IronClaw

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Posts by IronClaw

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  402

  IT HAS BEGUN "BIG" NEWS ON AP NEWS WIRE

  by DannyHaszard in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  religion today

  monterey county herald, ca - 2 minutes ago .

  new york - jehovah's witnesses are renowned for teaching that jesus is not god and that the world as we know it will soon end.

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  IronClaw

  It Made it. I just got the Utica NY Observer Dispatch.

  They did a Half page layout with a 6x6 pic of Kerry Louderback-Wood dead center.

  Thank you Danny. WTG
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  14

  Reasoning behind no "God Bless You!" when sneezing

  by kristyann in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what, exactly, is the reasoning behind jws not being allowed to say "god bless you!

  " after someone sneezes.

  i remember going to my boyfriend's house and no one said it and i thought it was just plain rude... but they are rude people in every other regard, anyway.

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  IronClaw

  Claim: The origin of saying "Bless you!" when someone sneezes stems from an ancient desire to safeguard the sneezer's soul or to commend the dying to the mercy of God. Status: Undetermined. Origins: It's expected we'll say "Bless you!" (or "God bless!") when someone nearby sneezes, but does anyone really know why we do this? Are we trying to protect the sneezers from evil spirits? Are we fending off the Devil? Is this a remnant of an ancient recognition that sneezers aren't long for this world, thus we commend their souls to God even as we wash our hands of them? Are we congratulating them on their impending good luck? (As silly as this may sound now, sneezing was at one long-ago time seen as a fortuitous portent.) Some questions, no matter how simple, don't have one knowable answer. Though a number of "explanations" exist for this custom, nothing points to any one of them being its origin. Common among these explanations are: At one time people believed a man's soul could be inadvertently thrust from his body by an explosive sneeze, thus "Bless you!" was a protective oath uttered to safeguard the temporarily expelled and vulnerable soul from being snatched up by Satan (who was always lurking nearby). The purpose of the oath was to cast a temporary shield over the flung-out soul which would protect it just long enough to regain the protection of the corporeal body. Conversely, the sneeze itself was the expulsion of a demon or evil spirit which had taken up residence in a person. Therefore, although the "Bless you!" was again a protective charm meant to protect the sneezer from evil, in this version it was meant to ward off the re-entry of an evil spirit which a tormented soul had just rid itself of. The heart was believed to momentarily stop during a sneeze (it doesn't), thus the "Bless you!" was uttered either as a supplication for life to return or as a congratulation upon its successful restart. Others claim an association of the practice with particular dire diseases (most often the bubonic plague, or "Black Death," as it is sometimes known). They say an infected person's sneeze was sure sign he'd soon be pushing up daisies, thus the "Bless you!" was intended as a benediction to the nearly-departed, a way of commending his soul to the care of God now that he was beyond the help of anything in the mortal world. Yet other folks echo the theme of other superstitions about sneezes, that these expulsions are either in themselves lucky or foretell good fortune coming the sneezer's way. For them, the "Bless you!" is a recognition of incoming good luck, possibly even an attempt on the blesser's part to attract a bit of it to himself. Finally, some see the sneeze as a blessing bestowed by the sneezer upon the sneezed-upon. Answering a sneeze with "Bless you!" is seen as nothing more remarkable than replying "Good morning!" to the person who had just greeted you with the same phrase. So many explanations -- each deeply believed -- for such a simple and often unquestioned practice. And we'll never know which one is right. We look to what has been recorded about this practice of blessing a sneezer for any clues to the reasons that prompted its origin. Once again, we are disappointed; although the practice is old enough for mention of it to surface in ancient writings (the earliest from 77 A.D., the generation right after Christ), no one apparently deemed it noteworthy enough to explain why anyone would think to do this. By the time anyone thought to question the reason for the custom, blessing people when they sneeze had already been deeply ingrained in our evolving culture for century upon century. At this point, although folks were quick to assert various reasons for these oaths (talking through one's hat is not new; even folks from centuries ago were fond of engaging in this practice), no one could honestly be said to know the definitive answer, no matter how authoritatively he stated his position. Certainly none of the later scribes who saw fit to pass along their explanations of the practice could point to anything from the time of the custom's origin that would explain it. The oldest sightings mentioned in Opie and Tatem's A Dictionary of Superstitions are: [Pliny, Natural History, AD 77] Why is it that we salute a person when he sneezes, an observation which Tiberius Caesar, they say, the most unsociable of men, as we all know, used to exact, when riding in his chariot even? [Apuleius, Golden Ass, AD 150] 'Bless you, my dear!' he said, and 'bless you, bless you!' at the second and third sneeze. [Greek Anthology, ante AD 500] Dick cannot blow his nose whene'er he pleases, His nose so long is, and his arm so short; Nor ever cries, God bless me! when he sneezes -- He cannot hear so distant a report. The earliest mentions of the practice carry no hint of the reasons for the practice, leaving us with a mystery. Protective oath? (And, if so, was it to keep the soul in or the demons out?) Commendation of the dying to God's mercy? Something to do with the sneezer's heart stopping? Recognition of good fortune? A response, in substance if not in kind, to the utterance of another? There's no way to tell now; the reason behind the origin is lost in the mists of time. Of the five most touted answers, the last is the reason for the practice's survival into modern times and could even be the key to the origin of the custom. Our perceptions of evil spirits, souls, and the Devil change over the centuries, as does our view of how the heart works, how to act around the dying, and our beliefs about what customs attract good luck. Yet one constant survives the ages: the need for manners. Expressions of politeness are often crystallized into formulaic responses, with Social Situation X prompting knee-jerk Response Y. Thus the standardized responses of "Bless you!" or "God bless!" now impart little other than a message of empathetic acknowledgement. They are ordinary politenesses that are offered immediately and almost without thought whenever a sneeze is heard. The need to recognize that one has been spoken to or saluted in some other fashion (an acquaintance waves from across the street, for example) lies behind our habit of acknowledging greetings with a like degree of civility and friendliness even if we don't much care for the person hailing us. Such responses have become so deeply trained into us that for us humans the hardest thing to say is nothing at all. These days, one says "Bless you!" because it is expected, not out of concern for the wellbeing of the sneezer's soul or heart, a need to disassociate oneself from the dying, or envy for another's presumed luck. We do it because we've been taught this is an obligatory response whose omission would seem glaring. We "bless" out of a desire to not be perceived as impolite, a perception that would take root if the sneeze were to be received in silence. In the final analysis, it may not be as much about souls leaping out or demons clawing to get in as it is about simple human acknowledgement of another's presence. Barbara "snot for the day" Mikkelson Last updated: 17 April 2001

