Any real experiences with blessings?

[Hagoth]

I gave my mom a blessing when we learned that she had cancer. I felt inspired to promise her that she would recover fully. The next week, after another MRI, we got the miraculous news that her cancer was operable, much to the surgeon's surprise. He operated and it was a mess and the cancer was not as contained as he had expected and the surgery actually made the situation worse. She died a couple months later after horrible suffering.

ETA: On the other hand, when I was in college I helped a friend give his grandfather a blessing for prostate cancer. His next set of tests showed an improvement and they decided not to operate. The doctor seemed surprised and we chocked it up as a priesthood miracle.

[wtfluff]

How 'bout we take "experience" and any sort of bias out of the question, and just look at reality:

If "priesthood blessings" actually worked there would be significantly less illness and death from said illness in areas with a high population of believing LDS folk. Statistics show that this is not the case.

Occam's Razor, and all that stuff...

[PalmSprings]

How 'bout we take "experience" and any sort of bias out of the question, and just look at reality:

If "priesthood blessings" actually worked there would be significantly less illness and death from said illness in areas with a high population of believing LDS folk. Statistics show that this is not the case.

Occam's Razor, and all that stuff...

And Utah would be lauded as a world leader in medical treatment centuries before its time. This would be the case because of it's "healers" that use the priesthood to perform miracles. And also the significant increase of medical knowledge gained through the wisdom of the Holy Ghost used by medical scientists to unveil the mysteries of the heavens.

Some of you may think I'm trying to be funny. But this is the literal translation based on TBM beliefs.

[LostMormon]

I'm living proof.... (according to my dad).

I was born a few months shy of my due date. I was given a priesthood blessing and my under developed lungs healed over the 20 plus days I was in the NICU.

Yup, you could say I was a priesthood blessing success story!

Jefferey R. Holland once told my story at a fireside. You may remember it. A young man left home and lost his spiritual way. He found himself in New York City. Drunk, broke, and with a bad rash on his left testicle he decided to leave NYC. He drove his motorcycle west before the testicle rash caused extreme pain somewhere near Salt Lake City. He found the nearest emergency room and was treated for pain. He was so impressed with the hospital nurse that he asked her out for dinner and drinks. She declined having to tell him she didn't drink. She explained the word of wisdom to him and he felt the spirit. She invited him to take the missionary discussions and he got baptized, went back to college, married a friend of the nurse, lived in WhyMount Terrace, and studied biology. He eventually became a Doctor specializing in delivering premature babies. He delivered me.

I think I do remember this talk, however in the version I heard, it was his right nut, he married the nurses sister in the provo temple, and later became the Stake Pres of the Provo 435th stake.

[Rob4Hope]

I had something happen I can't explain...and I don't know what to think about it.

When I was on my mission in Australia, there was a drinking, smoking, carousing surfer guy who wanted to hear the lessons. My companion and I (we) could hardly talk to him because of the smoke-filled room. So we suggested he should give up smoking; was bad for his health anyway. He said he had tried but didn't know how--it was hard. While we cleared the room, we asked him kindof as an aside if he wanted a blessing to help. He said yes...sure.

Two green elders got very pale faces very quickly. He wants a blessing Elder?...now what do we do!!!

To make a long story short let me get into the gist of it. My companion was voice as we stood there stumbling through the prayer. When my companion began, I felt something unmistakable. I felt a power of some type come into the room, and it went through me like a hot chill of power; it came in waves through the back of my shoulders and out my arms...wave after wave after wave through the entire duration of the prayer.

I didn't know what to think at ALL during this.

I remember having the conscious thought: "This is once in a lifetime experience...you better remember this and make sure you are alert and aware about whatever is happening." With that thought in mind I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I expected to see fire...or something. I cross checked myself, making sure I was alert and aware of things,..and the waves persisted.

The affect on the others in the room (only 2, my companion and this surfer guy) was unmistakable; they reported similar experiences of their own accord.

This was as real as anything I am aware of.

The smoke in the room was tabacco smoke. I've tried drugs since--this was absolutely different--there was no residue of anything going on there from that.

