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I still have some belief in priesthood blessings. I have given blessings in the past. I haven’t given many but only a small few by those who asked of me. On one such occasion my father anointed my friend with the oil and I gave the blessing. I felt inspired to say that her illness would pass. I wanted to say that she say that she would receive a full recovery but I felt strongly that I should not. I felt strongly that there were other things that would still remain both physically and psychologically and my friend would still have to work through.
My father later told me that I should have said in the blessing that my friend would recover fully. He told me that I lacked the faith to say it. My father said that if I have strong faith that it will happen then it will happen.
😯 I of course was hurt by this in many ways. He told me that my faith wasn’t good enough.
I also felt hurt by this because during the time in which my Uncle fought cancer my father gave him blessings. In those blessings my father told my uncle that he would receive a full recovery.
My uncle limped on in life for a moment longer and then…. well he died.
There was no full recovery. His health didn’t improve. It was as if nothing happened at all.
Here this foolish man is telling me that If I have lack of faith. and yet I feel that he was simply saying what he wanted to say in the blessing. I am sure that my father had the faith that my uncle would have received a full recovery but it didn’t happen.
I feel that I am a wiser man for listening to what I felt strongly to say and not what I wanted to say.
I have since been asked to give a blessing by another. I had to tell this person to go and ask another.
I do have faith in priesthood blessings but at the time I had a great deal of anger towards certain aspects of the church. I did not feel at that time “worthy” to give a blessing.
I feel there are some truths in the LDS church. If I am asked again to give a blessing I don’t know what I would say. To be honest it has been so long that I wouldn’t know what to say unless I had access to the computer or one of those little white missionary books.
this is just something I’ve been thinking about for the past little while. The memories I have shared with you have taken place over a span of a few years.
I guess in some ways I feel lost in my thoughts on this matter. I thought that perhaps if I wrote them out here that I might be able to clear my head of it for a time and maybe navigate my own way in time.
tick…tock…tick…tock…tick…tock…tick..tock…tick…tock…tick…tock…tick..tock……
Brother Apple, don’t let anyone tell you what you should say when giving a blessing. Except God. I gave my Mother-In-Law a blessing once & was completely convinced that she would be healed.
She died a short time later. Stuff happens. I felt bad about it & asked alot of questions.
My answer was: after all we can do, sometimes people die.
I’m sure that you Father was trying to be positive & use this time as a “teaching moment”.
Sometimes, we say the wrong things. Sometimes, we interpret them wrong.
(I don’t know where I’m going with this.)
Mike from Milton.
Can you quantify/ qualify what you think they do. Increase the probability that someone will recover by .5%? As you clearly understand blessings don’t accurately predict what will happen. I think blessings do a few things:
1) Are a nice ritual for showing support
2) Act somewhat as a placebo. Both in providing comfort and in providing faith/hope. A positive mental attitude is scientifically show to aid recovery.
3) Gives everyone a good feeling – a good bonding experience
4) Humans are sensitive to touch – and this allows for a quasi intimate touching of a group that helps bond / provide comfort / relieve stress.
So I believe in blessings in a non supernatural way.
priesthood blessings and answers to prayers can be such beautiful expressions of love, and hope, and faith that can bond people together. They are built on faith, believing there is power in trusting God’s will.
I do not know how to put expectations or certainty around outcomes of blessings…only that they can provide learning experiences for us.
At the risk of being unoriginal, I tend to subscribe to what Brian said….that priesthood blessings comfort people. You might not be able to change their circumstances, but their own faith comforts them when you come to their home, express concern, listen, and then give a priesthood blessing. That is why I give them now since the other areas of my faith have taken a huge hit in recent years. I look at my actions as a source of comfort to others, and a kind of service — regardless of whethe what I say is inspired or not. Regardless of whether what I say comes to pass, or not.
As is my inclination: 
“Priesthood Blessings” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=112&hilit=priesthood+blessings “Spiritual Guidance That Doesn’t Come to Pass” (
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2510&hilit=priesthood+blessings greenapples, I’m glad you shared your experiences. I have a testimony of the efficacy of Priesthood blessings, but men need to FOLLOW THE SPIRIT instead of saying what they want to say. It sounds like that what you did and I commend you for it. I like what Mike wrote – your dad probably meant well.
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