What's the real meaning of "laying of hands"?

Answer 1

It is a term referred to healing someone through placing your hands on their body and calling God to use you as a conduit to heal them.

Answer 2

There's two possible meanings that I know of.

The most common is the Christian sense of transferring blessing or healing or anointing by physically "laying hands" on someone.

What's interesting to me is that the original Judaic sense of "laying of hands" was to transfer GUILT. This is why you'll see in the Bible the community would "lay hands" on a scapegoat or on a murderer or adulterer, for example. It was the sense of transferring the guilt of the community onto the scapegoat or onto the sinner (usually followed by stoning the sinner). Even in the gospels, the people of Nazareth tried to "lay hands" on Jesus in just this very way.

It's interesting that Jesus and the early Christians took this practice of laying of hands and transformed it from something quite negative, focused on death and sin, into a means of grace, full of hope and life.

Peace to you.

Answer 3

That is the real name for it. Healing is a manifestation of the laying on of hands. There are many manifestations of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, such as: miracles...deliverance...impartation of gifts...etc.

Answer 4

Laying on of hands has to do with the ministry of physical touch. Touching someone, especially someone who would be considered "untouchable" by society at large, demonstrates God's compassion and His personal involvement in human affairs. Also, laying on of hands has to do with special commissionings, as in the church at Antioch laid hands on Paul and Barnabus before the pair left on their first missionary journey. The symbology is that God had already "laid His hand on" the pair, setting them apart for that special service. Ultimately, the divine touched the human when God the Son became a man and dwelt among us. God touches human lives through human intermediaries. So, reach out and touch someone.

Answer 5

The elders of the early christian church layed their hands on people in prayer to heal them.

The elders were the group of men that lead the church. See second Timothy for requrements to be an elder in the church.

Answer 6

To know the real meaning of that, we must come closer and lay our hands on each other.

What do you think?

Answer 7

It is using God's healing properties through the Holy Spirit. We all have this ability, we should not have any illness and sickness if we all used it. It is just we need to pursue godliness to access this power totally.

Answer 8

It's a pick-pocket code for 'got the wallet'. LOL

Answer 9

In the Bible it refers to the priesthood power to administer to the physically or spiritually afflicted, to ordain people to specific callings and blessings. Jesus and his Apostles did all of these things by "the laying on of hands."

Jesus had the authority to act on God's behalf (ie the priesthood of God) and he ordained his apostles to this same priesthood by putting his hands on their heads. The Apostles continued, even after Christ died, to confer authority in this way, through prayerfully selecting individuals, by the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 1:22-26 - http://scriptures.lds.org/en/acts/1/22-26#22 ).

As far as I know, only two Christian sects claim to have a direct priesthood line of authority (ie one who received the laying on of hands, and who then, with authority, laid hands on someone else to ordain them to the same authority, etc.) Catholics and the Latter-day Saints both claim to have this unbroken line of priesthood authority.

The Catholics claim there has been an unbroken priesthood line since Jesus Christ, within their church, and that the Pope still has this authority to act in the name of God.

The Latter-day Saints claim that the priesthood line was broken when all the apostles died, and that the authority to act in God's name was lost for a time. They claim the priesthood authority was restored again through angelic ministration to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that this "laying on of hands by those who are in authority" still occurs today.

I am a Latter-day Saint, and I have experienced undeniable spiritual power in the priesthood "laying on of hands" of this church, and felt peaceful feelings in the ministrations of the priesthood (including from my husband).

I have met other people who heal by the "laying on of hands." I believe some have a natural or acquired spiritual gift for discerning and manipulating energy.

This kind of laying on of hands is more limited in scope than the priesthood laying on of hands, since these people have no authority to "bind on earth, and in heaven," etc. (See Matt. 16:13-20 - http://scriptures.lds.org/en/matt/16/13-20#20 ... where Jesus ordained Peter to be the prophet, ie to hold all the keys of the kingdom of God on earth.)

If you want a more exhaustive answer (LOL!), with more scriptural references, please feel free to email.

xo

Answer 10

It started by someone trying to cop a feel.