NOM

I know that I've mentally checked out of the church but today I had a realization that I also don't regress to magical thinking when crappy things happen. This weekend I've had a horrible case of the flu and I've been in bed for most of Saturday and all of today. First off I'll say, the flu SUCKS and I've felt really awful.
So this afternoon my TBM DW comes in and asks me, do you want me to call someone to give you a blessing? I shouldn't have, but I just laughed and said, "no thanks, I'll be okay." Then I realized that for this whole ordeal I haven't even once thought that I should request a blessing. I know that my body will eventually overcome this crap without the help of salad dressing or magical incantations.

Anyway, I guess it's a milestone of sorts.

I never wanted a blessing. I never really believed it did any good. Any time I requested a blessing it was mostly because I wanted to look more righteous to other people. I always found it very uncomfortable.

Interesting thread.
For most of my life I really believed in the magical power of priesthood blessings. I could give them and magical things seemed to happen and I felt that I had the faith to be healed if I became sick and had a blessing.

Now I still believe blessings work. (of course I think it would be just as effective for a man woman or child to offer the blessing) because the mind is a powerful tool we can use to make us feel better mentally and even change our perception of any sickness we may have. Feeling better is half the battle in cases such as the flu or headaches etc. For the truly sick, ie. cancer, rabies, broken bones etc. I think you and I should stick to the less magical but more predictably successful medical arts.

No Tof wrote:Interesting thread.
For most of my life I really believed in the magical power of priesthood blessings. I could give them and magical things seemed to happen and I felt that I had the faith to be healed if I became sick and had a blessing.

Now I still believe blessings work. (of course I think it would be just as effective for a man woman or child to offer the blessing) because the mind is a powerful tool we can use to make us feel better mentally and even change our perception of any sickness we may have. Feeling better is half the battle in cases such as the flu or headaches etc. For the truly sick, ie. cancer, rabies, broken bones etc. I think you and I should stick to the less magical but more predictably successful medical arts.

I am the same way. The power of intention. The power of hearing someone else saying words specifically for you to get better. It can mentally make a difference.

I think I stopped believing in the power of blessings when my son was born. He wasn't breathing and was rushed out of my hospital room immediately after birth. Doctors, nurses, and my midwife used their expertise, medication, and equipment to save my son's life. He was given a blessing after most of the risk had been mitigated. Yes, it is a miracle that my son is alive. A miracle of modern medicine.

I would ask for a blessing when things got bad. I hate being sick and I'm a big wuss when I don't feel well.

I don't expect oil and chant to actually heal me, but having some friends come over and some positive wishful thinking would help. I was still TBM and believed the voodoo but I was very realistic as well.

Does the placebo effect work when you know it's a placebo?

If blessings worked, people would flood Utah seeking them out. When I was tbm and gave a blessing I would always add that the things I said in the blessing would be done according to their faith. It was a way to get it off my shoulders if it didn't help. Ya I'm a total a$$.

Korihor wrote:I would ask for a blessing when things got bad. I hate being sick and I'm a big wuss when I don't feel well.

I don't expect oil and chant to actually heal me, but having some friends come over and some positive wishful thinking would help. I was still TBM and believed the voodoo but I was very realistic as well.

How about, if you even call me over to "give you a blessing" I will try to bring culturally insensitive voodoo chant for your health. Although I suspect you might prefer to be anointed with some unapproved Word of Wisdom beverage.

wtfluff wrote:Does the placebo effect work when you know it's a placebo?

Headline from Health Publications from Harvard Medical School: A placebo can work even when you know it’s a placebo.

I abandoned the magical thinking when I was still in the church. I realized that everyone prayed for the doctors and for the body to heal itself. It was just a reaffirmation that medical technology was good and you have a fighting chance to get over it. Only once did I hear someone command God to heal the person and it didn't happen.

I still do visits to the hospital and I pray with people. Most of the times, the physical contact of a prayer (holding hands in my case, hands on head in the case of an LDS blessing) are comforting to a lot of people. Sitting with someone, hearing of their hardship, praying with them, and arranging for further visits can be quite helpful.

Magical, no. Helpful and comforting, yes.

Corsair wrote:

wtfluff wrote:Does the placebo effect work when you know it's a placebo?

Headline from Health Publications from Harvard Medical School: A placebo can work even when you know it’s a placebo.

Excellent!

Now I have a legitimate scientific reason to ask my wife for a blessing.

Getting blessings was never my favorite, as I was sure the Spirit of Discernment would out me as a sinner, heathen, doubter, whatever. But giving blessings was so much worse. It's a humiliating thing to feel like you should have magic powers but to know that you have none.

I always avoided the blessing thing. People in the church lived and died the same as anyone else. It's God's will for the outcome, so why bother? I suppose the placebo is good for some people. I always thought it was a worthless practice (even as a TBM). Obedience and faith.

Snowdrop wrote:I think I stopped believing in the power of blessings when my son was born. He wasn't breathing and was rushed out of my hospital room immediately after birth. Doctors, nurses, and my midwife used their expertise, medication, and equipment to save my son's life. He was given a blessing after most of the risk had been mitigated. Yes, it is a miracle that my son is alive. A miracle of modern medicine.

This is a very interesting point - even members have way more faith in medicine than they do in priesthood blessings, because without fail every one of them seeks medical attention for serious ailments even if they have had a priesthood blessing. You didn't tell the physicians to wait to take your son because you knew a priesthood blessing was really what he needed - you let them take him away and did the blessing later. We claim to have this incredibly powerful healing power, but we don't dare use it without supplementing it with help from medical professionals in severe cases. Because on some level everybody realizes that if someone is having a heart attack, a priesthood blessing isn't going to fix that and you'd better get them to the hospital. Members believe in the power of the priesthood, but not really.

And as someone smarter than me once pointed out on the internet, God must really hate amputees, because he doesn't ever heal them. Guess the healing power of God has its limits.

I've never asked for a blessing and hated giving them, even as a TBM. This is one of the areas the church didn't work for me. The expectation for "worthy" priesthood holders to be able to give a blessing in a moments notice was stressful. I'm not an articulate speaker and I always felt like I must be unworthy because I never got inspired as to what to say so I would just stumble my way through the blessing and feel like a doof. As a closet non believer it's even worse! For some reason I'm the "go to" blessing giver for my mom.

Yet another reason why I don't home teach, I don't want anyone calling me in the middle of the night to perform some incantation for their sick kid. Call a doctor for hells sake!

The last blessing I attended was a couple of years ago after my uncle had a stroke. I was in the hospital with him and other family members when the ward bishop stopped in. He gave a beautiful and elaborate and very specific blessing about how my uncle would experience a full and complete recovery and would be in better health afterward than he had been prior to his stroke. He spoke of the missionary work my aunt and uncle would be involved in and how they would work in the service of the church and God. It was a sweet, comforting blessing no doubt greatly appreciated by his wife and daughter. Two weeks later I attended his funeral.

I don't begrudge anyone the desire or use of blessings. It feels like you are doing something significant for someone -- rather than sitting around being useless. I think it was genuinely comforting to my uncle's family and friends when the bishop showed up and gave his blessing.

I am glad that I don't have to play mental gymnastics to figure out why it didn't come true, though.

I don't believe there is anything supernatural about blessings. There is some psychological and placebo effect and so I can say they can work at times, but not due to magic or power.

I was able to give my grandfather his last PH blessing and counseled him that it was time to go. He died within 48 hours (after going off all meds and insulin). It was a blessing for him and the family, and neat for me, but not because of PH.