They Were Only Words
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." — Proverbs 18:21
The Reasoning That Traps Good People
Here is the exact thought process that has bound an enormous number of decent people.
You are in a ceremony. The atmosphere is theatrical, a little mysterious, faintly ridiculous. You are asked to repeat some words. They are strange. Part of you thinks this is weird — and another part thinks I'll go along with it.
Why not? Everyone else is doing it. It is required for membership. And besides —
They are only words. You do not really mean it. There is no harm in repeating a few phrases.
That is the reasoning. It is completely understandable. And God does not see it that way. For Him, it is sin.
What Is Actually Being Said
Consider what some of these oaths actually contain, because most people never think about it afterward.
In virtually all secret societies, members commit to keeping oaths and passwords secret from the outside world. That much seems reasonable enough.
But a portion of those secrecy oaths usually involves agreeing to maintain that secrecy under threat of extreme punishment — death or dismemberment.
Some include phrasing along the lines of: "I agree to keep these oaths and passwords secret under the penalty of having my throat slit, my chest cut open, and my beating heart ripped out." And to emphasize it, participants make accompanying hand motions — drawing a hand across the throat, or miming the tearing open of the chest.
Read that as an adult, in daylight, outside the room. It is a gruesome thing to say about yourself.
Most members find it childish and whimsical in the moment — a bit of theatre inside a mysterious ceremony. So they agree. They do not mean it. It is a membership requirement.
Additional oaths commonly require agreeing to things such as: "I enforce this commitment on my descendants and generations to come."
By making an oath like that, you could inadvertently bind your descendants to whatever you agreed to.
Not a Judgment on the People
This must be said clearly.
The issue is not the members. Many secret societies are perceived as community-minded organizations doing genuine good, with a strong emphasis on fellowship and giving back — which is exactly why they have earned widespread respect. Freemasons, Eastern Star, Shriners and others include a great many fine people. Devout believers among them. Men and women of real integrity who give generously and serve their communities.
Nobody is accusing anyone of bad character.
The issue is that some of the oaths required inadvertently create agreement sins. That is a completely different claim, and it has nothing to do with the sincerity or decency of the people saying them.
Point to Ponder
"I didn't mean it" is a statement about your intention. It says nothing about what was agreed to.
Verse to Remember
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." — Proverbs 18:21
Question to Consider
What have I said out loud that I dismissed as meaningless — in a ceremony, in a joke, or in a moment of despair?
Today's Practice
Widen the category beyond formal oaths. Look at everything you have declared over yourself.
Self-directed statements. I'm stupid. I'm worthless. I'll always be alone. Nothing ever works out for me. I'm just like my father. Said often enough, these become agreements about what is true.
Words spoken in despair. I wish I'd never been born. I'd be better off dead. I hope I never wake up.
Words spoken over others. Curses said in rage over a child, a spouse, an enemy. You'll never amount to anything. Words like that land somewhere.
Ceremonial words. Anything repeated after someone else, in any setting, at any age.
Write them all down. And where you can recall the actual wording of any oath you took, write it out. Seeing it in daylight is often enough by itself.
Prayer
Father, I have said things I never meant and dismissed them as harmless because I did not mean them.
But words are not nothing. Death and life are in the tongue, and I have used mine carelessly — in ceremonies, over myself, and over other people.
Bring back to me everything I have declared that was contrary to You. The oaths I laughed at. The things I said about myself so often that I believed them. The curses I spoke over people in anger.
I want every one of them cancelled. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
"I didn't mean it" was never the question. The question is what was said.