Boy Scout Oath or Promise
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Note that the Boy Scout Oath has traditionally been considered to have three promises. Those three promises are delineated by the semicolons in the Oath, which divide it into three clauses. The three promises of the Scout Oath are, therefore:
- Duty to God and country,
- Duty to other people, and
- Duty to self
DUTY TO GOD AND COUNTRY: Your family and religious leaders teach you to know and serve God. By following these teachings, you do your duty to God.
Men and women of the past worked to make America great, and many gave their lives for their country. By being a good family member and a good citizen, by working for your country's good and obeying its laws, you do your duty to your country. Obeying the Scout Law means living by its 12 points.
DUTY TO OTHER PEOPLE: Many people need help. A cheery smile and a helping hand make life easier for others. By doing a Good Turn daily and helping when you're needed, you prove yourself a Scout and do your part to make this a better world.
DUTY TO SELF: Keeping yourself physically strong means taking care of your body. Eat the right foods and build your strength. Staying mentally awake means learn all you can, be curious, and ask questions. Being morally straight means to live your life with honesty, to be clean in your speech and actions, and to be a person of strong character.
…But the scout leadership is changing "tradition". The part about doing their duty to God isn't "popular" with Humanistic leaders (and neither is being "morally straight"), so we can expect to see those ideas tossed away from the oath/promise very soon. The organization has no choice if it's going to tell the truth, because here's what Jesus says to those who REALLY do their duty to God:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Mammon, in the New Testament of the Bible, is material wealth or greed, most often personified as a deity, and sometimes included in the seven princes of Hell. Mammon may have also been a reference to Caesar whose tax coin claimed Caesar was a god, forcing Jews to break the first and second commandments to have no other gods, nor to have their engraven images, or idols everytime they paid taxes or tribute to Caesar. Mammon may have also been a reference to government, since the creator of money is government. Jesus was discussing two masters and the only other master besides God was Caesar.
Replace the word Caesar with "self" or "Humanism" in the description above, and the direction the Scouts have taken is clear.