- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
This went out in the BCC Weekly Intelligencer, and it’s been making the rounds among my Mormon FB friends. https://www.facebook.com/dannypaniagua/posts/10153189893281710 Thoughts?
My kneejerk reaction is: even when I was a 100% traditional believer, I rejected a lot of the ‘magical thinking’ that is so prevalent in Mormonism. If it were MY daughter lying on the side of the road, I’d take a trained paramedic over a vial of oil any day of the week. (Of course the man who wrote this post was on the scene before emergency services arrived, but there is an inherent risk in touching a severely injured person when you don’t have any training. If she had a spinal injury, for example, bumping or jostling her head and neck – even just to perform a priesthood blessing – could have VERY severe consequences.) I’m sure it was a very powerful experience for everyone involved, but what would have happened if the young lady had died from her injuries? The story wouldn’t have gone viral even though the priesthood blessing would have been just as valid.
For every miraculous healing/blessing, there are dozens of blessings that had no effect at all. I know people who lost their testimony because they were in a PH circle, gave a blessing as dictated by “the Spirit”, and nothing happened in a positive way. In fact, it all went bad. I’m with you…I would rather have a paramedic. But that is just me.
Which is the miracle being claimed: The prompting to pull over?
Finding the missing girl?
That someone actually had some oil for a change?
:angel: That the guy was able to remain calm enough to give the blessing?
The blessing kept her alive until the paramedics showed up?
That she is recovering well?
I suppose it could be D, all of the above.
It sounds like a terrible situation had a favorable outcome for once, so that’s good. It also sounds like it was a miracle to the people directly involved, that’s good enough for me.
Rob4Hope wrote:For every miraculous healing/blessing, there are dozens of blessings that had no effect at all. I know people who lost their testimony because they were in a PH circle, gave a blessing as dictated by “the Spirit”, and nothing happened in a positive way. In fact, it all went bad.
My father shared with me years ago that when he was being set apart for a calling, the SP promised him that all of his children would return to the Church. (There are 8 kids in my family – 6 non-members, a TBM, and me.) For a lot of years I clung to that. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that the SP probably didn’t have the authority to make promises on behalf of my brothers and sisters.
But it’s also true that
the stories we tellQuote:It sounds like a terrible situation had a favorable outcome for once, so that’s good. It also sounds like it was a miracle to the people directly involved, that’s good enough for me
What do you think about the story going viral on FB? It was written by the man who gave the blessing, not a bystander or one of the victims, and that rubs me the wrong way.Joni wrote:But it’s also true that
the stories we tellAnd there is always the backdrop to believing the promises and miracles go beyond this life…so that helps hoping for happy endings. Kids may return to the gospel in the next life…so keep loving and hoping. That’s a good message.
I like blessings and miracles being sacred and private. Not posted on FB or over the pulpit.
Joni wrote:
But it’s also true thatthe stories we tell
When things don’t go well after blessings and so forth, we minimize and even censor those things from being spread. We are addicted to the “sugar” of the happy finish of the story.
Not every time is there a “ram in the thicket”. Sometimes the disease doesn’t end; sometimes the leg gets amputated; sometimes the faith crisis ends in suicide when someone was promised a healing.
If I wanted to make a clear point, it is this: in the scriptures, the ONLY thing that is promised to endure forever is Charity. Everything else may “fail” <-- this is the exact word.
Rob4Hope wrote:If I wanted to make a clear point, it is this: in the scriptures, the ONLY thing that is promised to endure forever is Charity. Everything else may “fail” <-- this is the exact word.
We’re also promised that we will always have the poor among us. Perhaps providing a reason to be charitable.
Joni wrote:What do you think about the story going viral on FB? It was written by the man who gave the blessing, not a bystander or one of the victims, and that rubs me the wrong way.
I’m not familiar with the backstory. Did the guy publish this in multiple places in an attempt to promote the event or was it a simple FB post that grew wings? It could be the difference between “you’ll never guess what happened to me on the way to work today” vs. “look at what I did.” It is what it is.
Sounds like the guy was very excited to be involved. He did the only thing he felt capable of doing. He gave a blessing, then he made sure the whole world knew about it. It’s not wrong .. Just very very human. I worked trauma and transplant for almost 8 years. Of all the gun shot wounds and stabbings, foreign object removals and industrial accident victims, there was only one patient with whom I felt there was “the spirit” in the OR. He looked like a prison-tattoo-covered dirt bag who was involved in something big enough that the police planned to handcuff him to his hospital bed once he woke up. Why THAT patient??? I have no idea. Why not the young kid who was horribly mangled when his sibling flipped their car? Why not the 4 PTA moms who were on a head on collision with a drink driver? I have no answers.
