Let your YES be YES and your NO be NO.
So it is written in the Bible, both Jewish and Christian testaments. Go look it up. We tend to think that the word of God is absolute and clear. Perhaps, in our limited moral capacity, it is that clear and easily obeyed.
Jesus and other sages all through time are consistent in saying something that is designed to set up a panic in any vulnerable heart, a heart that wants to get it right, that longs for justice, would die to please any and all authority figures, any and all loved ones, and avoid the delicate nature of choice, the impossible gift of freedom.
Let your word be YES /YES or NO/ NO be the same; anything more than this comes from evil. (Matthew 5:37). Say YES when you mean YES and NO when you mean NO.
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Just after I received a Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 1982, and imagined myself as pretty smart—maybe a know-it-all, I was invited by our Connecticut local high school to teach a class on religion. This class of course was not required, but offered nonetheless. I imagine the schools were pretty desperate, because suddenly the school board decided to be whatever “liberal” meant. They could offer an optional class or two on religion which was off limits, because, after all, we Americans were still pledging allegiance to our nation as if it were God or at least “under” God.
There I stood, quavering before a junior high school group of students, inquisitive and potentially hostile. They weren’t hostile, but they definitely wanted clear and definitive answers to their questions about faith, religion, church, sin and more. In those moments I felt alone and absolutely devoid of any and all knowing.
A young girl waved her hand in the air and asked: “How do you know when you sin?” The room fell silent. I did too. Out of my mouth came these words: “You feel it.” I’m sure I elaborated a bit, but all I can remember is that these young students were satisfied, and I was saved.
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YES and NO and MAYBE are matters of heart. or emotional intelligence. If you feel something to be wrong or right, it probably is. You are free to choose over and over. Likewise,
God is free to choose love— over and over no matter what.
