by Cinda Smaagaard

Created on: March 15, 2009   Last Updated: March 16, 2009

The use of the Bible as an instrument by which to swear oaths of office and justify true testimony in courtrooms simply does not work in today's modern society and should therefore be disbanded. The Bible deserves our utmost respect and consideration as the Holy Word of God, and for this reason, I do not believe it should be used as some kind of device to extract promises of good faith from people. You can rely on the truth statements contained in the Bible, but not so much truth from those who place their hands upon it while swearing an oath. If a person is not truthful or committed while swearing in, especially if they are swearing an oath by God, they will simply bring condemnation upon themselves, a situation which is best avoided.

There are other conflicting matters to consider. We live in a very diverse society now where there are a myriad of religious and cultural belief systems. Perhaps the person would prefer to use the Koran, Vedas, Torah, Book of Mormon or any other number of both religious and nonreligious texts. Did you know that we have several members of Congress now who claim to be nonChristian or Unitarian? What about those who profess a religion, but do not accept the propriety of swearing an oath, such as Jehovah Witnesses?

An oath is a solemn appeal to God or a way of attesting the truth of one's word. It also implies the inviolability of a promise or the affirmation of a promise made. It is the attestation to the truth of one's word. Sometimes the term oath is used in the opposite context, such as a careless or blasphemous use of the name of a divine being such as using the Lord's name in vain. When we look at the Bible itself, we see many examples of oaths made especially in prophetic expression, like "As the Lord lives" (1 Sam. 19:6), "God judge between us" (Gen 31:53), "I call God as witness" (2 Cor. 1:23). Oaths can be used to confirm a covenant and we see examples of that on legal documents which are notarized by people of good ethics and character. Oaths can establish truth, such as in courtrooms when they ask you to raise your right hand and swear that the testimony you are about to give is "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God."

We are also told in the Bible that sometimes oaths are obligatory (Num. 30:2), such as vows to God or binding obligations. The person is expected to "do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth." I think of marriage ceremonies and charitable donation pledges falling under

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