I am 100% sure this happened. I am 100% sure something unexplained was really happening,...some power I don't understand at this point of my life.
-----------------

This experience recurred 17 subsequent times with others,....and in each case, they all reported the same thing happening. IN each of those subsequent cases, the environments were completely different, yet those same waves and that same presence or power came.

I can't explain it. I think there are things I can't explain,...and I'm willing to allow that to be the way it is, for now.

A couple of things I'm pretty sure of:

1. I was in my right mind. I was not hallucinating.
2. The other people there who felt and described the same experience were also in their right minds. I am absolutely certain of this.
3. It felt like someone walked into the room, but no one was there we could see.
4. The waves were similar in each case, softer in some, harder in others.

Its because of this experience and the evidence I was witness to there that I can't say there is no spiritual existence of some-type. I think Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were bald-faced liars, and if there is a hell I expect them to end up there for the things they did and the lies they told....but is there anything after death?...is there a spiritual existence or additional plains of consciousness of some type?

I don't know. But I lean toward there being things out there I don't understand.

And this is completely an honest post.

[wtfluff]

...

The affect on the others in the room (only 2, my companion and this surfer guy) was unmistakable; they reported similar experiences of their own accord.

This was as real as anything I am aware of.

The smoke in the room was tabacco smoke. I've tried drugs since--this was absolutely different--there was no residue of anything going on there from that.

I am 100% sure this happened. I am 100% sure something unexplained was really happening,...some power I don't understand at this point of my life.
-----------------

This experience recurred 17 subsequent times with others,....and in each case, they all reported the same thing happening. IN each of those subsequent cases, the environments were completely different, yet those same waves and that same presence or power came.

I can't explain it. I think there are things I can't explain,...and I'm willing to allow that to be the way it is, for now.

...

Was "surfer guy" healed of his nicotine addiction?

Any of the other folks who received a blessing, and felt the waves and presence of power, were any of those folks "healed" from their affliction that they were receiving the blessing for?

[LaMachina]

I totally believe you R4H as I have had the same experience probably close to a dozen times. Most times I experienced it while giving a blessing but at least once it happened while sharing the First Vision account and once when praying on my own. They were all pretty intense but I've come to conclude they were simply emotional reactions to some heavy stuff I and others were dealing with. And while the First Vision lesson led to a dude getting baptized (he would've anyways) the blessings never led to any miraculous healing.

I do have close family who insist they've had similar experiences but they did see and interact with a visitor. They similarly state they are positive they were in their right mind and not hallucinating. I've told them I am awaiting my own visitation and I will decide how I feel then. I'm always the Doubting Thomas.

[Rob4Hope]

...

The affect on the others in the room (only 2, my companion and this surfer guy) was unmistakable; they reported similar experiences of their own accord.

This was as real as anything I am aware of.

The smoke in the room was tabacco smoke. I've tried drugs since--this was absolutely different--there was no residue of anything going on there from that.

I am 100% sure this happened. I am 100% sure something unexplained was really happening,...some power I don't understand at this point of my life.
-----------------

This experience recurred 17 subsequent times with others,....and in each case, they all reported the same thing happening. IN each of those subsequent cases, the environments were completely different, yet those same waves and that same presence or power came.

I can't explain it. I think there are things I can't explain,...and I'm willing to allow that to be the way it is, for now.

...

Was "surfer guy" healed of his nicotine addiction?

Any of the other folks who received a blessing, and felt the waves and presence of power, were any of those folks "healed" from their affliction that they were receiving the blessing for?

I think surfer guy was convinced to make a change...but whether this "healed" him?...I don't know. He reported experiencing something he had never experienced before in his life.

He stopped cold turkey with his smoking, and during the next 3 months my companion was there, he was seen regularly (and for 1.5 months daily while I was still there). He was a heavy smoker before and stopped cold turkey.

Maybe surfer dude was so freaked out he stopped cold turkey....considering how much he smoked, I can say with a degree of confidence his lungs were glad he freaked!

