We, the Mennonites, commit ourselves to speaking truth with
a simple "yes" or "no," avoiding the use of oaths. We look to tell the truth, avoid profane
language, attempt to compel God to guarantee the future through our oath. We also give our allegiance to Jesus Christ,
thereby avoiding oaths of allegiance to other things or people which may
contradict our first allegiance to Jesus.
One of the most profound parts of this confession of faith
are these words: "An oath is often sworn as a guarantee that one is
telling the truth. This implies that
when one has not taken an oath, one may be less careful about telling the
truth." What this means is that if
we swear oaths a lot in order to reinforce that we are telling the truth
("I promise I saw it!" or "I promise this time I'll be
there!" or "I swear this happened...") we are elevating those
portions of our speech above all of our other words as "more
truthful" or "insisting they are true." However, as the above confession points out,
this simply implies that what we say at other times isn't as true, or is less trustworthy then, words we have said under oath.
This is quite profound for our society today. In a job that I used to work, I used to
hear oaths sworn on a regular basis as to someone's honesty in a matter - and
have someone behind them swear the exact opposite thing happened. We have arrived (or have already been) at a
place where oaths aren't even a promise of truth, but everything is now
suspect.
Into this culture, Mennonites say, "We love you enough
to truth-tell straight out. We take
responsibility for our actions, right or wrong, for where we have been and what
we do. You can trust us at our
word."
Want to learn more?
Here is Article 20 of the Mennonite Confession of faith: http://www.mennoniteusa.org/about/confession-of-faith-in-a-mennonite-perspective-1995/article-20-truth/
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