Question: My Mormon friend doesn't want to hang with me on Sundays. He says he's got church, but how can church last all day? What are the Mormon views and standards concerning sunday?

Answer: I enjoy sunday. It's a great time to sleep, catch up on a little homework, and of course go to church. In answer to the first question: church service doesn't last all day. The standard period is about three hours. The rest of the day is generally spent at home taking a nap, listening to music, catching up on homework, etc.

The main concept behind not playing with friends and what not goes way back to the ten commandments. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8) Back when the Law of Moses was given to the Isrealites, there were very specific restrictions concerning sabbath behavior. People were only allowed to perform certain activities and take only a certain amount of steps. Today, we don't take the commmandment to that sort of an extreme, but the main idea remains the same. The sabbath day is a day of remebrance. Sunday is a day set aside to take in an extra amount of consideration of the blessings we've been given and the things we need to do. It is a time to search the scriptures, ponder what they say, and to pray about it.

Every person keeps the sabbath in his or her own way. Some families restrict the use of electronics on sunday, watching TV only on certain occasions, others take a family nap time, and still others have there own small rules. Some of the more common standards that are kept are no spending money and participating in community activites such as soccer and clubs. Spending money means that someone else has to do work, which is something that should be avoided if possible on sunday. Community sports and clubs is considered more of a distraction. It detracts from the focus of the sunday, which is to think of Jesus and the gospel.

So the main idea of the sabbath for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is just what it is intended to be: To be a day of rest, spent in consideration of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. So the reason your friend isn't going to the movies with you or whatever the activity may be, is because he/she is taking sunday to pay extra respects to the Savior. To be with his/her family and taking this time to rest.