I personally believe in occam's razer, so in my mind, this guy was caught up in "religious fervor",...and that explains adequately why he stopped.

But what I can't explain is the overall experience itself. IN accordance with the thread title: "Any real experiences with blessings?"....I posted.

Along with occam's razer I can accept group hysteria causing wide-scale religious events. Heck, those things happened and allegedly influenced Joseph Smith himself!

I can't explain this experience for me and the others in the room, as well as those that it happened to later on. Those others?...anything I say about them is now second-hand, so I prefer to focus on what happened to me.

I remember something Bill Reel said in a pod-cast: to find truth, you need to prove it wrong,..and if you can't, then each time you get closer you find more truth (something like that). So,.if there are questions or alternative ideas?....please ask and share away. I make a single request...please don't attack me. I get enough of that with my TBM nut cases I have to work around...

[Rob4Hope]

I totally believe you R4H as I have had the same experience probably close to a dozen times. Most times I experienced it while giving a blessing but at least once it happened while sharing the First Vision account and once when praying on my own. They were all pretty intense but I've come to conclude they were simply emotional reactions to some heavy stuff I and others were dealing with. And while the First Vision lesson led to a dude getting baptized (he would've anyways) the blessings never led to any miraculous healing.

I do have close family who insist they've had similar experiences but they did see and interact with a visitor. They similarly state they are positive they were in their right mind and not hallucinating. I've told them I am awaiting my own visitation and I will decide how I feel then. I'm always the Doubting Thomas.

I'm picking up what your laying down mate. That is why I've been intentionally vague. I've said there is something going on I don't understand here...and that is honest...

I want to ask a question here myself...but let me post this here...and if I get a moment later I will.

I am VERY VERY open to feedback and alternate ideas. I have not made up my mind. I've said, and I continue to say, I don't know.

PS. I'm working the late shift with some pretty serious upgrades, so I need to have my head in the game. Will post as I can.

PSS. I've had a family member ALSO have a visitation from a dead friend. It happened in the middle of the day, with his eyes wide open and it frightened him. Its been years since this happened, but when I was with this person last time, I pressed him with specifics: I asked where it happened, what time of day, where was he sitting, what was going on, did he look like this or that...etc. I got details,...and they were consistent. I'm not an investigator,...but with incredulous questions, I winnowed away for a while.

The responses were consistent, and I know enough details of the location to know things were consistent there. I have no reason to disbelieve this man, and he has no reason to lie. The retelling of the story doesn't put him in a good light.

This is another "I don't know" situation--but I believe something DID happen. The man who told me this happened is my father. It terrified him...and it wasn't a flash appearance,...the person standing there appeared, looked solid and real, and was there for over a minute. Then, when what was going on finished, vanished.

I heard this story over 25 years ago earlier from my father, and I wanted to see if he would embellish it when I asked him those questions again. He was conservative and consistent: there were no additional embellishments. I was impressed in the retelling with how similar and consistent it was. It still doesn't put him in a good light...and he has nothing to prove to me.

I believe something happaned there. Dont' know what...but it makes me wonder.

[1smartdodog]

Waves of some power coming over you? I had that more than once. Once it was so profound I did not think I could tolerated it. I was reading a fictional mormon type book. The story was so compelling at the time I thought for sure it must be the spirit talking to me.

I also use to be able to get some small to medium waves on demand when I gave a blessing. The words would just flow and I felt alive and empowered.

IN all of that no one was healed or anything of substance happened. I just felt special in the moment. But what did it accomplish really but to reinforce the notion of something I can not prove.

[Rob4Hope]

But what did it accomplish really but to reinforce the notion of something I can not prove.

Ditto. So...what was the value of the "waves"?....that is an unanswered and good question. It increases my skepticism.

I have what I think is a CRAZY yet for me plausible solution to this stuff....but I have to write it out slowly when I have time...

what do you guys think about the "waves"?...what ideas do you have about those?...external to you, or an emotional thing? physical thing?....

[LostMormon]

But what did it accomplish really but to reinforce the notion of something I can not prove.

