James 4:8 - washing hands

Eddi · Mar 19, 2020

A bible verse that is relevant to the Coronavirus emergency:

From the Epistle of James 4:8

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded

I've been washing my hands, all I need to do now is come nearer to God and to purify my heart...

I don't know what exactly it means by "double-minded" but that sounds like something I can relate to

IndigoChild5559 · Mar 19, 2020

Eddi said:
A bible verse that is relevant to the Coronavirus emergency:

From the Epistle of James 4:8

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded

I've been washing my hands, all I need to do now is come nearer to God and to purify my heart...

I don't know what exactly it means by "double-minded" but that sounds like something I can relate to

I may not be a Christian, but this is easy peasy for any Jew to figure out.

James was a Jewish believer in Jesus, who continued to keep Jewish law. The washing of hands was for ritual purity. It had nothing to do with either dirt, or with health. That's why James is using the metaphor to speak of the purification of hearts.

dybmh · Mar 19, 2020

Eddi said:
all I need to do now is come nearer to God and to purify my heart...

psalms 24... clean hands and a pure heart.... is described there.... I'm going thru the commentary now....

Thanks for inspiring me to do so

Jayhawker Soule · Mar 19, 2020

Eddi said:
A bible verse that is relevant to the Coronavirus emergency:

From the Epistle of James 4:8

Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded

I've been washing my hands, all I need to do now is come nearer to God and to purify my heart...

All you need to do? Seriously?

Permit me to suggest an alternative scripture:

So sayeth the Lord your God --
Place not your faith in scrap of text from some pseudepigraphic epistle.
Rather, thou shalt heed the guidance of the WHO and CDC,
lest thou become as a foolish born-again disease vector
preaching nonsense and threatening the life of your neighbors.

Eddi · Mar 19, 2020

Jayhawker Soule said:
All you need to do? Seriously?

Permit me to suggest an alternative scripture:

So sayeth the Lord your God --
Place not your faith in scrap of text from some pseudepigraphic epistle.
Rather, thou shalt heed the guidance of the WHO and CDC,
lest thou become as a foolish born-again disease vector
preaching nonsense and threatening the life of your neighbors.

No, not seriously

I have been heeding the guidance of the WHO and CDC et.al.

I know that washing my hands is alone is not going to magically make me impervious to the virus just because there is a reference to it in the NT

I'm not a moron and I am not preaching nonsense, I'm not preaching anything

Edit: seriously, give people the benefit of the doubt

sun rise · Mar 19, 2020

IndigoChild5559 said:
The washing of hands was for ritual purity.

To me there's a direct link between external cleanliness and internal cleanliness.

As some seek to cleanse their hearts, they naturally want to have their environment reflect and support that effort. Focusing on external cleanliness supports the internal effort.

When the internal and external support each other, more progress can be made.

PearlSeeker · Mar 19, 2020

James 4:8 - washing hands

Eddi

Agnostic

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --

Eddi

Agnostic

sun rise

The world is on fire

PearlSeeker

Well-Known Member