Swearing on the Bible

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Is it is sacrilegious to swear on the Bible? I know in a court of law sometime they ask you to place your right hand on the Bible and that you “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…”. Just curious.
 
To this day I refuse to swear on a Bible… The Constitution gives a man the right to an “affirmation” instead… I use that not swearing…
 
Catechism:

2153 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained the second commandment: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all… Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” Jesus teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God’s presence and his truth must be honored in all speech. Discretion in calling upon God is allied with a respectful awareness of his presence, which all our assertions either witness to or mock.

2154 Following St. Paul, The tradition of the Church has understood Jesus’ words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons (for example, in court). “An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice.”

2155 The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes contrary to the dignity of persons or to ecclesial communion.
 
RCIA4 said:
To this day I refuse to swear on a Bible… The Constitution gives a man the right to an “affirmation” instead… I use that not swearing…
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👍

I have been told that one can make an affirmation along the lines of “I agree to the penalty for perjury if found to have knowingly spoken untruthfully.”
 
scc11 said:
Is it is sacrilegious to swear on the Bible? I know in a court of law sometime they ask you to place your right hand on the Bible and that you “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…”. Just curious.
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No it is not sacrilegious to swear on the Bible.
 
I had given sworn depositions in the past and then during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God but to just tell the truth. I had another deposition coming up and told my attorney that I wouldn’t swear on God because it went against my religious beliefs. He said that is fine and to just say “I affirm” which sounds to me like exactly the same thing as “Yes.” So what are we supposed to do? Say no? Say that we’ll just tell the truth but please leave God out of it? When I said “I affirm” I felt like I was doing something wrong.

And why are people still being asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? What if a person is an atheist? 🤷
 
LittleSoldier said:
I had given sworn depositions in the past and then during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God but to just tell the truth. I had another deposition coming up and told my attorney that I wouldn’t swear on God because it went against my religious beliefs. He said that is fine and to just say “I affirm” which sounds to me like exactly the same thing as “Yes.” So what are we supposed to do? Say no? Say that we’ll just tell the truth but please leave God out of it? When I said “I affirm” I felt like I was doing something wrong.

And why are people still being asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? What if a person is an atheist? 🤷
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If their an Atheist then they believe it’s a silly superstition and holds no weight. I would say that any atheist who refuses to do so, is one who isn’t an atheist at all but an agnostic, and isn’t sure if there is a God or not. (why else would they fear it?)
 
bmullins said:
If their an Atheist then they believe it’s a silly superstition and holds no weight. I would say that any atheist who refuses to do so, is one who isn’t an atheist at all but an agnostic, and isn’t sure if there is a God or not. (why else would they fear it?)
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I actually considered what you have now posted while I was writing my post (it is an excellent point and perhaps is true for most atheists) but then I realized that there must be atheists who would be very insulted by such a request and not want to agree to do something they believe is wrong - I guess I’m thinking of integrity. It would be similar to me, as a Catholic, being told that I must agree to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me Flying Spaghetti Monster.” Yes, it would be a ridiculous superstition but I would not agree to say it (actually it would probably be more accurate to say that I would say it but not like it; after all, I did say “I affirm” which I think was a lie).

It would be so much easier if people just didn’t perjure themselves.
 
I’ve given 2 depositions in the past year, and never was I asked to swear on the Bible or “so help me God”. I was just asked if I swore I was telling the truth.
 
LittleSoldier said:
I had given sworn depositions in the past and then during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God but to just tell the truth. I had another deposition coming up and told my attorney that I wouldn’t swear on God because it went against my religious beliefs. He said that is fine and to just say “I affirm” which sounds to me like exactly the same thing as “Yes.” So what are we supposed to do? Say no? Say that we’ll just tell the truth but please leave God out of it? When I said “I affirm” I felt like I was doing something wrong.

And why are people still being asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? What if a person is an atheist? 🤷
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The Church does NOT forbid it. What you heard is wrong. What you must not do is swear a false oath.

CCC 2149 Oaths which misuse God’s name, though without the intention of blasphemy, show lack of respect for the Lord. The second commandment also forbids magical use of the divine name.

CCC 2150 The second commandment forbids false oaths. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one’s own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord’s name. “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name.”

CCC 2154 Following St. Paul,** the tradition of the Church has understood Jesus’ words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons (for example, in court).** “An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice.”

CCC 2163** False oaths call on God to be witness to a lie.** Perjury is a grave offence against the Lord who is always faithful to his promises.
 
LittleSoldier said:
I had given sworn depositions in the past and then during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God but to just tell the truth. I had another deposition coming up and told my attorney that I wouldn’t swear on God because it went against my religious beliefs. He said that is fine and to just say “I affirm” which sounds to me like exactly the same thing as “Yes.” So what are we supposed to do? Say no? Say that we’ll just tell the truth but please leave God out of it? When I said “I affirm” I felt like I was doing something wrong.

And why are people still being asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God? What if a person is an atheist? 🤷
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If you gave a deposition, there was no Bible. You took an oath to tell the truth before a court reporter who is also a notary.

Interestingly, when there was no secular law in the very early years of the Church, and the Church was the center of all society, it was the Catholic Church that was the giver and taker of oaths as the Church was the only law. In other words, the only place one could do any oaths was in Church.
 
Leegal said:
If you gave a deposition, there was no Bible. You took an oath to tell the truth before a court reporter who is also a notary.

