Post by Tom Green on Feb 12, 2007 17:11:19 GMT -5
"God bless you!" -- a silly superstition?
Q. First of all, thank you for the pleasure of reading your magazine. As soon as I finish it, I anxiously await the next one! I have a question from the January/February 2007 issue. In your article about Christians and superstition you talk about "practicing more harmful superstitions without knowing it . . . silly practices maintained by well-meaning Christians." You give, as one example, saying "God bless you" after a sneeze.
There was a time when I didn't say "God bless you." I compared it with knocking on wood or something. Admittedly it doesn't seem like as"bad" of a superstition as others. Anyway, I am now torn about saying "bless you" for two reasons:
1) I have received negative reactions by not saying it, because most people don't know (or care) that it's essentially superstitious. They regard the absence of this reply as being impolite, inconsiderate or uncaring. Not that I care that much about what others think about me, but I don't want them to think these things if they know I'm a Christian.
2) What's the harm in blessing someone, regardless of the reason? To suggest not saying it because it has superstitious origins seems legalistic to me -- and that's a surprise coming from you guys at PTM.
My second question has been puzzling me for years. If God knew everything we were ever going to do -- before He even created us -- then what is the point of him creating us to begin with? He already knows what's going to happen! What is the point of us praying when God knew "way back when" what we were going to pray for? I have visions of Him sitting up there, watching us all like puppets -- but even that makes no sense because why would you create a "show" when you already knew how it would go from beginning to end?
A. The list of superstitions we published in the January/February 2007 Plain Truth includes, as we said, "a few silly beliefs and practices . . . " We did not intend to imply that any particular practice was unbiblical, but simply to illustrate that as Christians we fall prey to all kinds of traditions and ideas that often become sacred cows.
"God bless you" -- I would rather say it when I receive negative reactions for saying it! I certainly will not say it if others feel I must in order to conform to their religious drumbeat. My personal opinion, based on what I understand from the Bible, is that there is nothing wrong with saying "God bless you." Based on that understanding, I often offer the statement when somewhat sneezes. I know the origins, but I am not saying it because of some blessing or curse that will fall on me (or the sneezer) -- but as a social gesture. As you say, not saying "God bless you" because it has some tainted origins is itself legalistic, and perhaps self-righteous. I certainly don't need to say it, for I am free in Christ about such traditions and conventions. I am not free, however, to imply to someone else that they must say "God bless you."
As for whether we can identify Christians by whether they say "God bless you" or not, I would take a dim view of such a belief, for it itself would be a superstitious belief. We of course have no record whether Jesus uttered these words, but my bet would be that he didn't! But again, that doesn't prove that we should engage or disengage from this habit/custom.
As for your second question, we have a number of questions and answers in the "Ask Greg" section of our website that discuss this issue. I also have several questions and answers in my just-published book Between Religious Rocks and Life's Hard Places that address this matter of free will, God's will, etc. One section in my book is titled "Do We Really Have Choices?"-- another answer, in a different section of the book, answers the question, "What's the Point of Prayer?"
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht
Q. First of all, thank you for the pleasure of reading your magazine. As soon as I finish it, I anxiously await the next one! I have a question from the January/February 2007 issue. In your article about Christians and superstition you talk about "practicing more harmful superstitions without knowing it . . . silly practices maintained by well-meaning Christians." You give, as one example, saying "God bless you" after a sneeze.
There was a time when I didn't say "God bless you." I compared it with knocking on wood or something. Admittedly it doesn't seem like as"bad" of a superstition as others. Anyway, I am now torn about saying "bless you" for two reasons:
1) I have received negative reactions by not saying it, because most people don't know (or care) that it's essentially superstitious. They regard the absence of this reply as being impolite, inconsiderate or uncaring. Not that I care that much about what others think about me, but I don't want them to think these things if they know I'm a Christian.
2) What's the harm in blessing someone, regardless of the reason? To suggest not saying it because it has superstitious origins seems legalistic to me -- and that's a surprise coming from you guys at PTM.
My second question has been puzzling me for years. If God knew everything we were ever going to do -- before He even created us -- then what is the point of him creating us to begin with? He already knows what's going to happen! What is the point of us praying when God knew "way back when" what we were going to pray for? I have visions of Him sitting up there, watching us all like puppets -- but even that makes no sense because why would you create a "show" when you already knew how it would go from beginning to end?
A. The list of superstitions we published in the January/February 2007 Plain Truth includes, as we said, "a few silly beliefs and practices . . . " We did not intend to imply that any particular practice was unbiblical, but simply to illustrate that as Christians we fall prey to all kinds of traditions and ideas that often become sacred cows.
"God bless you" -- I would rather say it when I receive negative reactions for saying it! I certainly will not say it if others feel I must in order to conform to their religious drumbeat. My personal opinion, based on what I understand from the Bible, is that there is nothing wrong with saying "God bless you." Based on that understanding, I often offer the statement when somewhat sneezes. I know the origins, but I am not saying it because of some blessing or curse that will fall on me (or the sneezer) -- but as a social gesture. As you say, not saying "God bless you" because it has some tainted origins is itself legalistic, and perhaps self-righteous. I certainly don't need to say it, for I am free in Christ about such traditions and conventions. I am not free, however, to imply to someone else that they must say "God bless you."
As for whether we can identify Christians by whether they say "God bless you" or not, I would take a dim view of such a belief, for it itself would be a superstitious belief. We of course have no record whether Jesus uttered these words, but my bet would be that he didn't! But again, that doesn't prove that we should engage or disengage from this habit/custom.
As for your second question, we have a number of questions and answers in the "Ask Greg" section of our website that discuss this issue. I also have several questions and answers in my just-published book Between Religious Rocks and Life's Hard Places that address this matter of free will, God's will, etc. One section in my book is titled "Do We Really Have Choices?"-- another answer, in a different section of the book, answers the question, "What's the Point of Prayer?"
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht