What happens when you swear to not do something but you do it? And what should you do?<\/p>\n\t
Whether you swear or simply stated that you were not going to do something, that is sufficient to bind a Christian. A Christian is a man of his word. Swearing isn’t required to make a Christian more honest. “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one<\/em>” (Matthew 5:37).<\/p>\n When a person gives his word and then breaks it, at the foundation is a lie. “Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). A Christian who lies needs to come before his God and admit his error. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9). For the one who counted on our word and was wrong, we also should apologize and, if possible, make amends for our wrong.<\/p>\n There are times when a person says he will do (or not do) something that in itself is wrong. A promise to sin is not to be kept — it should not have been made in the first place. Again, confessing our error before God is required and effort should be made to correct the sin that we did toward others.<\/p>\n But when a person rashly states something, he is required to keep his word, even if it leads to his own discomfort. “In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the LORD; he who swears to his own hurt and does not change<\/em>” (Psalm 15:4). Even when deceit is involved by another, a Christian is expected to still keep his word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: What happens when you swear to not do something but you do it? And what should you do? Answer: Whether you swear or simply stated that you were not going to do something, that is sufficient to bind a Christian. A Christian is a man of his word. Swearing isn’t required to make a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[649,648,647],"class_list":["post-10786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-oaths","tag-promises","tag-vows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9117,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-swear-an-oath-on-a-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":0},"title":"Can a Christian swear an oath on a Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a Christian place his hand on the Bible and swear an oath of any kind? Or, raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth, in a courtroom? Or, can a Christian swear, anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances? I find a difference in the word 'affirm' and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3347,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-if-you-swear-to-tell-the-truth-but-you-dont\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":1},"title":"What happens if you swear to tell the truth, but you don’t?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happens if you put your hand on the Bible and someone asks you a question to reply to and you swear to God you are telling the truth, but you don't? Answer: Jesus stated, \"Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49494,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-promise-on-something-and-then-break-the-promise-does-god-take-away-what-i-promised-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":2},"title":"If I promise on something and then break the promise, does God take away what I promised on?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If I were to promise or swear to God (or even to someone else) on something and not go through with the promise, will God take that thing I promised on away from me? For example, I promise or swear on my friendship that I'll run around the neighborhood.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-broke-a-promise-upon-my-salvation-does-that-mean-i-cant-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":3},"title":"I broke a promise upon my salvation. Does that mean I can’t be saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I made a promise to God on my salvation and broke it. I accepted Jesus back, but did I lose my salvation because I broke my promise? I made my promise in my mind, so I don't know whether I meant it or not, so please answer if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-promises-only-binding-when-spoken-aloud\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":4},"title":"Are promises only binding when spoken aloud?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I used to let my mouth get the best of me. I have learned to watch what I say very closely. The problem I have is this: because I'm trying to be so careful with what I say, I constantly think about whether I promise or vow something. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84951,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-and-bankruptcy\/","url_meta":{"origin":10786,"position":5},"title":"Christians and Bankruptcy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Art Cornell via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 On a recent visit to the Chapallear's home, I told Floyd I was working for a bankruptcy judge. He asked me whether I thought a Christian could file for bankruptcy. I thought for a moment and replied\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}