I once saw a scene in a movie where someone declared, “I swear on my mother’s grave!” My reaction? I raised one eyebrow at the screen. What difference does that make?!? If you’re lying, what’s going to happen — is the casket going to crack open because you dragged your mother’s grave into your dishonesty? Will somebody take her out? That’s ridiculous.
But how often do we hear it? Someone tells you something, and then quickly adds, “I promise.” Or “I swear to God.” Or even, “On my children!” As if dragging your kids into it makes a lie any less of a lie.
And yes, I’ll admit I’ve been guilty too. I’ve said, “That’s the God’s honest truth!” But if it really is the truth, then it should stand on its own without needing a stamp of divine approval.
And then there’s the courtroom tradition of swearing on the Bible. Does holding a hand over scripture really stop a liar from lying? No. If someone intends to lie, they will lie. What actually carries weight is accountability — the threat of perjury charges, or even better, the consistency of someone’s character.
The truth is, swearing is just an attempt to add weight where there shouldn’t need to be any. If you live so that your words are trustworthy, you never need to say “I swear.” A simple yes is enough. A simple no is enough.
Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay, words found in the Bible (Matthew 5:37). That one line says it all. If you live honestly and speak truthfully, people should never need you to tack on anything extra to make your words believable.
So my challenge — for myself, and for anyone who reads this — is to live in such a way that people believe you without conditions.
It’s all about integrity, folks…
Let your yes be yes. Let your no be no. And leave it at that.
Like what you read? Are you guilty of beefing up your responses to make them more believable? Leave a comment in the section below. And be sure to sign up at the bottom to receive email notification of future posts from Kenny’s Camera, Cooking & Crazy Confessions at ZootsBlogSpot!
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