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To: Manly Warrior

That is a very good post. Also, re the bones of Elisha. The bones were in his grave. I.e.: they had not been preserved or given special treatment. The contact with them was purely circumstantial: adead man was thrown into the grave as a result of fear—the Moabite raiders were coming.

Most importantly: the Scripture says nothing about veneration in the aftermath. Even though a miracle occurred, there is no record of subsequent attention accorded to these bones. In all of the Bible, this is the only reference to them.

If bones or clothing were meant to be venerated, we’d see an example of it. A chance, one-off encounter with bones in a grave is not veneration.

Also, while it’s true that handkerchiefs and aprons were carried from Paul’s body to the sick, we’re not told that these items were subsequently venerated. It would have been a trivial addition to the text to add such language, but it’s absent. If we were meant to preserve and give special treatment to such objects, why wouldn’t God have made it clear?


15 posted on 06/18/2017 4:18:12 PM PDT by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic wotk using Inernet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Fantasywriter
It isn't veneration, but there is an indication that God's power -- for *HIS* purposes, such as healing (as opposed to the whole Raiders of the Lost Ark thingie) -- sometimes remains associated with objects in close proximity to saints and/or prophets.

There are analogous instances in Evangelical circles as well; the British Pentecostal preacher Smith Wigglesworth (comical name, but really his name), once boarded a train without speaking to other passengers, only to have a number of them come up to him of their own volition and ask him, "Sir, who *are* you? You convict us of sin."

For a more generalizable analogy, consider the brisk business in autographed sports jerseys. We "venerate" athletic stars, even those with (ahem, wince) "venereal" diseases (e.g. sports writers covering for Babe Ruth's absence from the lineup one day by saying he had a tummy ache from eating too many hot dogs).

And yet nobody considers wrong, the far greater adulation given to sports figures than to those who (according to Christian doctrine) have chosen to forsake the world for eternal glory.

25 posted on 06/18/2017 8:20:11 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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