'Carrying' The Lord's Name In Vain?
Mar 08, 2019
- Does this commandment have something to do with our Baptismal Covenant?
- The Hebrew word for 'take' is better translated as 'carry' or 'bear'.
- The same Hebrew word can be used for 'forgive'.
- It's all part of a spiritual economy.
The following scriptures are all part of a baptismal narrative:
Mosiah 18:8- 'BEAR one another's burdens'
Mosiah 26:18- 'who are willing to BEAR my name'
Mosiah 26:31- 'FORGIVE one another your trespasses'
Radio commentator, Dennis Prager's 'take' on this commandment. Interesting, but of course no mention of the Book of Mormon or baptism here:
https://youtu.be/HUxDwJo8Svc
Raw Transcript
all right I wanted to talk about one of
the 10 commandments here and that is not
taking the name of the Lord in vain it
seems to me that we might be
misinterpreting this generally speaking
let me read it to you here we can find
it in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5
where it is repeated again and then of
course we can find it in the book of
Mosiah as a been a die is repeating the
Ten Commandments or reading the Ten
Commandments off to King Noah and to the
priests in his basically in his Mock
Trial but here's what it says it says
thou shalt not take the name of the LORD
thy God in vain for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name
in vain now think about this for a
minute
do you think that one of the very most
important things is saying the word God
in a way that has no meaning because
that's what this literally means when we
say we're gonna take the name of God in
vain our and modern-day interpretation
is well don't say oMG basically right
yeah in other words you're saying it in
a way where it has no meaning it becomes
trivial and therefore disrespectful but
I believe that we're missing the point
on this where that can certainly be a
part of what is being said here in the
Ten Commandments by Moses I think that
there's a much deeper meaning we can
look at this in a couple of different
ways number one it used to be that the
high priest of the temple would wear the
name of Jehovah on his forehead in a
plate that would be up on basically with
this turban if you will and so it would
be hey you're not going to take on you
the name of Jehovah of God in vain in
other words if you're a priest you're
going to be
this is a very meaningful thing
therefore priestcraft or leading people
astray is not a good deal right but
going beyond that we can think about
baptism and I think that's really what
we ought to focus on regardless of
really what is meant here and I think
that that might be what is meant here
when we are baptized we take upon us the
name of Jesus Christ and when we take
upon us the name of Jesus Christ he's
saying don't take that name in vain
right so we're making a commitment a
covenant to follow him and so if we take
that name and make that commitment in
vain then that commitment that covenant
really means nothing to us and we could
say the same thing about the sacrament
each week when we are renewing our
Covenant of baptism baptism again by
water and immersion and by the Holy
Ghost then we are we should not be doing
that in vain but it should be a
commitment that means something to us a
one literal translation of exodus 20:7
which is this which is a do not take the
name of the Lord in vain is where his
name lightly so if we look back at the
Hebrew we would say that that might be
one way of how we would translate that
into English where his name don't wear
his name lightly in other words this is
important the other thing to look at is
that the Hebrew word take so to take his
name in vain really a better
interpretation of that or better
translation of that would probably be
Carrie do not carry his name or do not
bear his name lightly and these to me
are baptismal words when we are baptized
we promise a couple of things if we look
back in Mosiah we're a been a dye is
actually giving his his discourse and
his trial he he is he repeats the ten
commandments and and then Alma leaves
and in the very next chapter Alma is in
the at the waters of Mormon where a
number of people have left they're going
to now form a church then going to
return to the roots of Christ is what
they're really doing based on the words
of a been a die and they're they're
going to be baptized in the waters of
Mormon and there
Alma talks about the commitment of
becoming a member of the church and
being baptized and what this covenant
means and part of that is to bear the
burdens of others so just like we would
bear the burden or bear the name of
Jesus Christ who bears our burdens we
would then bear the burdens of others
that are in the church members of the
church so that bearing the word is NASA
or nasha I have a very cursory
understanding of Hebrew but that word
means to to carry something to bear
something like a burden so that would be
a part of what that commitment would be
and it's where that word is used is
right there in the commandment of the
ten commandments to not take or NASA or
bear or carry the name of the Lord in
vain and then again Alma once again once
he is back away from exile and back now
reuniting with Zarahemla the people at
Zarahemla and with messiah he again
begins to baptize people there and there
it doesn't say bear the commitment isn't
to bear each other's burdens but the
point he brings up at baptism is to
forgive one another their burdens and so
the same word NASA or NASA can also mean
to forgive and I think that's really
interesting right that that we can carry
the name of Christ we can bear the name
of Christ
and and by proxy kind of be like him in
the sense that we can bear others
burdens and part of bearing others
burdens is to forgive them as Christ
would forgive us and so in a way we kind
of by proxy we we take on someone's
burden when we forgive them so if we've
been wronged with something we forgive
them of what they wronged us for and in
a sense we share now that burden with
them we've lightened that person's load
and that's the same word to forgive and
to bear the burden is Russia and so
those words and concepts put us back
again into as we have spoken of
previously that spiritual economy that
give-and-take which is not based on
competition but rather based on love and
forgiveness and the willingness to share
the burden of others I just found that
really interesting and hope that helps
you a little bit in understanding
perhaps another approach to taking the
name of the Lord in vain I'll talk to
you next time
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