Holy Water..?

[Kaleeko]

Most of you know I'm a pastor's daughter. If not, now you know. Anyways.

Recently we moved to Washington so that my dad could serve this parish, and we moved into the parsonage that they had available. The other day the microwave went kaputt, and while messing around there, they came across a bottle that the previous pastor that had lived here left.

According to the label on the bottle, it contains water from the Jordan River. While of course there's no way to actually prove that, the likelihood is pretty high. Though, if it is, would this water be considered "holy"? With all the history from the Bible revolving around that river, is the water just a symbol, or do you believe that the water from it actually is "holy"? I'm not asking because I'm planning on throwing it out (that would just be silly, it looks so ancient it could be an antique!), I'm curious what you're opinion on it is.

[Sidoh]

I don't see any reason that God would choose to bless some arbitrary vile of water, personally.  I'm aware of baptismal water being considered holy the moment it touches a person's head, but I don't know if this exists anywhere else.

[Explicit]

Couldn't the water be symbolic of holiness, becoming a combination of the two things?

[Armin]

I don't see any reason that God would choose to bless some arbitrary vile of water, personally.  I'm aware of baptismal water being considered holy the moment it touches a person's head, but I don't know if this exists anywhere else.

God doesn't have to comply with any set of logical boundaries.  He doesn't have to act on human intuition. Applying guesses derived from human intuition to a deity doesn't make any sense to me.

[skip]

Yeah, I agree with Sidoh. The most the water would be is a symbol.

[Joe]

Haha @ MM. <3.

In my opinion, the Jordan River isn't the Jewish equivalent of the Buddhist's holy river, the Ganges. It doesn't cleans people's sins, the blood of Jesus does. However, the Jordan River still has that religious significance to it. IIRC, not only did the blind man get his sight back after bathing in it, but Jesus was baptised there (don't quote me, I'm probably wrong). I wouldn't say that it's holy water and the wrath of God will strike you down where you stand if you spill it, but IMO it'd be somewhat like anointing oil, significant in religion as nothing more than a symbol of old rituals and stuff.

[rabbit]

The Ganges is a dirty, nasty river.  It doesn't clean, it dirties.  Pleh.

[Sidoh]

I don't see any reason that God would choose to bless some arbitrary vile of water, personally.  I'm aware of baptismal water being considered holy the moment it touches a person's head, but I don't know if this exists anywhere else.

God doesn't have to comply with any set of logical boundaries.  He doesn't have to act on human intuition. Applying guesses derived from human intuition to a deity doesn't make any sense to me.

He doesn't, it's true.  I based my conclusion on an intuitive guess, just as you did.  I am not intending to say that the answer I provided above is absolutely correct; I simply made apparent that there should be no reason that God would bless a vial of water with mysterious powers.

Another problem with doing something like that is it would almost inevitably lead to misuse.  If the "power" contained in the vial cured cancer, it would likely be collected and used for profit.  If drinking it made the imbiber omniscient, it will cause war, distruction and havok.  If it grants long life to the drinker, the same effect will probably be present.

In any case, regardless of the apparent similarites present in our 'theories,' there is a fundamental difference between my conclusion here and the one you made in the thread you're referring to.  Mine deals with a simple vial of water; yours deals with a future uncovering -- an ultimate realization that God will make himself universally visible to the human consciousness through either a staggering revelation that humans uncover or an enlightening experience manifested by God himself so that all of mankind will be compelled to accept Him as their savior before it is too late.

[Armin]

I don't see any reason that God would choose to bless some arbitrary vile of water, personally.  I'm aware of baptismal water being considered holy the moment it touches a person's head, but I don't know if this exists anywhere else.

God doesn't have to comply with any set of logical boundaries.  He doesn't have to act on human intuition. Applying guesses derived from human intuition to a deity doesn't make any sense to me.

He doesn't, it's true.  I based my conclusion on an intuitive guess, just as you did.  I am not intending to say that the answer I provided above is absolutely correct; I simply made apparent that there should be no reason that God would bless a vial of water with mysterious powers.

I know, I was just being an ass.

[MyndFyre]

I don't think that any water or land is intrinsically "holy."  For instance, Israel is cool and all, and I'd like to go there some day to see Jerusalem, but I really don't think that there is some kind of blessing on water or land that can just be given arbitrarily to anyone who gets it.

Now, the land that was given to Abraham and his sons - that could be said to be set apart or even holy to that tribe.  But for the rest of us to have a jar of it sitting on our bookshelf to ward off the evil spirits?  That's silly.

[Kaleeko]

x86] link=topic=7010.msg87514#msg87514 date=1155637897]
Now, the land that was given to Abraham and his sons - that could be said to be set apart or even holy to that tribe.  But for the rest of us to have a jar of it sitting on our bookshelf to ward off the evil spirits?  That's silly.

I'm curious what it tastes like.

Just kidding! Ew! I'm not even sure I want to open the bottle and smell it. I think it's cool that we have something that came from half-way around the world, though. Like our wooden spoons from Russia. Yes. I rate water from the Jordan River on the same scale as a bunch-o spoons. :D Haha.

[MyndFyre]

x86] link=topic=7010.msg87514#msg87514 date=1155637897]
Now, the land that was given to Abraham and his sons - that could be said to be set apart or even holy to that tribe.  But for the rest of us to have a jar of it sitting on our bookshelf to ward off the evil spirits?  That's silly.

I'm curious what it tastes like.

Just kidding! Ew! I'm not even sure I want to open the bottle and smell it. I think it's cool that we have something that came from half-way around the world, though. Like our wooden spoons from Russia. Yes. I rate water from the Jordan River on the same scale as a bunch-o spoons. :D Haha.

It tastes like fish pee.  :P