Shaking Hands

I don't know. It feels more and more like the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has let this window of opportunity to be in the public eye go to his head. He's starting to sound like other celebrities making bizarre statements. Recently he said, "I don't think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you."

I can think of people, even church members, I know who would be aghast at the suggestion. "Never shake hands again? How would we greet one another??" There is a deeper sense of connection that occurs when we connect physically, and this connection is now in question. What then?

Well, the first thing we'd need to do is start cutting text out of the pages of our bibles because more than once Paul tells people to greet one another with a "holy kiss" (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26). Obviously when God breathed those texts He was unaware of disease transmission. If He had been, He would have suggested something like "Greet one another with an elbow bump" perhaps.

But why? Why should we change what appears to be an ancient tradition? Well, it transmits diseases, you see. And we need to do whatever it takes to stop transmitting diseases. That's important, right?

Maybe. But I'm not sure I follow the logic. If we need to dump practices that endanger our health, I would suggest that shaking hands is just the tip of the iceberg. Stop drinking alcohol. Stop smoking. Stop driving. Stop eating junk food. Stop being pessimistic. Stop taking so many antibiotics. One article includes things like crossing our legs, feeding birds, microwaving popcorn, and drinking skim milk. One health risk that should be patently obvious is human contact. I mean, isn't that what this whole "social distancing" is all about? We should really avoid any human contact at all in order to be safe.

At this point I hope you get the idea. A life driven by avoiding health risk is not a life at all.

So perhaps it's a good idea to reevaluate handshaking. Perhaps not. It is a good idea to be conscious of what we do and why, but it's not a good idea to make risk avoidance our sole motivation. In fact, as followers of Christ, we have one primary motivation -- the glory of God. There is no risk worth avoiding in the pursuit of that task. Even if it includes shaking hands. Or a holy kiss.