Interestingly, when there was no secular law in the very early years of the Church, and the Church was the center of all society, it was the Catholic Church that was the giver and taker of oaths as the Church was the only law. In other words, the only place one could do any oaths was in Church.
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I never said there was a bible. There was not. I was asked if I would “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God.” I was never asked to place a hand on the bible.
 
thistle said:
The Church does NOT forbid it. What you heard is wrong. What you must not do is swear a false oath.

CCC 2149 Oaths which misuse God’s name, though without the intention of blasphemy, show lack of respect for the Lord. The second commandment also forbids magical use of the divine name.

CCC 2150 The second commandment forbids false oaths. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one’s own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord’s name. “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name.”

CCC 2154 Following St. Paul,** the tradition of the Church has understood Jesus’ words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons (for example, in court).** “An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice.”

CCC 2163** False oaths call on God to be witness to a lie.** Perjury is a grave offence against the Lord who is always faithful to his promises.
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Thank you for the links and info. Now I’m really confused. What I was told was in a gospel presented at Mass. However, I am extremely poorly catechized and my knowledge of the gospel is horrendous. I’ll try to find out where the bible states what I heard during Mass.

Fortunately for me, I don’t lie (it’s not that I’m holy or good but that I used to lie and found out how easy it becomes so I decided to concentrate on this sin and to never commit it) so I didn’t have to worry about perjuring myself. In fact, my attorney actually put his head down when I answered a question truthfully and knowing that it would hurt my case and we had discussed it before the deposition started. He didn’t come right out and tell me to lie but he strongly implied that I should.

I should have fired him right there and then.

And then the court reporter got everything wrong anyway. What a joke. I had been in a car accident and the attorney asked me if the “balloon blew up.” I admit that threw me for a few seconds and then I realized what he meant and I said “The air bag didn’t deploy.” When I got my copy of the deposition I found out that I had said “the balloon didn’t blow up” while the attorney said “did the air bag deploy?” It was all a game. Please excuse me for venting a bit. The case lasted 15 years and I still walk around wondering if I’m being filmed again.
 
LittleSoldier said:
Thank you for the links and info. Now I’m really confused. What I was told was in a gospel presented at Mass. However, I am extremely poorly catechized and my knowledge of the gospel is horrendous. I’ll try to find out where the bible states what I heard during Mass.

Fortunately for me, I don’t lie (it’s not that I’m holy or good but that I used to lie and found out how easy it becomes so I decided to concentrate on this sin and to never commit it) so I didn’t have to worry about perjuring myself. In fact, my attorney actually put his head down when I answered a question truthfully and knowing that it would hurt my case and we had discussed it before the deposition started. He didn’t come right out and tell me to lie but he strongly implied that I should.

I should have fired him right there and then.

And then the court reporter got everything wrong anyway. What a joke. I had been in a car accident and the attorney asked me if the “balloon blew up.” I admit that threw me for a few seconds and then I realized what he meant and I said “The air bag didn’t deploy.” When I got my copy of the deposition I found out that I had said “the balloon didn’t blow up” while the attorney said “did the air bag deploy?” It was all a game. Please excuse me for venting a bit. The case lasted 15 years and I still walk around wondering if I’m being filmed again.
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It might just be that you misheard.
 
LittleSoldier said:
Thank you for the links and info. Now I’m really confused. What I was told was in a gospel presented at Mass. However, I am extremely poorly catechized and my knowledge of the gospel is horrendous. I’ll try to find out where the bible states what I heard during Mass.
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I would guess the Gospel you are speaking of was Matthew 5:33-37
Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
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It is a reminder that every word we speak should be truth. We should not need to swear by God, for if we speak from the Spirit of Truth, our very words are in themselves an oath. Our Yes, should be a yes and our No, a no. It also reminds us not to take God’s name lightly. It tells us that we should not in common speech and discourse swear oaths. There is a common phrase used in the Southern States of the USA that kind of brings this to point. All too often when someone is excited about something or wants to affirm how much they really believe in what they are saying, they add ‘by God’ on the end of it.
I’m gonna win that football game by God!
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The scripture above is a reminder that that sort of behavior should be avoided. We shouldn’t be commonly swearing on God’s name without realizing the severity of what we are doing. It’s not a prohibition from the legal court system in which we rightly should be aware of the severe nature of what is happening, but of common, profane use of God’s name.
 
Edit to above post:

I’m sorry. When I came back and read my post it appeared to be rude. I didn’t mean it to appear that way but I should have stated:

“I’m sorry; I’m somewhat at a loss. Would you please explain what you think I may have misheard? Thank you.”

I’ll be more careful in the future to not sound so abrupt. 😊
 
LittleSoldier said:
Edit to above post:

I’m sorry. When I came back and read my post it appeared to be rude. I didn’t mean it to appear that way but I should have stated:

“I’m sorry; I’m somewhat at a loss. Would you please explain what you think I may have misheard? Thank you.”

I’ll be more careful in the future to not sound so abrupt. 😊
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You said “I had given sworn depositions in the past and then** during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God** but to just tell the truth.”

I’m just saying maybe you misheard or misunderstood what was said.
 
thistle said:
You said “I had given sworn depositions in the past and then** during Mass I heard that I was not supposed to swear on God** but to just tell the truth.”

I’m just saying maybe you misheard or misunderstood what was said.
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Oh! OK, thank you. I thought perhaps you meant I misheard or misunderstood something that went on during the deposition.

Thanks. I’m still looking for the gospel.
 
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