ADAR
23
Yea
or Nay
“Just
let your 'Yes' be a simple 'Yes,' and your 'No' a simple 'No'; anything more
than this HAS ITS ORIGIN IN EVIL.” (Mat 5:37 CJB,
emphasis mine)
When called upon in a court of
law to give testimony, we are required, by law, to “solemnly swear, that what
we are about to say is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. For many years, this oath was taken while
placing your hand upon the Word of God, the Bible, which many people still acknowledge
as being the Word of Truth.
Noah Webster defines ‘swear’ as
“to affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth
of what is affirmed; to promise upon oath; to give evidence on oath; as, to swear
to the truth of a statement”[1]. In situations such as a legal issue, we
understand where ‘oath taking’ is necessary to protect the innocent, and there
are laws to ensure that those who bear false witness are severely punished.
However, in this verse above, Elohim
is calling us to be people of our word.
The days of the ‘old-time western
movies’, where a man’s word was as good as his handshake, is a biblical
principal. If it is necessary to add anything
to my ‘yes’, or to my ‘no’, basically what I am saying is that I do not tell
the truth unless I am adding these extra
oaths to my yea’s and nay’s … an impression that is not Messiah-like. My
(natural) Dad told me many years ago, that my
integrity is only equal to the importance I place on honoring my word.
If my word cannot be trusted,
relied and depended upon, then neither can I.
Strong words, there. And if I
choose not to honor my word, then, in
essence, I am lying.
“Therefore,
stripping off falsehood, let everyone SPEAK TRUTH with his neighbor, because we
are intimately related to each other as parts of a body.” (Eph 4:25 CJB, emphasis mine)
“DO
NOT lie to each other, since you have PUT OFF the old man with his practices,
and have PUT ON the new one who is renewed in knowledge according to the likeness
of Him who created him ...”
(Col 3:9-10, emphasis mine)
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