Ditto. So...what was the value of the "waves"?....that is an unanswered and good question. It increases my skepticism.

I have what I think is a CRAZY yet for me plausible solution to this stuff....but I have to write it out slowly when I have time...

what do you guys think about the "waves"?...what ideas do you have about those?...external to you, or an emotional thing? physical thing?....

Just a quick question, at the time did you truly believe that you had the power of the priesthood to heal the surfer dude? Now that you no longer believe do you still feel the waves, when giving a blessing or doing anything else?

[Rob4Hope]

But what did it accomplish really but to reinforce the notion of something I can not prove.

Ditto. So...what was the value of the "waves"?....that is an unanswered and good question. It increases my skepticism.

I have what I think is a CRAZY yet for me plausible solution to this stuff....but I have to write it out slowly when I have time...

what do you guys think about the "waves"?...what ideas do you have about those?...external to you, or an emotional thing? physical thing?....

Just a quick question, at the time did you truly believe that you had the power of the priesthood to heal the surfer dude? Now that you no longer believe do you still feel the waves, when giving a blessing or doing anything else?

I had a different opinion than my fellow missionaries. They seemed to believe "they had the power"...because "they had the priesthood." I have never believed that ever. I never associated a calling or "priesthood office" with some super-natural power. I thought those who had that idea were misled, idealistic, and really (I want to be kind here...but gotta say it like it is) kindof dumb.

How could me having this priesthood somehow command genetic molecules to rearrange?...or fix a broken bone?...or raise a dead man?

So, no this idea didn't affect me that much at the time. That is why I feel like I have a more objective perspective for what happened. I didn't know what was going on...other than what I reported. But, it did happen, and I don't know quite what it was...

And, to answer your second question....

I haven't prayed in about 5 years, because my whole concept of God is tied up in the LDS moral dilemma. I am not sure God is involved in people's lives, and if he isn't, why pray? And, I have mixed feelings about "god" anyway....

Your second question will take more time to respond to accurately for me....so stay tuned.

[John G.]

I think faith can help kick your body's natural defenses into high gear. That is not always sufficient to overcome an infection or illness.

The placebo effect is very real so I think priesthood blessing can have a significant positive effect for TBMs.

[Rob4Hope]

I think faith can help kick your body's natural defenses into high gear. That is not always sufficient to overcome an infection or illness.

The placebo effect is very real so I think priesthood blessing can have a significant positive effect for TBMs.

AND THIS MAKES ME CRAZY!....Not because it helps (which I agree with--placebo effect), but because IT IS USED AS AN EXCUSE to throw science and reality in the garbage can and just throw everything into 'faith'.

I know people who used the same principles and spent thousands of dollars on herbs--for example. The placebo affect gives them all the justification they need. Now don't get me wrong...there are some things that do help...but I'm talking about it going off the deep end.

In my ancestors, it was considered a serious breach of faith to ever visit a doctor--you get a blessing! And, even if the doctor had penicillin, and could help with the strep throat....NO,...its GOD's will for you to have a blessing, and if it doesn't work, you just didn't have enough FAITH!

ARGGGGG

[Rob4Hope]

OK...so this is my weird idea.

I have had Near Death Experiences in my family. I have 2 very close friends who had them as well: one was short and he came back quickly, but with vivid memories; the other was much longer--she died several times as the result of serious and significant burns. She has the scars and multiple reconstructive surgery to confirm it was for real. Her story, which I made her tell me as I was looking right in her eyeballs, was fascinating, and I believe credible.

Anyway,...there is a MOUNTAIN of evidence out there on the reality of NDEs. And, there is also significant evidence to link a "soul" with the idea of "consciousness". Apparently, science has struggled with what actually constitutes conscious mind. That is not part of this thread, but it is just interesting.

I have found it interesting the generalities NDE people share, but also the disparity between specific belief systems. I am speculating here, and I am going to research this as best I can with an open mind...but I am convinced there is a soul in our bodies that lives past death, and we take with us our preconceived notions and ideas when we pass over. Love?...sure, everyone can agree with that, but whether JS was a prophet?...

According to some pretty cool research I've read, people who have belief systems often fall into "belief bias" positions: they seek to find things that support their preconceived beliefs, rather than letting data and patterns support whatever conclusion they will.

I've seen this with TBM folks: you can ask them about something, and they will discount it if it in any way contradicts the "narrative"; however, if you show them something that at face value is flimsy yet supports their position?...they will latch onto it and blow it out of proportion at to its importance or credibility.

If we have this ingrained tendency with us as people now (and lets just, for arguments sake, say that NDEs do show a soul exists past death), is it not possible that we take this ingrained tendency with whatever our conscious mind is...our soul if you will...after death?

If there is some realm out there, and if there is some unseen connection they have with us "mortals",...could there not be deceased family and friends who have preconceived conclusions they took with them helping to create spiritual phenomena in the here and now?

My father saw my dead grandfather for over a minute standing in a room while something specific was happening. My father is certain of this. Hallucination?...perhaps, but I don't think so. I think something really happened.

My two friends didn't make those stories up, or at least they don't think they did.

Now with these 3 people: my father, my friend who is now in Florida, and my other friend in Springfield Utah--you have weak evidence. I can accept that. Now, please throw in the THOUSANDS or NDEs out there, and the commonalities in them?...it becomes a persuasive argument.

I am seriously seeking truth. I don't give a sh!t if it is sounds crazy...because I want to know. I felt "waves",...and it was NOT hallucination I was feeling. I think there was a spiritual entity in the room--I FELT someone come in. I can't explain that...I felt someone come in.

But I can NOT accept the stories of JS and BY as being from God. There are too many lies. There is too much coverup. There is too much "kill the messenger". There is too much Boyd Packer censorship. There is too much denial.

So, why do these people have so many spiritual experiences around the Book of Mormon? Maybe its is just psychological crap they are having, and they add meaning to it with this "belief bias". Makes sense to me. But what if.....just what if they are really having some type of spiritual experience?

That is a pretty dang good question if you ask me...and I am being very honest and open-minded here.

Its those "what if" questions that prompt me to think hard and long about these things. And, I am personally convinced there is a soul in us, and it lives on. My father saw what he saw. I felt the waves. My 2 friends experienced what they did, and recounted it to me first hand out of their mouths. And there are THOUSANDS of NDEs happening that you just can't brush aside.

What if there are actual spiritual entities out there using whatever influence they have (and their preconceived bias driven ideas they took with them) to create those "spiritual experiences" that happen?

What if?

===========================

So, that is my crazy idea. Have a go at it.

When you all attack this (which is totally fine--cuz I love other perspectives)...please just don't slash on me. I feel like I am taking a chance here by being open and sharing a group of ideas I have wondered about for a while.

[dispirited]

With all the priesthood blessings happening in the Salt Lake Valley, we should have the most remarkable hospital outcomes in the world...guess what, we have the same cure rates as any other city. I guess they are just words.

[dispirited]

I keep waiting for someone with a NDE to come back and say "Hey, the mormons are right!" Haven't heard of it yet...

[LostGirl]

I don't want to write a long reply on my phone rob but I think your idea is intriguing. I don't know what happens after this life but I believe that if there is somethinh else then it makes sense that we take all of our thoughts and beliefs with us.

Can't say I relish the thought of living for eternity but I've put it in the I don't know basket to be tomorrow's problem. I feel like I don't really need to know to live a good life today.

[Rob4Hope]

I keep waiting for someone with a NDE to come back and say "Hey, the mormons are right!" Haven't heard of it yet...

There are a LOT LOT LOT of NDEs where people have come back and say: "Hey, the mormons are right". Most of these NDEs are from mormons.

There are also a LOT LOT LOT of NDEs where people come back and say that their own religions (not mormon) are right. Most of those are in the religion they are in as well.

The commonality is they have very similar experiences in a lot of ways, and the both had NDEs. The disparity happens when they bring back conflicting conclusions.

My take on it?....they took "belief bias" with them.