Swearing and oaths

[JellyBeanMuffin]

Is singing a song like Santa Fe from newsies bad because it says “do you swear you won’t forget me?”
I know swearing or making an oath that isn’t true or going to be held up is bad. However, is saying something where it has nothing to do with making an oath okay?
Or for instance if someone says “I swear I didn’t do it” or “I swear I’m telling the truth” and they are right, is it okay?

 

[veritatisstella]

The lyric “do you swear you won’t forget me?” is using “swear” in the sense of “promise”. It’s totally okay to make promises to people when you plan on keeping your word to them, so I see nothing wrong with that usage.

And swearing an oath really only refers to when you call upon God or some representation of God as witness. So, saying “I swear by God I didn’t do it” may be sinful, because it is done for no good reason and without proper respect to God. But I don’t see anything sinful in saying “I swear I didn’t do it” because you are not really swearing an oath by anything, let alone God.