Transcript
A (0:01)
Welcome to part two with Dr. Aaron Shade. Exodus 19:34.
B (0:07)
John, I feel for people out there who maybe are a little bit like me and, and don't do this very well. And it can't be about guilt and, oh, I better do something on the Sabbath. It's gotta be about a relationship. Aaron, I really liked what you said. It's not about what you don't do. It's about what you create. You can create relationships on the Sabbath. You can create goodness and kindness and service and help and love.
C (0:37)
And that can be tailored to each of our personal experiences. It's so easy to point the finger at somebody else and just say, man, you're just. I can't believe you're doing that on the Sabbath, when in reality, maybe that's the best situation for me because I am trying to create a relationship with an individual that may not think like me, that may not have the same mentality about the Sabbath of me. But it doesn't mean that we can't do something in the spirit of love to create those relationships in ways that again, are personalized to our individual experiences.
A (1:10)
Yeah, I love the connection you made between. When we think of work, we think of work labor, like being out there with a shovel or something. But God's work is bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of all of us. And we can, like what you guys are saying, assist in that, work with each other, with relationships, with ministering. That is work. But it's God's work.
C (1:35)
And it's something that exalts, it's something that inspires. It's exhausting, but it's something that brings us closer to God and those with whom we serve, closer to God. It can be a real win win for everybody. But that's what the Commandments are designed to do.
B (1:52)
Aaron, that can be a real paradigm shift, at least for me. This is a day of creation. He tied it to creation on purpose.
C (1:59)
It's really a sacred tie. He wants us to keep in remembrance what it is that we're doing here. All of the commandments steer us in different directions. This one we talk about, thou shall not steal. It's clear that that has to do with property and you know, the feelings that that can evoke if somebody takes your stuff. And I even love the story in Elisha, you remember that Elisha. Somebody approaches, he's performing all these miracles, and someone says, hey, I lost the axe head in the river, and it's borrowed because it could cause some harsh feelings that I lost something. Or it could Be perceived as stolen or whatever. This concept of stealing, forgive me for taking liberties here and how I expand this definition of what is stolen. This is something that I was reflecting on and that really became something poignant for me as I think about the concept of stealing. As I was pondering some nuances of that, I thought, what about the concept of stealing someone's dignity? What about robbing someone of hope? Stealing someone's confidence in themselves or in God? Or robbing and stealing justice from the downtrodden or the most vulnerable? What about robbing mercy of justice? When our kids were really young, our boys would fight occasionally. I know that's hard to believe, but. And the older one would sometimes come in and say, my fist hungers for justice, quoting Kung Fu Panda. What about stealing self worth or robbing another's hope in the gospel, the story of Alma and Corianton. That was a discussion we were having just a few a few weeks ago with the writing committee for the Scripture helps working on the Book of Mormon now. We were talking about Alma's concern, obviously for his son, but also for the effects that Corianton was having on other people. Alma understood the concept of fixing what you had broken, fixing the pain that you had caused others. Sometimes that was robbing them of a confidence in God, confidence in his gospel. When we're in a position where that happens to us, we know how much that crush us. We know what it feels like to have hope taken away. We feel the sting of losing dignity. Our reaction can sometimes be to lash out and make sure that somebody pays for it. And yet it feels like these commandments are trying to say, even if you're on the wrong end of this equation, it doesn't mean that you respond in kind. I get the eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth thing that's going to come up. But that's a law that was given to make sure that punishment never exceeded a fair punishment. This concept of thinking about what we could take from other people is something that's really been on my mind a lot lately.
