I have taken oaths administered by government officials more than two dozen times and not once have I ever repeated, "So help me god"
Never made my commitment to service, truth or country any less than anyone else who ever swore the same oaths.
I had a conversation with a Commanding Officer almost 20 years ago prior to his administering the oath to me in front of a crowd. I let him know that my informed interpretation of the oath I was about to take left the last part as 'optional'. (I was always pretty confident in my position from a strictly legal position.) I asked him to consider not saying it, because I would not repeat it and leave him hanging. He was rather apoplectic and got in my face a bit. In the end, he didn't say it, but the pain on his face was visible. I can see now that it was a bit petty, because as Victor said, it would have meant nothing to me to just say it, but at the time, I thought it was principled and I needed to make a point.

Petty or not, I'd probably do it again, I'm afraid....I'll let you know

dstieger wrote:

Frank is right IMO.

rfenst wrote:

And yet ...Frank wants to continue to believe that a big part of him is left

dstieger wrote:

“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.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Lol...of course! But just how progressive is it nowadays?

dstieger wrote:

The CBid forum has always been my go-to for systematic theology.

fiddler898 wrote:

Robert is right about Frank IMO

frankj1 wrote:

I'm probably safe in assuming I can't take any credit for that!

frankj1 wrote:

Is Theology the belief in Malcolm Jamal Warner?

tailgater wrote: