Episode 38: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy (Gaye Strathearn)
Y Religion
BYU Religious Education
4.9 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2021
⏱️ 57 minutes
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Summary
While many commandments are fairly clear, how to "remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" has been debated for millennia. Professor Gaye Strathearn from BYU Religious Education has researched this discussion during the centuries surrounding Jesus's mortal ministry. This episode explores efforts to navigate the Sabbath day by Israelites in the late second temple period, and how we can learn from them to remember and keep the Sabbath holy today.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, my Why Religion friends, Professor Anthony Sweat here from BYU religious education. Welcome |
| 0:04.5 | to another great episode of Why Religion. A few weeks ago, I was in upstate New York on a church |
| 0:10.3 | history trip. And as part of that trip, on Sunday, after we went to church, I might add, we went to |
| 0:16.9 | visit Niagara Falls. And when I arrived, I just couldn't believe how busy it was for a Sunday afternoon. |
| 0:24.4 | The sheer number of people there amazed me as much as the falls itself almost. |
| 0:29.0 | While I was observing all these people, I had a thought crests my mind along the lines of, |
| 0:33.1 | this day seems no different than an extended Saturday for most of these people. |
| 0:38.3 | And as I had that somewhat critical thought, another thought crossed my mind and it went something like this, |
| 0:43.3 | and you're guilty as charged with the rest in this crowd, buddy. |
| 0:47.3 | And perhaps my thoughts were right, perhaps they were wrong. |
| 0:51.3 | Even as I tell you this story, some of you who are listening may be thinking, |
| 0:54.4 | oh good, he went to church on Sunday, even on a trip. Others of you might be thinking, |
| 1:00.0 | what? He went to Niagara Falls on a Sunday? That's so inappropriate for the Sabbath. |
| 1:05.4 | Well, somebody else might come back to that and say, well, he was worshipping by appreciating |
| 1:09.5 | the creations of God in nature. And while somebody else might just say, hey, he was worshipping by appreciating the creations of God in nature. |
| 1:11.8 | And while somebody else might just say, hey, it's his business, leave him alone. And therein, |
| 1:16.4 | my friends, enters the difficulty of the command to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. |
| 1:22.6 | While many commandments are fairly clear, particularly that thou shalt not. How to exactly keep the command |
| 1:28.0 | to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy has been debated for millennia, and it extends |
| 1:34.3 | and continues today. Apart from attending our church meetings, it can sometimes be hard to know |
| 1:39.8 | where to draw lines of do's and don'ts for the Sabbath day. Even our neighbors who worship |
| 1:44.1 | side by side with us in the morning at church have differing views on the appraisal to draw lines of dues and don'ts for the Sabbath day. Even our neighbors who worship side |
... |
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