... that you were the beneficiary of a healing "miracle" or witness to one? And has your interpretation of the experience as a evidence of the supernatural changed since leaving the church? Why or why not?

The closest experience I had involved a close relative who was plagued with many big, ugly warts. They tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them over the course of many months, maybe even years, but to no avail. As a last ditch effort (lol), they asked for a priesthood blessing. Within a couple of weeks the warts were completely gone. Seemed pretty amazing to me at the time, and as a TBM I accepted it as a miracle. However, since leaving the church, I've stopped trying to invoke the possibility of a miracle in the face of something I can't explain. And it seems that warts respond favorably to "suggestion" anyway, further downgrading this particular experience in my mind as evidence for divine intervention:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3387508


It would be interesting to hear your stories. Thanks!

[Edited for clarity]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2017 03:39AM by lurking in.

Honestly...no, I never did believe.

When I was 6 years old, my mother got pregnant (3rd time).
I remember, about 5 months into the pregnancy, that there were 'problems.' I remember mom getting a 'priesthood blessing' with magic oil, a near-GA doing the main work, and a bevy of worthy men all laying on hands, and promising that the baby would be born healthy and mom would be OK.
I remember about two weeks later mom suddenly going to the hospital, me being taken care of by grandma, and grandma telling me later that my new little sister "didn't make it."
I remember thinking, even at 6 years old, that the 'priesthood blessing' didn't appear to have done any good.

I did get a little sister, though, 2 years later. Who is now an ex-mormon. :)

My sister-in-law miscarried once after receiving a priesthood blessing that seemed to indicate a healthy baby would be born. A few years later, when she had her next child, the family decided that the promise in the previous blessing was that the child would be born, but not necessarily from the first pregnancy, so that the child born this time was the "spirit" coming back to a different, healthy body.

There's just no end to the Mormon, mental gymnastics.

Wow. Just...wow.

I have never, in my 81 years on this planet, witnessed first hand a person healed by "blessing' of any disease from which they would not have otherwise recovered.

Can't say that I have seen a miracle and attributed it to gawdliness.

I do remember as missionaries we tracted out a man who had brain cancer. We thought we could heal him so we went out to the car to decide who would anoint and who would do the actual healing. This was a big deal as we would be invoking the powers of the universe. We each wanted to anoint and neither of us felt like we had the faith to seal the anointing and bring this man back from a certain death. So, we just drove away and a week later the man died. For years I was distraught that I could have saved his life. Little did I know then.

Another time later in life I was a home teacher to a single woman who lived across the road. I didn't like her, but she was on my list to visit. It was deep Winter and she needed to drive up into Idaho to visit an ailing relative. She was worried about driving in the snow all that way, maybe 600 miles one way. She wanted a blessing to tell her if she should go and stay home. I didn't know what to say and my companion was a teenager who was just with me as a companion as we had to go two by two. So I blessed her that she would travel safely and all would be well. I forgot all about it until 2 weeks later when she thanked me for keeping her safe during her drive up and back. I had completely forgotten so I guess miracles do happen to those who think they have received one.

Your first story reminds of something from my mission. One day we got an urgent request from a non-member family to bless the seriously ailing matriarch of their extended family. I really hated the idea of giving any blessing to a non-member because if it didn't "work" I knew it would be a blotch on the church's name, and I didn't believe I had the faith or worthiness to make it happen. So, as senior companion, I put off going out to their home for a few hours. Later that afternoon, as we were approaching their home, located at the end of a large field, we could see and hear from quite a distance a whole lot of misery and lamentation going on. When we arrived, the family confirmed the matriarch had just passed away. I felt terrible but was actually relieved because of what I knew would have happened had we been their to give the blessing before her death.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2017 04:59PM by lurking in.

No, and I don't believe in miracles.

But I do believe that post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacies are the bread and butter of organized religion.

Oh I believed. Luckily I didn't stop there.

If they can heal, regrow a limb. If they can raise the dead, what was the Holocaust all about? At some point all you are left with is anger that people lie to you and take your money. Legally.

No. If there was any power in prayer, my father's heart wrenching prayers every night for 3 1/2 years to heal my baby sister from cerebral palsy (which would have been a bonafide miracle IMHO) went unanswered.

I never saw a priesthood blessing work. However, I have had warts faith-healed.