My big question:
Does getting a priesthood blessing cause God to heal us faster or better? Does God treat his children less well if they are not blessed? Statistically, research states that it doesn’t make a difference. Religiously, why do we believe God intervenes more if a priesthood blessing is given? I’m not trying to be sarcastic. I really want to know. For myself, I have come to see blessings as a way to formally involve the community in our trials and problems. It gets the larger community involved and gives support to the family.
I have felt power in blessings, but the blessing didn’t heal. Expecting blessings to cause healing led me to thinking about people who do not have access to blessings. Do LDS people believe non-blessed people fail faster?? Do LDS people believe God withholds blessings from the patients who are not annointed with oil?
I hope this isn’t too off-topic, but I’ve been thinking about several non-priesthood blessings. Our stake president helped an older non-member father give a blessing to his member daughter. Our SP talks frequently about our stake being a geographic entity including
everyonein its boundaries, and he really means it. A couple of years ago I’d gotten bad medical news around the time of a board meeting for a non-profit I help with. As we were dispersing to our cars an elderly evangelical Christian board member reached out, put his hand on my shoulder, and
prayed for me. It was one of the most touching experiences of my life. My daughter recently saw a (non-member) doctor who is also a sort of third-degree family friend. She told me what he said at the end of her appointment and we both said, simultaneously, “He gave you/me a priesthood blessing!”
I don’t know what blessings really are, but I think they aren’t defined by the lines we draw all too narrowly sometimes.
I love the concept and principle of blessings of faith – and wish all believers of all faith accepted them. I have no belief that they cause miraculous healings on a consistent basis, but I love them – and have personal and family experiences that involve seemingly miraculous elements.
I don’t like viral Facebook posts about them.
I just read it and I agree with Ray that I believe in them, even if they don’t consistently heal. A man comes on a the scene of a horrific accident, and lacking the medical skills to treat her injuries, he offers her the absolute best gift he believes he can offer, which is ultimately an expression of his faith in her ability to recover and heal. She accepts his gift, and it likely provides her some respite, big or small, from her current situation. A beautiful story of two human beings connecting under extremely adverse circumstances. Not sure the point in debating whether it was, in fact, God’s hand or the paramedics that saved her life. It’s a cool story, and I don’t mind it being shared on Facebook. I just hate the comments that follow, from both sides.
Sometimes the real power of priesthood blessings is that the person getting the blessing knows there is someone nearby who loves them and is thinking about them. The idea that someone with authority is advocating to Heavenly Father on their behalf is powerful and can comfort those with little hope. Joni wrote:Quote:My father shared with me years ago that when he was being set apart for a calling, the SP promised him that all of his children would return to the Church. (There are 8 kids in my family – 6 non-members, a TBM, and me.) For a lot of years I clung to that. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that the SP probably didn’t have the authority to make promises on behalf of my brothers and sisters.
The SP didn’t say when they would return to the Church. I don’t know if the SP has the authority or not to make that promise. I want to believe that he wanted
to bring some degree of comfort to your family.
Many years ago, my MIL was in the hospital with a tumor on her leg waiting for an operation. My FIL asked that I give her a blessing. During the blessing I felt
that she would be completely healed & make a full recovery. She didn’t. She had cancer & died a short time later. Since then, I don’t want to be the voice in
giving a blessing. I believe that a PH blessing should bring comfort, regardless of the outcome. Is that lying? Not if you communicate what you believe what
God wants you to say at the time.
A man posting a miraculous story/event on facebook doesn’t make it go viral. Everyone else does. I have a cousin who has written a book about her miraculous experiences. With the book written she is now on a lecture circuit to promote it. In her heart it is really a miracle. A touch point of hope. She genuinely see’s the world as having a God who will intervene in every instance if you invite him. People will flock to her story. Any miracle gives many people hope.
In a strange way that is what happened to his post and to many stories we tell, in our religion and others.
Lot’s of us post exciting, happy, jubilant news on facebook – his just had a larger audience to spread it.
Yesterday as I drove around I was listening to the Catholic radio station, a man on there was telling his faith promoting miraculous blessing from the Pope story. I imagine it will be retold among Catholic’s for a while.
I expect the church will pick it up and use it somewhere. Just like the GC talks of the man who closed his gas station on Sunday and was very blessed. These stories won’t end, not in our church or any other. Just look at the bookshelves for Near Death Experiences. It’s something we put hope in, even when we doubt it and fight it with all our other faculties.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.