Hands-on healing, in one form or another, has been a staple of human life for as long as we have any records or other indications (folk paintings, etc.).

It has ALWAYS existed, and in many easily recognized forms: mothers kissing the playground wounds of their children...one spouse holding the other spouse who is sick or wounded or in pain...as well as various kinds of directed energy (which the person directing the energy may not fully realize is going on). We see this happening with cats and dogs and cows and goats and horses and most any other animal (certainly most any other mammal) that exists. (Dolphins and whales, in particular, are famous for this.)

Dr. John Upledger, who developed CranioSacral Therapy ["listening" to the cells and body tissues and then responding...communicating with the body to heal trauma...even post-traumatic stress disorder for Vietnam veterans...)...and intentionally "putting energy" into tissues or areas of the body which are in pain, wounded, or not operating optimally...] has taught kindergarteners and primary school children how to do this, and they have done it effectively for their classmates.

So my question is: since this phenomena is near universal (at least among mammals), and since it has been known since the very beginning of our species (simple, directed touch has to be the oldest form of healing known among any kind of human beings), why do priesthood holders seem so inept at doing this???

From what I have read, and according to the accounts I have read, LDS "priesthood blessings" seem to do "nothing," yet---given the historicity of healing touch---they ought to work fairly reliably (even if not all of the time...for example: someone is dying of pancreatic cancer). Even using the roughest of estimations of human success in healing and alleviating pain throughout all of what we are aware of in history, LDS "priesthood blessings" ought to work a whole lot better and a whole lot more of the time.

I have a hypothesis about this, but since I have no firsthand knowledge of LDS priesthood blessings, I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.

Why do LDS "priesthood blessings" seem to work FAR less well than a loving mother kissing her child's scraped elbow and telling the child that all will be well??? Why can kindergarteners learn to reliably assist healing and lessen pain for their fellow classmates in schoolyard situations, but LDS priesthood holders, giving their priesthood blessings, seem not to be able to do this same thing???

Any ideas???

plecebo effect

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> plecebo effect

Perhaps not even...

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html

I don't know of any objective data on how "well" LDS priesthood blessings work or don't work. Certainly the results will, at best, mimic placebos, though they may fare much worse. However, until such data is available, no reasonable comparison to any other "healing" method can be made.

At the same time, lack of verifiable data on "success and failure" rates make claims of "healing" unsupportable; such claims, whether from the LDS or "CranioSacral Therapy" or anything else, should be rejected as worthless until evidence shows them effective. Right now, no evidence shows them effective.

more like craniorectal inversion.

In my experience, the Mormons I know want someone with a (even tenuous) vested interest in their health to perform a blessing of healing. Often, if there is no one who fits that bill they will pass on it.

Mormon blessings of health work as well as Catholic holy water because of their impersonal nature.

You have to really believe in Mormon voodoo to want a couple of neighbor men doing their duty and doing it for a host of reasons with not one being your health to "bless" you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2015 02:30PM by Elder Berry.

Aw, that's nothing--I read once in a Scientology magazine how a Scientologist brought a dead guy back to life after he'd had a heart attack on an airliner.

It must have been true, because he laid his hands on the guy and used all the right L. Ron Hubbard terminology.

Take THAT, Joseph Smith!

...Maybe it's because the Priesthood leaders rely on a drop or two of extra virgin olive oil and the kindergarteners learned to rely on the soothing skin healing antiseptic spray: Bactine®. I think the odds are much better with the over-the-counter topical anesthetic.

I've heard anecdotes of priesthood blessings producing impressive results. But I think it's like Dumbo's feather, where Dumbo thinks it's a magic feather that makes him fly.

You can work up intense emotional thought when you have faith. The space torsion generated by such thought has been measured by instruments.

I received from the bishop when I was trying to save my husband is that most times these people really don't know you. I'm not a touchy feely person in terms of I don't like people I'm not close with to be touching me. I felt it was invading my space to have someone I only knew as my bishop touching my head. I hated that feeling. I hated getting confirmed. I remember it CLEARLY. I didn't like the invasion of MY SPACE.

I tried really hard to believe in Mormon blessings. They never once helped me. I only had a few. It was more a huge let down and a feeling of hopelessness.

I always resented that Mormon men seemed to think they had a closer relationship with God (if there is one) than the women or that a bishop knew better than I did what I needed. I remember the HT telling me that I didn't have the priesthood in the home after my ex left. My home was much more peaceful and we got along very well compared to my sister's house where her husband was in the bishopric. Her kids ALL rebelled big time and are all ex-Mormons. I witnessed her husband throw one kid on the floor and almost hit her if my sister hadn't jumped in to stop him.

A mother touching a child compared to a priesthood member giving a blessing. No comparison.

Priesthood. What a joke.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2015 04:55PM by cl2.

I teach a class about alternative treatments and the placebo effect.

1) Some poeple will get better on their own, even from pretty serous conditions. Our minds work in a linear way, so if the last thing you did was drink orange soda before your flu went away, then orange soda cures the flu.When something out ofthe ordinary happens in health care we try to find a reason and a purpose, when in many instances its just diet, rest, celluar regrowth, etc. We are all very different sometimes the last puch comes from placebo and we pick up and listen to only the testimonails that "worked", in reality if you observe scinetifically placebo wears out and the methods of acheivement do nor perform statiscally consistant to call it a cure or a treatment.

2) The placebo effect can be incredibly powerful, this xplains the ose over time. Having something be ancient, or an egytptian secret or a bible miracle, does not make it true.

3) Being touched released endorphins, it also give is warmth and trigger a number of oterh well being feelings.

4) Healings, essential oils, faith blessings, prayer, etc work...on thing that go away on their own, like backpain, mentrual cramps, headaches, imsomnia, cuts, bruises, falls, etc. Its a sure miracle cure for those things.

5) Dr. John Upledger is a a fraud.

In my experience of giving birth to several children, I think panic plays a big part in the intensity of pain. I think someone's loving or soothing touch can definitely reduce the intensity of physical pain a person perceives. I don't think touch can heal, but definitely help one handle pain. I think a lot of times TBM's feel better and like a blessing has helped them heal, but then they find it never does take away an illness or injury. Of course, they try not to think about that part!

When you realize that "pain" is just your brain interpreting signals from parts of your body's nerves, that makes perfect sense. While we don't have complete conscious control over all parts of our brain, we can learn to mitigate the experience of pain, and some things external to us can mitigate it. As you mentioned, that does nothing whatsoever to "heal" the actual injury, just to mitigate our experience of pain. That's what "pain reliever" medications do, interfere with the signals coming to the brain, or affect how the brain perceives them...aspirin doesn't heal injuries, either. However you do that, it's a "good" thing (experiencing less pain)...but it's not "healing."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2015 05:20PM by ificouldhietokolob.

Well, we really don't have data on that.

I had eye surgery as a very young child, and when the anesthesia wore off and my good eye started to focus, I could see a very fuzzy outline of about six people hovering over me. At first I couldn't see who it was, but in a minute my vision started to clear. The first person I recognized was my bishop looking right into my face. I was so startled! What's HE doing here? I was really weirded out for a moment. Then my family became clear. The men gave me a blessing. Don't know if it had any effect on me or not. But it struck me as kind of strange, but nice. Made me feel important and loved. And my eyes weren't crossed any more. Yes, I'm pretty sure it was the surgery.

Second story about blessings, and this one I'm much clearer on. My sister had severely bad acne as a teen. I mean, the type that scars. She had a blessing by the elders one day. The next day, (I shared a bathroom with her) she gets out of bed, and puts her face way up close to the mirror, and looks. I saw it. It was WAY better than it had been the day before. Her comment was, "Hmmm,not bad!". I was really surprised. Probably placebo. She still had problems with her skin, but it never reverted to the very bad state.

If it worked (kind of) who cares if it was placebo? I think making grand claims about a blessing's healing powers is wrong, but a blessing by people who care? I'm for it.