as an atheist not believeing in god, i get kind of irritated when people say god bless you, or bless you when i sneeze. obviously they dont know i feel this way and are only doing it out of...i dont know, love of their god? but does anyone else get somewhat irritated when that happens.?
God bless, bless you
Haha. I feel the other way around. If someone does NOT say bless you to me, oh it's on. Those are nice manners even if you don't believe in God. People saying that to you wish you well, at least I think so (ignorance is bliss) 
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.I think the whole situation is odd. I mean, why are we blessing someone who sneezes? Is it something to do with demons causing the sneeze? I have always felt weird saying "God bless you" like that. I tend to mumble "gesundheit" to be polite, but to me it seems much more reasonable that whoever sneezes appologizes and we let it go at that.
Its just a sayind. Like "god damnit" But difrent.
Haha, I guess people say so because "I wish you a good health" is too long. In my language we say simply "Na zdrowie" which means something like this, and there's no problem
As a matter of practice, I do my best not to ask my Lord to bless anyone I don't know.
So if you sneeze, about all you can expect if i don't know you is, "would you please cover that!"
So if you sneeze, about all you can expect if i don't know you is, "would you please cover that!"
I won't mind...
to me is just like "excuse me" when you sneeze...some say that because they are use to it, some say it out of concern (which is good ^^)...
what about "god blast you" ??
to me is just like "excuse me" when you sneeze...some say that because they are use to it, some say it out of concern (which is good ^^)...
what about "god blast you" ??
I highly doubt this is true at all, but here's the story I was told many many years ago as a little tike, not sure why its stuck with me for so long...
back a long time ago, people used to believe that a sneeze was the soul trying to escape the body, and saying bless you forced the soul back in.
A slightly less crazy, but still a little stupid, reason I've been told is that when you sneeze, your heart and other organs stop for that sneeze, and saying bless you as a wish that your heart starts again.
Regardless of the stories, its just habbit now a days, at least just "bless you" is. Its more about manners than it is about God.
back a long time ago, people used to believe that a sneeze was the soul trying to escape the body, and saying bless you forced the soul back in.
A slightly less crazy, but still a little stupid, reason I've been told is that when you sneeze, your heart and other organs stop for that sneeze, and saying bless you as a wish that your heart starts again.
Regardless of the stories, its just habbit now a days, at least just "bless you" is. Its more about manners than it is about God.
| HoboPelican wrote: |
| I think the whole situation is odd. I mean, why are we blessing someone who sneezes? Is it something to do with demons causing the sneeze? I have always felt weird saying "God bless you" like that. I tend to mumble "gesundheit" to be polite, but to me it seems much more reasonable that whoever sneezes appologizes and we let it go at that. |
it is a religious custom in muslim world
when anyone sneezes he says "thanks god"
and the others say something "god bless you"(actually "may god be merciful to you"
again the person who sneezes says "may god be merciful to us and to you"
people believe during the sneeze the heart stops working.
of course the people who belive in god do like this.
the other people say "long live " to the person who sneezes.
he replies "be witness to my age"(he means you also live as i do.)
let me tell you a funny thing.
a turkish man who lives in usa told me:
one day an american friend asked me why
a turkish man who sneezes always says "send me a girl"
i confused
and told him "no" there is no such thing.
he insisted .
then i understand he confuses the turkish word
"sen de gor"(be witness to my age)
to "send a girl"
IN my culture we don't say bless you when somebody sneeze,, we hardly say anything at all.. but still I do not feel irritated when somebod says bless you... but I have ran into problem with sorry and thankyou... in my culture sorry and thankyou are considered extremely formal.. so among friends we don't say those two words.. and in US I somtimes forget to say thankyou or sorry.. and they conclude that I am just rude and have no manners.. anything similar happens to anybody else... ?
I usually say "Bless You" because I have been taught that it is good manners. I am not trying to force my view on anyone when I say this. Most people aren't trying to force God on you, they are just like me and trying to be nice.
| HoboPelican wrote: |
| I think the whole situation is odd. I mean, why are we blessing someone who sneezes? Is it something to do with demons causing the sneeze? I have always felt weird saying "God bless you" like that. I tend to mumble "gesundheit" to be polite, but to me it seems much more reasonable that whoever sneezes appologizes and we let it go at that. |
Actually, i believe (but am not 100% sure, so don't hold me to it) the term came when the Black Death was wide in Europe and people were dieing all the time. One of the side-effects was constant sneezing, so when someone sneezed the person replied "God bless you" as a means of praying for their health.
This was of course back when the Church was a big part of government and life in Europe, so if you were offended by it you were likely to have your head placed on the king's wall for disprespect towards God
.
God bless (wether you are irritated or not),
Pampoon
Last edited by pampoon on Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:40 am; edited 1 time in total
I don't see how someone could be bothered by it - it's just part of the language. In Arabic (so I believe) there are numerous phrases like "May your hands be blessed", "God willing this/that/the other" which are used by even the most secular in the Arabic-speaking world.
When someone says "Bless you" I don't even think about religion, just as I don't when someone says "Bloody hell"/"Jesus Christ!"/"God knows"/"Oh my God!".
When someone says "Bless you" I don't even think about religion, just as I don't when someone says "Bloody hell"/"Jesus Christ!"/"God knows"/"Oh my God!".
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