ex-JWs: Do you now say "Bless You!" when someone sneezes?

by Yizuman 26 Replies latest jw friends

  • SpunkyChick
    SpunkyChick

    Nope, still don't ever catch myself saying "bless you" when someone sneezes. I've said gazuntite (sp).

  • El Kabong
    El Kabong
    I've said gazuntite (sp).

    Gezuntite is the correct spelling. I had to look it up.

    Hey, we could say "Yizuntite" for this thread only in honor of the originator of this thread.

    (yeah I know, that was pretty bad. I got nuthin')

  • Yizuman
    Yizuman

    Hey, we could say "Yizuntite" for this thread only in honor of the originator of this thread.

    (yeah I know, that was pretty bad. I got nuthin')

    Yizuman

  • jaded
    jaded

    Guess old habits die hard. I've never said it. I will have to make it a goal. I will feel one step further away from that cult!

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    It's such a common and accepted practice! I agree with Bittersweet, where I actually felt uncomfortable NOT saying it........but I DO say "bless you" now, rather than God bless you for whatever reason (I never gave that much thought).....what I used to say in my Dub days, was "MY GOODNESS, I hope you're not catching a cold!"

    It kinda filled in the silence and didn't cross any JW borders!

    Annie

  • JH
    JH

    I found this on the net.

    The People Fight Back—Sneeze Demons Beware

    By Darren Kovalchik

    12/21/02

    People always seem so proud of themselves when they say “bless you” or “Gesundheit” after you sneeze. It’s like they feel they’re doing you a personal favor or something. Disaster has been averted! Thank god. Naturally, these sayings really did spring from the belief that a sneeze was a demon trying to escape from your body and if you didn’t bless the person or whatnot, then disaster really would be unleashed upon the world. However, nowadays, when most people don’t even practice any kind of organized religion, it seems a little absurd for everyone to be prancing around blessing everyone after they sneeze as if we were all rabbis blessing communal wine.

    What good are blessings and charms going to do against the evil minions of hell? We need to take more drastic measures to counteract this evil force trying to invade our world! I vote we do away with this superstitious nonsense and introduce a much more effective tradition into society. Instead of blessing someone after they sneeze, let’s give them a good old fashioned beating. In the middle ages, when someone was possessed by a demon, it was sometimes deemed necessary to give them a straight up stoning, or flogging. This would, in effect, beat the demons right out of them. Let’s resurrect this ancient tradition, and send these demons back to where they came from! Our noses!

  • JH
    JH

    Once I said "gesundheit" when a person sneezed. An elder heard me and said nothing. He smiled.

    gesundheit means bless you, I guess.

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