  so. let me give everyone a little history on this hand raising business. as far as I can tell it has been going on for quite sometime. there was actually a strong movement among puritans in New England during the colonial days of people getting very animated with their worship. there was this group called the shakers that danced around and shook. obviously. but this strand of worship has had a place in christianity for a long long time.  now. fast forward a couple hundred years. there have been certain denominations that have always been very expressive in their worship. pentecostals are the ones that get the most notoriety for being very boisterous. some of them speak in tongues. the black churches are usually the same way. now a lot of this was very localized. only certain denominations.
but in the last twenty or thirty years came the advent of praise and worship music. before that there were just hymns.  now you have a whole plethora of songs. lord i lift your name on high. open the eyes of my heart lord. etc. etc.
so.
these songs are light on lyrics but heavy on a good melody.
so.
heres my postualte as to why so many people raise their hands.  first. these praise and worship choruses are very chant- ish. if thats even a word. like open the eyes of my heart.
you say the word holy. 12 times in a row. lets face it folks. thats chanting.
so.
in doing that puts some people in sort of a trance like state. where things just happen. possibly somewhere this state someone was led to hold up their hands. someone else saw it. and all of a sudden. its like the mainstream thing to do.
 now.
i have no problems with this hand holding up thing. in general principle. but i do think that it can be dangerous. one has to be careful to think if they are doing it for what other ppl will think when they see them with their hands held up.
eww. they must be more spiritual. because they have their hand up.  type thing. also. it shouldn't be contrived. i know of one person at Greenville who would put his hand up as soon as the first chord was played of any song. i am not one to judge. but it seems a little planned and routine.
 so.
enough on that subject. hope that wasn't too convoluted.
