“I Swear” (With apologies to All 4 One)

James 5: 12: “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no, no; so that you may not fall under judgment.” Another mark of pride is swearing to the ability to do something, as if we could make one hair white or black or add a cubit to our height(Matthew 5: 36-37) . We can’t! Both Matthew and James condemn this practice in the strongest possible terms; stronger than our casual and frequent violation would suggest.