Wedding Vows

A question from Gary Kelly

 Now in Jesus sermon on the Mount he said the following " Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one". I am sure you are familiar with the passage. 

The question is " does that include wedding vows"?

Answer:

Some Christians take this injunction very seriously. The Quakers among them will not make any oath of any kind. There is a lot to be said for that stand. It is better not to make any oath at all than to take a chance of violating an oath made to God. Even in court they will only affirm that they are telling the truth.

To the question of wedding vows. When doing a wedding I always caution couples that the wedding vows are not made only to each other but first to God and should be taken very seriously. Some make promises to each other before the Lord but not make it an oath. Violating any oath made to God puts your eternal soul in grave danger. I made vows at my wedding and I would never break that sacred oath. Because of my strong understanding of a Christian Marriage I feel the oath to God is important for the idea of “Until Death do us part.” Too many people say the words but don’t live my them.

Any one who makes a vow to God knowing that they are not going to keep the vow is taking God’s name in vain. This is listed as the unforgiveable sin.