Saturday, June 16, 2018

Should We Be Taking Oaths?




Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all;
not by heaven, for it is God's throne;
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'
Anything more is from the Evil One."


At one time or another, we may be called on to swear an oath which means we are invoking God and saying that we guarantee that what we are saying is the truth and God will back us up a hundred percent.  This is done, for example, when we testify in a court case. The taking of an oath binds us to be truthful and not at all deceitful because the matter at hand is important.  Why is Jesus against the taking of oaths?  

Actually, Jesus is just calling His followers to be truthful all of the time.  To take an oath and swear that something is true which is not is a terrible sin.  It violates the commandment against lying and more importantly, we are using the name of God to issue a guarantee for something that we know is false and that is blasphemy. 

Jesus knew that His people had all sorts of ways of taking oaths that were not oaths at all and left the person taking the oath free to lie.  For example, you could swear on your head that what was saying was true.  That offered no guarantee but sounded good.  Some people would swear on the temple, again the sages said this was not an oath, but if the same person swore by the gold in the temple, well then he was obligated.  It was quite a convoluted system. 

Jesus understands that we may one day have to take an oath and He is not forbidding we do so.  He is saying that no matter if we are under oath or not, we are obligated as one of His followers, to tell the truth at all times and under all circumstances. This is part of being a Christian, maybe even one of the hardest parts.  What do you think?

Remember to pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory today. 

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