OATH or SWEAR ?? IS IT THE SAME ??

VENUE : Shieh Wei's house

Date : 11th October 2007

Time : 8.30 p.m

" Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, " Do not break your OATHS, but keep the OATHS you have made to the LORD."

But I tell you, Do not SWEAR at all : either by heaen, for it is God's throne; or by the earth; for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not SWEAR by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

Simply let your 'Yes' be "Yes,' and your ' NO,' ' No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

Matthew 5:32-37

' Woe to you, blind guides ! You say,' If anyone SWEARS by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone who swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his OATH. You blind fools ! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred ?

You also say,' If anyone SWEARS by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone SWEARS by the gift on it, he is bound by OATH.'

You blind men ! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred ?

Therefore, he who SWEARS by the altar SWEARS by it and everything on it. And he who SWEARS by the temple SWEARS by it and the one who dwells in it. And he who SWEARS by heaven SWEARS by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.'

Matthew 23:16-22

What is an OATH ?? What does it mean to SWEAR ??

After much 'heated' discussion....we all agreed on Joshua's sum up....=)

An OATH is a 'binding' agreement that is made between two parties...for example..in a marriage..the husband takes an OATH to take care of his wife..in sickness and in health, for poorer and for richer...and etc..etc....

and

You SWEAR when you want to prove further your convictions / what you will do. For e.g...You SWEAR by..etc..etc....that you will study hard.../ that you did not do this crime / that you will take care of so and so....

But shld we SWEAR / TAKE AN OATH ??

Conclusion : We should NOT swear / take any oaths IF we don't need to. This is because IF we are ppl of God...and God is a GOD who is FAITHFUL and TRUE....we'll be doing what we say..and we'll be keeping our words for what we say.

BUT...what about in a court of law ?? Should we SWEAR / TAKE AN OATH ??

Conclusion : YES !! This is because the law 'enforces' this on us and so that the witnesses will be bound by what they say on the witness stand....

All in a day's work

My school is having the test week since early this week. Some funny incidents that I thought are worth mentioning :-)

Record sleeping --- A boy finished his exam way ahead of time and he dramatically took out ...... of all things.... an eye shade, pull it over this head and slept through the entire hour. Talk about getting comfortable!!


Mother's love --- Yun Ha's mum packs her lunch box everyday and also some extra for her friends ;p There's a lot to be learnt about motherhood through my students' life and i thank God for letting me be a witness to these as I teach them everyday.