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Originally Posted by August
Then why bother with an oath of enlistment or of office at all because that argument applies to any pledge, statement or word of honor regardless of whether you add "so help me God" at the end or not.
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That's a valid question. Why are there oaths and pledges? I believe that an oath, whether it's the oath of enlistment, or oath of office, or the Boy Scout oath, serves mainly to remind the individual of the purpose of the organization he is joining, and what he's there for.
The question we're addressing was whether adding "...so help me God" makes the oath-taker more honest. I don't see how it can.
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Originally Posted by Rockstar
Shem Tovs text is unlike the Byzantine Greek texts today, of his day or any other known Greek text. If he had made a fresh translation it would have rendered one of those forms. In regards to theology the Hebrew text never identify Jesus as messiah or divine. Shem Tov's comments scattered throughout the Hebrew text suggest he did not create it.
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This reminds me of Thomas Jefferson's Bible. Jefferson disallowed the existence of miracles, and cut up the New Testament to reflect that. I can never read his version without asking the question "But how do we know what we can safely remove, add, or change? There is no outside evidence that Jesus said any of the things attributed to him in the texts, so removing just the miracles is just cherry-picking what you don't like."
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There is some evidence that suggests the Greek texts we have today were translated from original Hebrew source. Not the other way around. Jerome, Eusebius, Origen and Epiphanes allude to it in their writings. Papias came right out and said it. "Matthew collected the oracles in the Hebrew language, and each (Greeks) interpreted them the best he could"
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If that's the case, then nothing in any of the Gospels can be taken as fact. We might as well use the Gospel of Judas.
The point I was trying to make is that modern Christians largely also support their country of origin, and support taking oaths of allegiance without thinking about it. Since the Gospels we have are the ones they put their faith in, I would argue that they are the ones that count.