Oaths and Vows

Study of Oaths and Vows with Movie: The Terminal

As I watched the movie “The Terminal” I was struck by the contrast that was drawn between the relationship to oaths and promises of the main character named Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) and his “love interest” Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta Jones).

In the story Viktor gets stuck in the airport in New York because while he is in the air on the way to the US his country undergoes revolution so he can’t get a visa. He stays in the airport with a mysterious Planter’s Peanuts Can.

See Movie at time 00:03:17 - A Crack in the System

Viktor has a real adventure. He learns to speak English, lives in an abandoned part of the Airport, and makes money first by returning luggage carts, and then by working on a construction project. Eventually he meets and develops affection for a stewardess named Amelia who admits to him that she is involved in a long term adulterous relationship and whose first line in the movie is to take God’s name in vain.

Viktor is law abiding and devoted to his word which other than Catherine Zeta Jones being pretty, it begs the question of what Viktor would see in her except as guys thinking they can fix all the problems for a woman. Some of us grow out of that but some don’t.

Most of us have heard the fabled account of George Washington and the cherry tree. When young George was confronted by his distressed father concerning the destruction of a cherry tree, the boy said, “I cannot tell a lie; I cut down the tree.”

Of course what Washington said was itself a lie. To say “I cannot tell a lie” is to lie about one's ability to lie. There were many things George Washington could not do: he could not fly; he could not be in more than one place at the same time, etc. But George Washington could tell a lie. He was a man.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

All human beings are capable of telling lies. This does not mean that everyone lies all the time. We also have the ability to tell the truth. The problem arises when we are called upon to trust someone's word, and we do not know for sure if he is telling the truth.

Exodus 20:7 (Deuteronomy 5:11) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Amelia’s first words in the movie are to blaspheme God when she breaks a heel on her shoe.

God’s name was a gift of grace to Israel. Not through an idol, but in the name, Israel had access to God in worship. God’s name is therefore to be revered. This command forbids the use of God’s name in false worship, for incantations or divination, as well as for attesting falsehood or speaking blasphemy (Deut. 28:58). Jesus taught His disciples to pray that God would hallow His name, and Jesus hallowed the Father’s name on the Cross (Matt. 6:9; John 12:27, 28).

To emphasize the importance of truth in the making of promises and the giving of important testimonies, we resort to the swearing of oaths and vows. Before offering testimony in a courtroom, the witness is sworn in. He or she promises to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”

See Movie at time 0023:05 Unhooking the Fish – He won’t try to break out

Viktor had vowed to wait because of a promise that he had taken as an oath.

In the vow, appeal is made to God and to God alone as the supreme witness of the statement. God is the guardian of vows, oaths, and promises. He Himself is the fountainhead of all truth and is incapable of lying. What is false about George Washington is true of God; He cannot tell a lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:17–18).

Neither can God abide with liars. He warns against taking rash or false vows: “Pay what you have vowed—better not to vow than to vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5:4–5). The Ten Commandments include a law against bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16).

Since our entire relationship to God is based upon covenant promises, God sanctifies the matter of vows, oaths, and promises. Trust in human relationships (such as marriage and business agreements) is necessary for the welfare of society. A lawful oath is a part of worship wherein people, seeking to assure the veracity of what they speak, call upon God as a witness of what they assert and promise. The implication is that if those taking oaths are found to be lying, God will punish them.

Eccl 5:4-5 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

In the movie there is one thing that Amelia gets right. Amelia rightly says that all men are liars. We need to acknowledge that our hearts are desperately wicked and that we don’t know them. We can ask God to help us live in the truth all the time.

See Movie at time 1:16:03 to 1:18:16 Promises; If I stay then you stay.

Viktor doesn’t try to escape and waits and even tries to win Amelia’s heart.

Amelia is told by the “bad guy” that Viktor is a bad guy and that he is a suspicious type.

See Movie at time 1:35:13 to 1:40:00– Keeping a promise; how could a modern woman understand a man like him.

Now in the discussion of vows and promises I hope you thought about the following:

James 5:12 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Matthew 5:33“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

On first read you could say no vows of any type ever. However, (Using Scripture to Interpret Scripture) there is a biblical provision for sacred vows and oaths; that is, there are lawful places and lawful kinds of vows and oaths that we take.

In fact, a covenant is not a covenant without a vow, and that's what we're doing when we take vows in marriage and in other situations, such as those involving contractual agreements—we are entering into a covenant. The whole basis of our relationship to God is based on vows and oaths, oaths that God swears, because he can swear by nothing greater than himself.

Based on the totality of scripture, there's nothing intrinsically wrong about the swearing of oaths and taking of vows, it seems that Jesus was objecting to was that the Pharisees were trying to fudge in their vows and their oaths by swearing by lesser things than God.

The swearing of an oath unto God or before God is an act of worship because in that vow we are saying, “So help me God,” which is what we say in the courtroom: “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” I'm taking an oath before God.

I am acknowledging at that moment that God is omniscient, He is there, He sees everything that I do, He can hear the words that I'm saying; God is sovereign over my vows, and He has authority over my vows. I'm recognizing God as God at the moment I take an oath. It's a religious act at that point.

If I say I swear by my dad's grave, I've just now committed an act of idolatry because I have presumed to think that my dad's grave has the ability to hear my vows, to judge my vows, and to be sovereign over my vows. I've attributed deity to the grave of my dad, which is a crass and pretty stupid form of idolatry. That's what Jesus was objecting to when he said, in essence, “Don't swear by the altar. The altar can't hear you. The altar can't judge you. The altar isn't God.” The only thing you can swear by that's a legitimate vow is God himself in an act of worship.

In the courtroom, we're actually taking a vow to God, not to the Bible. We don't ask the Bible to bear witness to our vows. We don't ask that book to listen in on us, to be the judge of our consciences or be sovereign over us. I don’t know where we ever got that symbolic practice of placing the hand on the Bible. In my mind it is to acknowledge having received God’s revelation of Himself and His demands and in particular His promise to punish sinners and especially liars. As long as you don't swear to or by the Bible it is legitimate to swear on the Bible if you want to.

An additional stipulation is that an oath should not be made with equivocation or mental reservation. God does not accept crossed fingers, but expects honesty. An oath is not to be taken lightly. It should be saved for solemn occasions, for solemn promises. Even governments recognize this in insisting on oaths for weddings and before the giving of legal testimony.

Even in less solemn instances, moreover, a believer is called to honesty—that one's yes be yes, and one's no be no. That is the responsibility of a faithful disciple of Christ.

Summary

1. Human beings have a capacity for telling lies.
2. God, the source of truth, cannot lie and is the guardian of truth.
3. Oaths and vows are a lawful part of worship.
4. Oaths should be sworn by God alone as the ultimate witness of truth.
5. Vows should not be made rashly or with reservations.

Movie at time 1:57:47 to Credits – Viktor makes good on his promise at 161 Lexington

Amelia chooses her adulterous affair over a man of his word; Viktor has the victory and Amelia, like her namesake Amelia Earhart is lost in the air with a man navigating for her.