4 ms·
Yes, and more traditional culture heavily discourages oaths and swearing in trivial matters, not to water them down (and no to bother the deity). I think also t
by stereolambda 7y ago
Yes, and more traditional culture heavily discourages oaths and swearing in trivial matters, not to water them down (and no to bother the deity). I think also the Third Commandment is interpreted in this way.
On the other hand, Middle Ages knew original oaths such as swearing on the roasted pheasant on the table.
- hprotagonist 7y agothe quaker explanation is kind of wonderful, as i understand it. The main idea is that by making some speech Extra Special Truthful, I am corroding the trustworthiness of all of the rest of my speech. This is straight from the sermon on the mount, but you could appeal to the third commandment too. Willfully lying for your gain at the expense of others is one of the more corrosive things we can do to our community, so keeping it foremost in our minds as a thing to avoid seems like a real good idea to reinforce. The other problem has an example from Tolkien: we are finite beings of imperfect knowledge, and if you swear an unbreakable oath, you stand a good chance of winding up like Fëanor and being forced to be a kinslayer against your own intention. Don't assume that much power, it's gonna bite you. This matters less in my neck of the woods than it used to, but there are certainly places still where blood feuds exist and nobody seems to know how to escape their trap.