Handwashing

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<<HELEN:
I suppose the question would be was it a Greek or Roman practice. If the 
carefully
performed hand washing of Jews was viewed as a silly Jewish religious ritual 
by
the pagans, then this verse could have been a later addition to help the
Christians in their major effort not to have to act in anyway Jewish.  This 
could
have been a way to avoid ritual  hand washing just as they managed to avoid
circumcision, giving up pork and other kosher laws, Saturday sabbaths, wearing
beards, and the restrictions against eating blood. There is an obvious 
pattern in,
I think, all early Christian writings of finding reasons why the early 
Christians
didn't have to obey any of the Jewish codes. I think most scholars acknowledge
this pattern. We're back to the problem of not being able to figure out which 
is
the cart and which is the horse.
Helen
hhiwater@bright.net>>

KORNFORM
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the omniscient Jesus "forgot" that 
handwashing was a good thing and helped prevent the spread of disease. His 
flouting the rule, whatever its origin, belies his ignorance and primitive 
nature (or, more likely, the ignorance of the scriptwriters).

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