I heard someone make a promise he couldn't keep.

Context
I'm afraid to fly, even though I've done it for 35 years. Today the pilot on my Northwest Airlines flight said he promised the crew would get us safely to our destination. Quakers take the Biblical injunction against oaths pretty seriously, as exemplified by this excerpt from the Faith and Practice of the Pacific Yearly Meeting.

Commentary
In case you didn't notice, I've changed the name of this blog. The call I'm answering with it was to open my eyes and open my mouth. Since I'm already typing instead of opening my mouth, I'm thinking that the "eyes" part can be stretched a little as well. The blog will probably still predominantly consist of things I see and hear, but if I start tasting, smelling or touching things I need to call attention to, you'll be the first to know.

For a split second, I'm almost felt reassured when the pilot promised to get me safely to my destination. Then I realized he was lying. People sometimes object when I put it bluntly like that, but to me lying describes what you say, not what you intend. Since there are an almost infinite number of things that could have kept me from getting safely to my destination in spite of the pilot's best intentions, he was lying. The most truthful thing he could have said was that he was going to do his best. Even venturing to promise the best efforts of other people on the crew would have been pushing it.

Most of the time, I pay the most attention to the part of Matthew 5:33-37 that says to just say yes or no, rather than taking an oath (this is stated more strongly in James 5:12). Today I started thinking more about the surrounding language that says there's no point in swearing by anything, because we don't control anything. I'm wondering if one of the reasons we're not supposed to take oaths is that not only are we not in control of what we swear by, but usually don't have as much influence over what we swear to as we might think.

Consider: does anyone really tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? If God helped us I suppose we could, but I know it doesn't often happen in my life. I'm not even trying to be deceitful; I've just forgotten stuff. Sometimes, without even realizing it, I've made up stuff to fill in the gaps where I've forgotten stuff. Anyone with relatives knows that either you or them must be doing that, given how different the accounts of the same event are.

The funny thing is that when I'm sitting on a plane, I'm more likely to believe a pilot, who says he's going to get me to my destination safely, than God, who says all things work together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28 NRSV). It's ridiculous how low we set our sights. Or our hearing.

What did you hear today?