  The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.htm
  Click here to e-mail this page to a friend

  Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2003
  by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
  This material may not be reproduced without permission

  ---

  Sources:

  Opie, Iona and Moira Tatum. A Dictionary of Superstitions.

  Oxford University Press; Oxford, 1992. ISBN 0-19-282916-5 (p. 364).

  Renner, Gerald. "Sneezing Inextricably Linked to One's Soul."

  The Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News. 5 September 1998 (p. D2).
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  45

  144,000 — A "theillogical" evaluation

  by AuldSoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  144,000 a "theillogical" evaluation

  revelationits grand climax at hand!.

  chap.

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  IronClaw

  Good one AuldSoul, LMAO now that I get it.

  IronClaw : member of the "144,001 to infinity class"
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  25

  What does the word "Apostate" mean to you now?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  how would you define the word apostate, now that you aren't in sync with the watchtower anymore?

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  IronClaw

  I've been called that a lot lately. But I guess thats the way the WT does things, you know "Name Calling". In a strange way, I kinda like it. It brings fear into the hearts of the ones doing the Name Calling.
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  15

  Help on Bolgarian Blood issue??

  by IronClaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone point me too a site that has the documentation on the bolgarian blood transfusion agreement with the wts?

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  IronClaw

  This was awesome Atlantis, thank you.
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  23

  When was the last time a witness knocked at your door as a friend, not FS?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  although i've been bapized back in 1988, and never was disfellowshipped, the last time a jw came over here as a friend, was about 15 years ago.

  oh, and i'm not shunned..... the only witnesses who knocked on my door in the last 15 years, were elders, in "uniform" in the field service.. now, imagine if i was really shunned......

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  IronClaw

  Over a year and a half, NO visits yet. I remember my last phone conversation with the PO of my congo. I told him about the Malawi/Mexico scam. He said that the CO was visiting that next week and they would come over to look at the info I had. Guess what? They never showed up. Wonder Why? Haven't been to a meeting since either. NO sheperding calls, not even a phone call. Thats ok though, cause thats the way I like it.
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  402

  IT HAS BEGUN "BIG" NEWS ON AP NEWS WIRE

  by DannyHaszard in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  religion today

  monterey county herald, ca - 2 minutes ago .

  new york - jehovah's witnesses are renowned for teaching that jesus is not god and that the world as we know it will soon end.

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  IronClaw

  Revenge is sweet, it's really neat...Apostate com-mo-tion, in lo-co-mo-tion

  WTG Danny. Let the train keep on a rolling!!!!!
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  15

  Help on Bolgarian Blood issue??

  by IronClaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone point me too a site that has the documentation on the bolgarian blood transfusion agreement with the wts?

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  IronClaw

  Amazing , thanks anyway. It really is amazing to see the tower make such and agreement and then try to sucker the R/F as they did with the Mexican scandal. Just unthinkable.
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  15

  Help on Bolgarian Blood issue??

  by IronClaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone point me too a site that has the documentation on the bolgarian blood transfusion agreement with the wts?

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  IronClaw

  Correction to upper post: my older brother.
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  15

  Help on Bolgarian Blood issue??

  by IronClaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can someone point me too a site that has the documentation on the bolgarian blood transfusion agreement with the wts?

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  IronClaw

  Thanks guys, my older wanted to see it for himself. Now he can. Thanks again.