hand raising in church

Many believe that it is a form of worship and praise to God. It is mentioned in Scripture, I just can't remember the passage. My only reservation with it is sometimes it gets carried away and is more of a distration than worship or praise.

 

Luke 24:50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen

Ps 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.

1 Ti 2:8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;

 

Thanks Diane,

Those are the verses I was thinking of.

 

There are many more as well:

Psalm 47:1-2 - Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

Psalm 63:3-4 - Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 88:9 - ...my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you.

Psalm 134:2 - Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.

Psalm 141:2 - May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths to which Bible-believing Baptists will ignore scripture when it comes to this subject - they will even become upset if someone raises their hands during a hymn or praise song.

If we are the strict literalists we say we are, aren't we in the wrong for not lifting our hands in worship? After all, if David was "a man after God's own heart" and he lifted his hands in worship, shouldn't we follow his example?

 

Some People choose to lift up hands and I have no problem with them doing that.

I choose not to lift my hands in worship and I hope that they have no problem with me.

As a side issue... one that does bother me... is that whenever someone in worship lifts up a closed fist. That one bothers me.

 

In some churches, it's the custom, signifying worship and/or praise. In others, it's not. There's no right or wrong about it. If you're at a church that does it, feel free to, if you like. If you're at a church taht doesn't, I would respect the congregation and refrain. When in Rome, do as a Roman.

 

I agree with the hand raising,it's okay. But as JohnV says out of respect for the congrgation you are in if they don't raise thiers don't raise yours.
Personally I like to go to a church where the preacher is excited about God's Word when he preaches Bible centered sermons,where the people raise their hands and shout Amen,praise the Lord,and stuff like that. I like a singing church and I like a friendly church.

 

I'm with Plain Old Bill!! Raise your hands if you want to---but if you don't want to you don't have to!!

Lots of folks insist that raising hands is a command---well, #1 Just make sure those hands are holy and #2 Don't snide down on folks that don't & #3---if its a command what about all the paralyzed and armless folks---what do they do??

 

If you raise your hand at my church, the pastor
may call on you to give an answer.

 

We clap to songs in our church. Our pastor said he has it on good authority that Pentecostals clap on 2 and 4 so we clap on 1 and 3 so no one can claim we've crossed that 'fine line'.

We have a good bit of 'amens', 'Yes, Jesus', 'Praise God', 'that's right preacher', too. Yep, SBC with almost 1,200 members.

[ January 07, 2005, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: dianetavegia ]

 

It seems to me to be a matter of mindless sheep following what is spiritually "cool" at the moment. A physical exercise to make you "feel" more spiritual. It is a nod in the direction of accepting the pentecostal mindset. It is a small matter, but a negative matter nonetheless. IMHO.

 

I used to hear it was done for show.

But actually it takes a lot of courage - and I don't care, I'm gonna praise the Lord anyway no matter what you people think, to raise your hands to the Lord where doing so is not fashionable.

We ought to please God rather than men.

Many Baptists are too cookie cutter.

 

- a Babtist Graemlin.
Note that only ONE arm gets raised,
and both feet stay firmly on the ground.
If two arms get raised, he would look
pentacostal. If the feet leave the
ground he is done gone a dancin'.

 

I see that hand, Brother Ed.

 

I am doing a study on this with the teenagers at church. We went to a conference last weekend where we were all told to do this, and most everyone did, but I was uncomfortable with the way the worship leader went about it. In my study I have found three "categories" of lifting hands:
1) in making an oath or promise to God (Gen 14:22; Deut 32:40)
2) prayer (Ex 9:29; Job 11:13; Psalm 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; Isaiah 1:15; Lamentations 2:19; 31:41; i Tim 2:8)
3) general posture of praise (the word "bless" is often used) (Psalm 63:4; 134:2)

From what I understand, the early Christians took the traditional Jewish posture for prayer and used it in identification with Christ on the cross.

Personally, I dont have a problem with lifting hands. I can worship in a corporate setting with folks who do. Sometimes in my private worship times, I do it. But I have noticed that often when a certain "style" of music is played, hands automatically go up and folks begin to sway. I am NOT saying one cannot worship this way, I am saying that I think we dont understand the biblical reasons for hand-lifting. I think many folks "feel" like they are worshiping more if they raise hands.

 

My Dear Bro. Artimius,
Trust me I am no Pentecostal and I do not see raising hand or hands or a healthy Amen as the road to pentecostolism or perdition.
I think the best time you have all week should not be at the ball game but at church with the brothers and sisters getting good Bible preaching and teaching.I also like the praying and singing parts real good too.
I for the life of me can't figure out how people who go to ball games (and I am one of them) can get so excited and worked up about a game and not get just as excited and worked up about God.I think God wants us to be happy especially when we worship Him.