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IIRC there was some old wive's tale about your spirit exiting your body when you sneeze and and the incantation puts it back, such that the devil, always lurking nearby, can't snatch it for himself.
There are a few similar such origin stories for the custom, but it's one of those things where no one is exactly sure why we do it.
I like that one. You can always bet that where God goes that ol' devil satan is sneaking not too far behind ready to cause trouble. "The debbil made me sneeze."
I have heard :
1) sneezing rejects evil spirits so bless you stops them getting back in, or
2) sneezing allows evil spirits to get in your body, so bless you stops them.
I believe it originated from sneezing being a symptom of bad health, so it is like a short prayer asking God to bless you so that you become better again.
I believe the Chinese say 'bi sway' to wish someone a long life.
The Chinese I know say,
"Man who sneezes without tissue takes matters in his own hands."
I think mordant said something similar to this. Two atheists agreeing on the same origins for something spiritual means it's proof positive their opinions are factual. At least in my holy book.
I sometimes use “blessed” and “blessing” to describe a sense of gratitude for happiness and good fortune, as opposed to the product of any higher power or incantations by any clergyperson in support thereof.
I do quite like the Jewish saying, “May [their] memory be a blessing,” when mentioning a dearly departed friend or loved one. I similarly mean that along the lines of “may we continue to cherish them and the positive contributions they made to our lives.”
I like that, it captures the spirit of what blessing means.
In Indian culture blessing extends goodwiil to the other person, may no harm come to you, may you always live in grace and with peace.
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” '
And...I wish it for all of you.
Peace I can understand, but the rest is not really saying anything and is ambiguous. If you looked at the words used they dont make any sense to normal people and yet I suspect no-one asks what 'keeping' is or 'shining' or even what does looking towards someone do? I guess it is to make religious folk feel good as we have said previously, but here is a good example.
That was not a gracious comment Paul, and there is no need to be so ungracious. Or if you are, just keep it private. No need to advertise this defect. It's off-putting.
You can go online and check the meaning of "may God keep you", "God shine on your face", "to be gracious to someone" and "to turn the face toward".
Then, after reading all the definitions, maybe you'll understand.
Sometimes things need to be said and questions need to be asked. I do not live my life by shying away from difficult issues as my recent posts have shown. That 'graciousness' is for other people not me. As in life we choose our friends who think similarly or have the same outlook, so we project this onto our online life too. You and I may not be friends but it still means we can discuss difficult issues with criticality and intelligence.
In my experience, people who are comfortable with their orthodox religion do not ask enough questions but use 'faith' to avoid that. That is why I do not follow an orthodox religion.
I can look up definitions online - these are the 'official' definitions, but in practice folk have their own which they prefer and make more sense to them in their life. I am hoping for explanations which everyone can understand and will promote discussion. Pointing out the vagueness of language is part of that discussion and does not equal non-graciousness (which is a personal emotion) unless individuals feel threatened by the discussion.
Emotions are choices we make. Whether this non-graciousness is a 'defect' or not is a judgement which you have apparently made of me.
Well, you see, when someone sneezes it's impolite to sit there like a bump on a log so the custom became to say, "God bless you and keep you from dying from that horrible flu which you likely just gave to me." But that was too long and politically incorrect as the person sneezing might be an atheist so the "God' was dropped and it just became "Bless you."
But personally what "Bless you" has to do with sneezing beat the hell out of me.
86:5.9 (954.8) The savage looked upon sneezing as an abortive attempt of the soul to escape from the body. Being awake and on guard, the body was able to thwart the soul’s attempted escape. Later on, sneezing was always accompanied by some religious expression, such as “God bless you!” https://www.urantia.org/urantia-book...ution-religion
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At least in my holy book.
