by curiouschristy 26 Replies latest jw friends
There is no simple answer - no one knows!
The most obvious answer is, as you say, that it is simply good manners. Why should JWs be bothered about that? (I know they are.) It's just another example of the JWs being unbalanced.
Anyway, this site answers your question more fully.
here is a few goodies I found:
To primitive man, and in biblical and Greek times,a sneeze was regarded as a sign of personal danger. Possibly because sneezing had been a frequent occurrence during the great Athenian plaque, people assumed it was the first indication that a person had a dreaded disease. The ancient Hebrews believed that when a man sneezed he was nearest to death. It was said that Jacob the Patriarch died by his first sneeze. People learned to respond to a sneeze with apprehension and the fervent wish to the sneezer that God may help and bless him and preserve his life.
Actually, fear once associated with the sneeze was world wide. Romans saw in it an evil omen.Parsees felt that the sneeze indicated the theatening presence of evil spirits.
Pope Gregory the Great is credited with having introduced the saying "God bless you" to anyone who sneezed. during his reign the Roman population was decimated by a plaque believed to have been caused by contamination of the air. This, it was thought, made people who sneezed "give up the ghost" immediately. It was then that the Pope prescribed a special form of parayer and the wish for all sneezers that God may keep from them any evil effect.
hope you enjoyed that, I prefer to say the German version. which i think, means good health to you.
HEY DMOUSE, THANKS FOR THE SITE. I SUPPOSE JWS DON'T SAY BLESS YOU FOR THE SIMPLE FACT THAT DEMONS MAY START FLYING AROUND, OR THE GOOD LUCK ISSUE... WHATEVER, WHY DO THEY HAVE TO BE SOOOOO SPECIFIC AND TO THE ROOT OF EVERY SINGLE ISSUE .... WHO REALLY GIVES A F#*@..... I GUESS I HAVE MY ANSWER!
SO GLAD I'M FREEEEEE FROM THE BORG~~
CC
This is a topic I got blasted for in another post a little while back. I'm not sure what the society's reasoning is exactly on this practice. But I do know that it is a no-no in the org to say Bless You, or, God Bless You, with or without a sneeze. Even with an explanation from the GB themselves, the reason would still probably be stupid.
I just did a search on the 97 CDROM and this is all that I came up with:
From reading the above explanation, the only thing I can think of is that since a "pope" came up with the saying, the society gives us an unwritten rule to not use it. Of course, some elders probably use that line reasoning to enforce it in their own congos as a show of power. Elder speaking: "Would you repeat everything the pope says?" Now I am wondering.....since it is not written in the publications instructing us to not say "bless you," where did this unwritten rule come from, and why do many of us who are in or are ex's know about this unwritten rule?*** Awake 1990 6/8 pg. 23 Hold That Sneeze? ***
In many lands it is a custom for those standing nearby to say "bless you" to the person who sneezes. Where did such a custom originate?According to the book How Did It Begin? by R. Brasch, some ancients believed that when a man sneezed, he was nearest to death. Brasch adds: "The fear was based on an erroneous but widely held notion. Man's soul was considered to be the essence of life. The fact that dead men never breathed led to the fallacious deduction that his soul must be breath. . . . It is thus not surprising that from the earliest days people learned to respond to a sneeze with apprehension and the fervent wish to the sneezer that God may help and bless him and preserve his life. Somehow in medieval times this early origin of the custom must have been forgotten because it was Pope Gregory the Great who was credited with having introduced the saying 'God bless you,' to anyone who sneezed."
Hi Christy,
I was taught by the jw's that it was wrong to say, God Bless You because it came from a superstition that your heart stops when you sneeze. I didn't say it for many years! Now I do. God has not ever said anything about it. I think it is JUST a witness superstition. The other day my little boy sneezed in front of my parents and I blurted out, "bless you!". Ooooops! Nothing was said Dj
Eman........thanks for the post!
I just wanted to add that when I am standing near a witness who sneezes, I usually don't say anything or else I say "excuse you." When I am around non-witness folk I say "Bless you." The next time I am at the meeting and someone sneezes I will say Bless you and see what kind of reaction I get. Now I am curious to know what others will say to me. Will they try to counsel me or will they say thank you? I am really interested in whether or not an elder will overhear me and try to "readjust my thinking." I now know that I can point him to the CD and ask him to show me where it says I cannot say that and then see what his reaction will be.
Ha, now I'm psyched up to try my newfound knowledge out on some poor jdub and see the reactions I get.
My guess is that if you say bless you at the hall no one will "correct you". If you are studying with someone they probably will explain why not to say bless you, but only if they feel your ready for that. jurs
Gesundheit! <---what I said as a JW.
I always said Gesundheit when I was a JW. It means GOOD HEALTH in German.
more2C
I also heard the Heart stopping explaination. Who knows?
Does anyone remember the Pink Panther movie where Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) was in the back of a patrol car and had a cold and sneezed. The driver said Gesundheit and Clouseau said...YES..YES...I KNOW THAT!!!....thinking the driver said..goes-in tight...LOL
CC
