"Foolish Vows"

"You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no'. When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong" ~ Matthew 5:36-37 (MSG)

Have you ever heard someone try to convince you that their word was more iron-clad by some silly oath? Maybe you've even done this yourself because you really wanted someone to trust what you were saying. When I was younger, there were the words "I promise", but you could swindle someone by saying those words and then later revealing that you actually had your fingers crossed behind your back when you said them, thereby rendering the words null and void. How ridiculous! Later, "pinky-promises" were introduced. These are self-evidently deserving of laughter and ridicule. The fact that we have these, and even oaths we must swear by in court, proves that we are a society in which lying and manipulating to get the desired result has become acceptable. As followers of Christ, we must be different, separate from the world. This week at Friendship, we will talk about "Foolish Vows", especially the one made by the man depicted in the above cartoon. We'll talk about who Jephthah was, why he made such a foolish vow, and whether he should've kept it. What should we do when we've made a foolish vow to do something sinful? We'll answer these questions and look at the whole counsel of Scripture on this topic. Join us and consider the weight of our words, which are always said before our God who knows and remembers them.