Commandment #4 - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shall 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; 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.
I hear that only 17% of the US population says it does not have a religion yet many stores and restaurants are open 7 days a week. As long as the same individual is not working 7 days a week and their working does not conflict with his/her Sabbath, this commandment is not violated. However, truckers will drive long hauls 7 days a week and others do not work at all. To take this further, there’s 24 hours in a day, minus the 8 for sleeping this means a person could work 16 hours a day. For the average adult, there is the family (includes playing/talking with them), household upkeep, education and/or exercise that can occupy the time after work. For children, there is school, homework and chores that should be done. A person working 6 days at a job should not feel that he/she is entitled to let the family and/or household go unless the job (includes getting ready and travelling to it) occupies the full 16 hour days. God does not excuse us from doing all that needs to be done. He is saying to take a day off and remember him. Unfortunately, I believe that most Americans are too occupied with sports, electronics and other pleasures to fulfill this commandment.
A recent study shows that Americans work 5 weeks more than the people in other developed countries and 35% are working on week-ends. We’re not very good at supporting this commandment.
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