“Ye Shall Be a Peculiar Treasure unto Me”
Though the 10 Commandments are arguably the most well-known legislation in the history of the Western World, the Jewish Law which they preface has prompted more confusion. This episode puts the Jewish Law in the context of the sacred. We introduce context and concepts behind the Law, discuss how ritual creates sacred space and time, and explore how these elements can enable us to keep the divine in our daily lives.
Recurring Donation:
One Time Donation:
Class Member Reading: Exodus 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 32, 33, 34; JST Deut. 10:2; John 6:35, 48-51; Galatians 3:23-24; Mosiah 13:29-30; Alma 25:15-16; Alma 34:14-15; 3 Nephi 15:4-10; D&C 84:19-27
Additional Reading: Psalm 78; 1 Corinthians 10:1-11
Other Reading: Look over the legal material in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Lisa and Allen join the conversation.
You can access the Annotated Reading here (or PDF).
You can access the Lesson Notes here (or PDF)
Timeline
Sunday School
0:00 Announcements
5:31 Correction from previous episode
7:23 Complaint vs. Critique
11:26 Readings
25:12 Ritual Purity
Discussion Part 1
30:54 Introductions
33:39 Complaining
40:37 Sustaining Church Leaders
47:46 Idolatry
52:56 Jewish Law
1:00:56 Sacred Space
1:09:30 Heavenly Mother
1:13:56 Sacred Time
1:18:28 Kingdom of Priests
Resources
Authorship of the Old Testament, David Bokovoy
Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch, Jean-Louis Ska
Jewish Law
Jewish Law and Decalogue (10 Commandments), from Shaye Cohen’s Harvard U Course
The Sabbath World, RadioWest
Rabbi Heschel, Shabbat as a Sanctuary in Time
Ritual
Ritual within Mormonism, Mormon Matters
Atheism 2.0 (It is quite positive towards religion)
Interview with Phil McLemore’s transformation through meditation, Mormon Stories
Kingdom of God is within you, Mormon Matters
Margaret Toscano on Myth, FeminstMormonHousewives podcast
Seeing the Divine Feminine in the sacred garments, Daughters of Mormonism
Commandments and Ethics
Moral Accountability, Philosophy Bites
The New Science of Morality, Point of Inquiry
The Science and Philosophy of Human Nature, iTunes U at Yale
Justice, iTunes U at Harvard (entire college courses but both of these are amazing)
Thanks to William Newman for content editing, James Estrada for audio postproduction, and as always to Steven Nelson for the beautiful bumper music.
Engaging Gospel Doctrine 
Hi, I am a recent convert to the Church of Jesus Chrsit of LDS, for about 7 years. I am from the Washington DC area. I was called to teach Gospel Doctrine back in October of last year. I was intrigued concerning your thoughts on callings and how ward members interact with leadership. What I have noticed in our ward is that the concept of “docility” is not an issue.Our ward is filled with servic minded people, obedient, covenant keeping, but also very outspoken (in a good way ). We have a really thoughtful Bishop, and by thoughtful meaning that he seems to utilize many avenues when assigning a calling and one part of it is in talking to perspective candidates. He has a great relationship with the Stake Presidency also and utilizes the Elders Quorum presidency. So in my case, as a convert, I suppose there was a lot more dialogue concerning callings than If I were not a convert. My Bishop has never “forced” a calling on anyone, but he invites everyone to pray about it and consider it. He feels that if you are forced or seemingly forced to accept a calling that you are not prepared for, you probably won’t particpate in that calling. I have always felt that I had a part in the callings I have served and they haven’t been easy callings either.
Thank you for this pod cast, I am learning a lot about “Mormonism”. It is a different world than where I came from. Lot’s of stuff.
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Your ward sounds great! Glad you are having a good experience and are enjoying the podcast.
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As you were trying to think of “sacred time” on your podcast, I’m surprised no one thought of Family Home Evening time each Monday night. I know, I know, it probably sounds trite upon first thought, but hear me out. Until someone and his/her spouse both have heavy callings at the same time (my husband’s the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric, I’m the YW Pres) you don’t realized how much that “free” Monday evening is truly considered “sacred” even within the eyes of the church. The church won’t hold ward meetings, stake meetings, bishopric meetings, prescy meetings or meeting of any kind that night. And when the rest of the week (including Sunday) is taken up so heavily with our calling responsibilities (esp my husband’s week & Sunday) I’ve come to truly see the sacredness of a night set aside where the church does not want to interfere in any way with what is views as sacred time with our families (which is what it professes to be the most sacred of all institutions as well). Whether or not that time is actually spent with a traditonal FHE is up to the family, but the teaching, both taught and shown, of it being a sacred time is definitely there.
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