly not mind having those 6 days a week. But Sunday is more restful when there's not pool party noise. We have had many Sunday family nights (which often included creative lessons) in the pool. We still had fun but perhaps a little more subdued fun than the tons-of-people-barbecuing-and-cannon-balling-it-up pool party. And there was still probably the little FHE squabbles that most assuredly occur as soon as the label FHE is attached to the activity.
Post a Comment