Videoconference intervention by Prof Jimi ZACKA during the scientific seminar
INTRODUCTION
The gap between a
person's promise and the reality of fulfilling it often transpires from a big
gap. And the recurring question is: So why do so many people believe in the
promises of others and one day find themselves disappointed? Human nature must
be made this way. Humans need to believe and hope but also to be disappointed. It is with good reasons that
Ecc.5, 1-2 warns us in these terms:
Do not be rash with your
mouth,
And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
Therefore let your words be few.
For a dream comes through much activity,
And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
Solomon rightly described here the human tendency to speak without thinking before God and others. Even with an under the sun premise, it is foolish to speak too much and hear too little in God’s presence.
“When we come before God, our minds are full of our own business rather than with the worship of God. When we talk too much, we usually talk like fools. This can be especially bad in the house of God.” Says Wright. But, hence the well-known formula frequently applied to the fake promise : " Promises only bind those who believe in them."
Definition
So, what is it to promise? To promise is to formulate, to explicitly contract a commitment guaranteeing to others the achievement of a result or the realization of an act, in the more or less near future. To promise is, therefore, to create in others a state of hope, to feed an expectation, which can prove to be an additional damage and to generate deep disillusionment when the desired result does not occur. In this case, what is the point of promising, if we are not able to achieve it? Promising seems to be both a naïve and irresponsible act, vain but on the other hand the absence of promise or commitment appears equally worrying, opportunistic and cowardly. Both attitudes (promising or protecting oneself at all costs) seem equally doomed to failure.
The confrontation between the assurance that characterizes the promise and the actual uncertainty of the future leads us at first to see in the promise an underestimation of the complexity of things, an overestimation of its own strength and undoubtedly a form of naivety, which seems to be implied by the very wording of the subject: "What is the point?" , which expresses well this idea of vanity, of resignation.
At this level, a distinction could be made between the wish and the promise. “When I make a wish, I am the only one who knows it and it does not commit anyone but me. It therefore seems more reasonable to face the uncertainty of becoming from this more intimate and necessarily more humble posture than to risk making others depend on my act.”
The value of a human promise
Most promises do not intend to be kept by the one who makes them, nor are they hoped for or kept by the one who hears them. Therefore, if promises are not taken seriously today, we should find it very easy to identify with the Israelites of the old days, who were unable to keep their promises to God. In Deuteronomy 23:21 it is written, "If you make a wish to Jehovah your God, you will not delay in fulfilling it: for Jehovah, your God, would ask you to account for it, and you would take care of a sin."
We see that procrastination, ignorance, indifference, or so many other things can lead us to make empty promises to God.
The most important thing to note is that those who make empty promises to God are also those who make false promises to man. We must understand that it is better not to make promises at all if we do not intend to keep them. Why do we sometimes make promises that we do not intend to keep? To please others, to boast, to show that we are capable in a situation where in fact we are not skillful enough or we are downright incapable...
Yet Jesus says, "Let your word be yes, yes, no, no; what is added to it comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37). What for? Because not keeping our promises reveals our lack of integrity.
God's Promises
Many examples of God's promises are mentioned in the Bible. But God is the one whose promises do not fail: "What His mouth says, His hand fulfills" (Habakkuk 2:3). This means that God's Word and His promises are not based on our emotions or feelings. They are not "yes" and not "amen" in us but in Jesus: "For all of God's promises, the 'yes' is found in Jesus, and it is also through him that we say 'amen' to God, for his glory" (2 Corinthians 1:20). In other words, our unbelief prevents us from accepting God's promises, but our doubts do not prevent God from fulfilling His promises.
Moreover, in Numbers 23. 19, it is written to us: "God is not a man to lie, nor the son of a man to repent. What he said, will he not do? What he said, will he not execute? ». In other words, this God is a God of the Word! What He says, He does, He scrupulously keeps His word. In our society, few words are kept, few commitments are kept, many promises rarely honored, but God is the one who can meet this expectation, and He is the only one. When we realize that He keeps His promises, our faith grows, and the immediate consequence is that we will keep more and more and better our promise to God and those around us.
In the end, we must conclude that the commitment made by the promise is often thought of in terms of sincerity, and therefore considered fully moral, even though it can also be held to be the root of the social contract. Why, in fact, respect the rules of life in society, if not because we know that everyone does the same, or at least is committed to doing the same? Isn't living in society also based on a commitment on the part of everyone?
The promise therefore seems to engage the responsibility of the one who makes it. Responsibility to do what we said we would do. But if my responsibility is engaged, isn't it because to commit is to commit to someone else? Can we indeed commit ourselves, or ourselves? It's not certain: what could we force ourselves to?
In this sense, we understand that making a promise is not trivial, since it engages my responsibility for the future.
Prof. Jimi ZACKA, PhD
Professor of Theology &Anthropology
