Biblical? or Pagan?

[SherryLee]

Originally Posted By: Amelia

*gp

The practice of handshaking comes from one armed warrior meeting another armed warrior, but holding ou the hands to show he isn't holding his weapon. A gesture of peace.

What with the spreading of germs via handshaking nowadays, maybe everyone should approach each other with their hands raised in the air. T'would be a boon to deoderant manufacturers...

rudywoofs, that's pretty funny! :-)

[olger]

On the lips? Me kissing or being kissed by another man even on the cheeks? No thanks!!!

Sorry. Yes. og. out.

[Overaged]

I hope everyone realizes I was just having a little fun above! Happy Sabbath to y'all, eh?

[Guest]

Thanks for the Friday night chuckle. Good stuff on the holy kiss! I wish we would dispense with handshakes. There are more people than you think who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom (women included). Donald Trump said he preferred the Japanese style of bowing. I agree. It's respectful, and with no contact. It drives me nuts when people think they HAVE to shake my hand, even though both arms may be carrying things.

I know what you mean....

[Overaged]

Well; I know one guy - he was in the army; and everytime he meets you, he tries to shake your hand, but he does it so hard, that it hurts; and I'm no "softy" either, but this dude is one of those guys who likes to be the first to squeeze, and whoever is first, comes out the winner. I know because I tried to squeeze back a few times and it didn't work unless I WAS FIRST.

LOL; it got so frustrating that I told my wife I was going to box him in the nose next time he did it; and I haven't seen him in church since. I would say that this kind of handshake IS NOT BIBLICAL.

[Kevin H]

Just some random thoughts going through this...

Jesus probably used the Aramaic rather than Greek greeting.

Actually he could have just as likely used the Hebrew greeting, people thought that Hebrew was a dead language in Jesus' day, however in recent decades theylearned that Hebrew was alive and well among the Jews in Jesus' day. Shabbat Shalom!!!

[Gerr]

Quote:

What with the spreading of germs via handshaking nowadays, maybe everyone should approach each other with their hands raised in the air. T'would be a boon to deoderant manufacturers...

Carry a tube of anti-bacterial gell. Or head to the washroom after a series of handshakes. That's what I do.

[Gerr]

Quote:

Donald Trump said he preferred the Japanese style of bowing.

Ah so, arigato! Reminds me of our visit with friends when we went to Japan. He would intermittently bow even while conversing on the phone!

[Woody]

Well; I know one guy - he was in the army; and everytime he meets you, he tries to shake your hand, but he does it so hard, that it hurts; and I'm no "softy" either, but this dude is one of those guys who likes to be the first to squeeze, and whoever is first, comes out the winner. I know because I tried to squeeze back a few times and it didn't work unless I WAS FIRST.

LOL; it got so frustrating that I told my wife I was going to box him in the nose next time he did it; and I haven't seen him in church since. I would say that this kind of handshake IS NOT BIBLICAL.

This concerns me. I would not want to be giving an UnBiblical handshake. Is there somekind of Biblical dynamometer that would measure the amount of grip strength in one's hand that would be considered within acceptable Biblical and Divinical limits?

[GreatLakesGramma]

I would give that man a major chewing out if he did that to me.

[Woody]

I would give that man a major chewing out if he did that to me.

I wouldn't chew him out. Rather I would offer him forgiveness and condemn him not. But I might inquire as to whether he was aware of the strength in his hands compared to us nonmilitary peons.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Woody, by what Overaged said, it appears this man knows exactly what he is doing. He is getting his jollies by deliberately causing other people pain, and that is cruel and sadistic. He needs to be held accountable for his behavior, or he is never going to change.

[Woody]

I'm not so sure he is purposefully inflicting pain on others. But I do agree that he needs to be questioned as to whether he realizes it.

[GreatLakesGramma]

From what Overaged said, I got the impression that it was some kind of game with this guy, a power play of sorts. I've seen guys do that with each other before. It was not an accident at all.

But if this guy really is just being friendly, squeezing hard to show he's REALLY happy to see you, but doesn't realize the strength of his grip, and I've known some like that too, then of course, he would get no tongue-lashing from me, but I would definitely let him know he is hurting people.

