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I have been atheist-agnostic about miraculous healing for quite some time – I just have no personal experience with it. In my opinion the primary and perhaps only way that God intervenes in the world is through the dispersal of knowledge which can then be acted on by us, but I am much more skeptical of God directly acting on anything physical. God/Spirit initiated dispersal of tangible knowledge can yield choices and circumstances and scientific discoveries and insights that give us understanding which leads to the creation of medical treatments and other technologies etc. etc.
Ever since studying DH Oaks talk about priesthood blessings I feel like I have increased clarity in healing blessings. The primary impression that comes being that the priesthood power can deliver the type of spiritual healing which brings peace, comfort, strength and endurance, but any potential physical healing usually is meant to come through seeking out and trusting the best medical help we can find.
I am not saying that I don’t think such physical miracles are impossible, only that they are not in my personal data set of experience.
That bishop might have had good intentions stemming from a desire to see your wife and family relieved of the burdens of mental illness, but I don’t think the solution is expect or invoke miraculous healing. Education about physical realities is important. Who knows how many gay young men have killed themselves after been told that being gay is a choice, and they can pray/faith themselves out of their affections; only to discover that it simply isn’t so. They interpret it as a failure of faith, rather than merely the nature and circumstances of their mortal garment.
I think the church has come a long way on these types of issues, and I suspect the general authorities would also empathize with ss and how this situation played out.
Old Timer wrote:
I believe mental illnesses are covered in the effects of “Adam’s transgression” in our 2nd Article of Faith (as part of the Fall) – which means I believe their effects have been paid for already – which means we have been redeemed from them – which means we don’t need to have faith in being healed of them in the here and now miraculously. If that happens, as I believe it does on very rare occasion, great; if not, we need to deal with them the best way we know how and thank God daily that we live in a time when medication and therapies are available to use in that effort.I view my husband’s ADHD in this vein and look forward to meeting him when the way his brain works does not complicate things:)
My husband is developing coping mechanisms to compensate for his ADHD. He takes medication responsibly, monitors his diet, and tries to work around this. On many levels, he does “all he can do” to minimize the effects of this condition on our household. And yet, the weakened emotional filter is there, the constantly being distracted/unfocused on what is important, and other classic hallmarks of an ADHD family are there. I have chosen in some areas to take on more of the load because I recognize that it is not in his makeup to be able to handle some of it.
What has helped me is understanding that as my husband does what he can in this area, that our family is strengthened, and we are given additional dimension of understanding and “grace” to love my husband in his mortal limitations. When I am frustrated with him and the situation in general, it gives me a little help to be more merciful to him, more understanding, but also the strength to go back to the drawing board and find something else that will help him to be more of the husband and father he wants to be –
in spite ofthe ADHD. And in some cases, he is on the road to becoming the husband and father he wants to be becauseof his ADHD. Good grief! The people who think they can cure the mentally ill are more dangerous than the mentally ill. Thanks, but no thanks, Bishop. My daughter was dying in ICU and the stake patriarch’s wife told me point-blank that she hadn’t been healed because she received a blessing from her dad and he must not have been worthy enough or spiritually strong enough to warrant healing from God. She sent her husband down to “do the job right”.
It made zero difference in the outcome.
It’s been over 20 years and I am still completely F-bomb pissed off whenever I think about it. The audacity of her judgment of my kind, faithful and devout DH still leaves me bitter. I was recently asked to share a story for their 50th wedding anniversary. I thought about sending THAT. (And no. I did not).
amateurparent wrote:
My daughter was dying in ICU and the stake patriarch’s wife told me point-blank that she hadn’t been healed because she received a blessing from her dad and he must not have been worthy enough or spiritually strong enough to warrant healing from God.She sent her husband down to “do the job right”.
It made zero difference in the outcome.
It’s been over 20 years and I am still completely F-bomb pissed off whenever I think about it. The audacity of her judgment of my kind, faithful and devout DH still leaves me bitter. I was recently asked to share a story for their 50th wedding anniversary. I thought about sending THAT. (And no. I did not).
Wow. That’s all I can say.
amateurparent wrote:
My daughter was dying in ICU and the stake patriarch’s wife told me point-blank that she hadn’t been healed because she received a blessing from her dad and he must not have been worthy enough or spiritually strong enough to warrant healing from God.She sent her husband down to “do the job right”.
It made zero difference in the outcome.
It’s been over 20 years and I am still completely F-bomb pissed off whenever I think about it. The audacity of her judgment of my kind, faithful and devout DH still leaves me bitter. I was recently asked to share a story for their 50th wedding anniversary. I thought about sending THAT. (And no. I did not).
So sorry you had to go through this experience, especially during such a difficult time.
Amateurparent, Someday, that patriarch’s wife is going to have an Alma the Younger moment of truth with regard to the incident you related and it will shake her to her core. Maybe not for days like Alma, but very deeply. Personally, I have had such moments. Unfortunately, most of my moments have not been timed so that I could apologize to the person I hurt, but I would want to apologize if I could. In most of those cases – not all – where I could apologize in real time so to speak, I found the person I hurt to be very gracious and forgiving, which has been fortunate for me personally.
Her comment was more about herself than about you and your husband. Still, I am so sorry about the added anguish you had to endure, and at such a vulnerable time. Her position as patriarch’s wife adds so much more hurt to what she said than if she had been a person of little stature in our social structure. It’s like a thoughtless comment from a stake president or a mission president at a time of personal devestation. I hope you can forgive her for your own sake.
Religion is at its best is valuable to soothe the suffering soul. Religion at its worst is used to diminish, marginalize, and bludgeon those who suffer. doug wrote:
Here is a principle (hopefully not too far off-topic) that I struggle with on a regular basis. Proposition: even though your bishop failed in his ostensible purpose to bring about a miraculous cure, he was still inspired, and you were blessed for following his counsel. You changed physicians, got on some new medication, etc. Perhaps there were other circumstances that you didn’t mention where the hand of God could be discerned. Even had the near-term results had been less positive, it would still be possible to make such arguments. I think the idea is closely related to “following the prophet even if he tells you to do something wrong”, and that God is ultimately in charge of all things. The upshot is usually that local leaders are, one way or another, always inspired. Of course it’s impossible to counter such arguments logically, and in a way I feel a little guilty about not being able to accept them because it indicates a lack of humility (or credulity😈 ), but I can’t seem to go there. Did this ever enter your mind?
The reason you struggle with this “principle” is because it is not a principle of the LDS church. Nowhere is it written that everything bishops says is inspired. In fact our history is full of examples of our leaders being less than perfect. Regardless of what some GA might have said in a talk with a “twinkle in his eye”, you will not always be blessed for following wrong advice from a leader. God gave us free agency to use. Once we give it up to our leaders and go against our own better judgment, we have lost the battle and Satan wins.
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