And I still don't think I'd let him shake my hand again either.

[Gerr]

Quote:

The Maori of New Zealand have a traditional greeting which involves

"Mixing the breath", done by rubbing noses. Of the origins of that one

I have no knowledge.

A good way to pass on a viral infection! Maybe that's why the white man almost wiped them out when they introduced their viruses.

[Woody]

I prefer the shaking of hands rather than this current custom of guys hugging guys and guys hugging women. I resist that as much as I can.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

When you shake someone's hand, try and see if you can turn the clasp so that your hand is on top... that's a nonverbal *who's in control* sign..

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Quote:

The Maori of New Zealand have a traditional greeting which involves

"Mixing the breath", done by rubbing noses. Of the origins of that one

I have no knowledge.

The Eskimos rub noses as a greeting, as well..

[Tom Wetmore]

Shaking hands passes around viral infections as effectively as rubbing noses. People sneeze and cough into their hands, rub their own nose, etc. then everything they touch gets the virus transfer. It is more effective than air transfer. The virus stays on that touched surface for quite some time, other people touch it and the transfer continues. Then somebody touches their nose or eyes or mouth and they get the virus introduced to their system.

Mythbusters conducted an experiment to see how quickly and widely the spread would happen in a group of people at a party with only one person spreading the "virus". Within minutes almost everyone picked it up where the "infected" person took no precautions to prevent the spread. (Only one self admitted germaphobe successfully avoided contact with him.) A repeat of the experiment with the "infected" person taking precautions to avoid contact and spread showed dramatic imporvement in the results.

[GreatLakesGramma]

I prefer the shaking of hands rather than this current custom of guys hugging guys and guys hugging women. I resist that as much as I can.

Me too. Hugging is for family and very close friends, except at weddings when the newlyweds are so full of joy they can't restrain themselves from hugging everybody.

[Gerr]

That's why as I said in another post, I carry a small bottle of anti-bacterial gell in my car, or head to the washroom after several handshakes. Another thing I do, I keep my hands away from my face. I back into doors that can be opened by just pushing, or use just my little pinkie to pull on doors that can be opened that way. Yep, you never know where other people's hands have been!

[GreatLakesGramma]

Will that gel kill viruses?

[Overaged]

Hey; Happy Sabbath everyone! GLG was correct, it was a game with this fellow. I wouldn't really have boxed him in the nose though, because I prefer to atleast attempt the route Woody spoke about. But we did have a chuckle over it because when I said in a moment of anger how I'd like to box his nose, he wasn't anywhere near us and had no way of hearing me; but I haven't seen him in Church since. Ahhhh...the power of "suggestion," eh? But he was spoken to a bit and kept doing it so it was definitely not a Biblical handshake.

And Tom; thanks for bringing up the nose-rubbing option! I saw a National Geographic show a while back that showed several different styles of "nose-rubbing" being used as a greeting by different races; and I thought it was amusing...well to make a long story short I have our cats and dogs trained to do it now! LOL, I used to do it a bit with my boys when they were little; but now they are bigger than me - I am 6' 2"!! They really prefer me just to "high-five" them now. Maybe I will try to do a pic of the nose-rubbing technique with one of our animals...

I guess this whole thing sort of boils down to: "What is the cultural mindset of the person/people and how would the handshake thing affect them?" Sometimes good; sometimes not. It is fairly easy for anyone with even a little respect to go along with the prevailing custom...

And, one last note! I was totally joking about the germ thing - but perhaps there would be some MINIMAL value in limiting or refraining from hand-shaking for several medical reasons I can think of, including during peak flu season, whenever that would be in your area.

[whbae]

There have been a lot of Asian influence in this country to my surprise. Why don't we adopt one more Asian custom, bowing to each other rather than shake hands. One does not have to worry about being pagan or sanitary!?!? One never know what the guy did with his hand just before he shook your hand!

Won

[phkrause]

There have been a lot of Asian influence in this country to my surprise. Why don't we adopt one more Asian custom, bowing to each other rather than shake hands. One does not have to worry about being pagan or sanitary!?!? One never know what the guy did with his hand just before he shook your hand!

Won

I like that Won, sounds good.