In my youth I had an obnoxious wart on my elbow that got scraped and bled profusely many times. And it grew with subsequent damage. I tried store-bought remedies and liquid nitrogen, but it always came back,,, bigger. When I was 18 I was with an acquaintance and somehow complained about the wart. He said that he could get rid of it, but I'd have to believe he can get rid of it. I said, ok, I believe you can get rid of it. He put some saliva on his finger and wiped it on my wart and said it would be gone in 2 weeks,,, and it was gone in 2 weeks. I could hardly believe it. I still, 40 years later, don't want to think too deeply about it and break the spell.

I've subsequently gotten rid of other warts by asking someone to wipe saliva on it. However, I had a plantar wart on the bottom of my toe that the magic didn't work on. I ended up getting an injection into it of something from the dermatologist. He said it was some kind of cancer-killing chemo stuff. Holy crap that injection hurt. I screamed,,, loud,,, and long. But it did get rid of the wart. I like the faith-healing way better, when applicable.

I've seen miracle healing technology, but that's different.

I've also seen miracles, which complicated the paradox of Mormonism until I figured out that God has nothing to do with with miracles. Belief causes miracles.

I believed priesthood blessings could heal, but I never saw anybody healed. I gave a few blessings on my mission and never felt inspired to say anything. I then saw an apostle give a blessing to a dying local leader, and it was full of the same vague language...like a fortune teller always leaving themself an out...no promises, no healing...the man's illness quickly progressed and he died. I still didn't question. I just thought it was his time to go.

I've witnessed many blessings since then, and given several to my kids. They were all the same...no inspiration, "god is mindful", "bless the doctors", blah, blah, blah. I still believed for some reason. I didn't want to believe that every man in the church was just faking it. I just thought god hadn't needed me to miraculously heal anyone...but surely it happens for others...

My young daughter was sick one day, and was obviously in pain and miserable. I offered a blessing, and she immediately said, "No, blessings don't work." I knew she was right. I knew I had never seen anyone healed, but I still assumed the blessings I had given had offered some relief from pain, comfort, etc... Nope!

I've heard many stories about "miraculous" healings since then. Most go something like, "The doctors said this or that, but he/she received a blessing and made a full recovery!" None were terminally ill people...just people with serious, but treatable, illnesses, people going in for surgery, etc... Having spent some time in hospitals, I know that doctors run through every risk factor and potential unfavorable outcome before any treatment of procedure. So, I can understand why some people might think it's a miracle when things go smoothly...even if everything goes smoothly 99% of the time, with or without a blessing.

One other story: A while back, after I had left the church, my toddler son was sick. He had a fever, was lethargic, wouldn't eat, etc... We gave him Ibuprofen and he was relaxing on the couch. My wife mentioned to my FIL that my son wasn't feeling good and he rushed over to give him a blessing. Shortly afterwards, his fever broke and he regained his energy and appetite...as is typical an hour or so after taking medicine. My FIL has since repeatedly shared the story of this "miraculous" healing at family get-togethers and in his high council talks. He leaves out the fact that my son had taken medicine, and that his fever returned and he took alternating rounds of Tylenol and Ibuprofen over the next couple days until he was fully recovered. 70 years in the church, bishop, stake president, temple worker...and this was the most miraculous healing he's ever witnessed.

at age 5. My dad believed that it was the "humbleness" of the bishop and his blessing that saved my brother.

This bishop turned out to be a real despicable individual. He was the one who asked me from age 12 on up if I masturbated or necked and petted. I don't think my dad ever knew that. If he did, my dad would have thought different of this man.

This man makes your skin crawl when you are around him. He thinks he is exceptionally holy.

I asked before, but I seem to recall Eyring (in that student question forum with Holland) saying he blessed a dying girl in the hospital and of course, despite the doctor's prognosis, she lived, and then later, despite the doctor's prognosis, she walked again.

After all the years of looking at church paintings of almost every heavenly rock star laying their hands on the head of JS and others while a heavenly light shines down and everyone in the picture seems to be deep in thought about heavenly things...

...how big of an ego boost do you think comes with that as you imagine you're emulating one those paintings?

Very early in my time as a Mormon, I had been impressed by what I had been told about the power track record of prayer and fasting.

I had a 4 or 5-year-old Russian Blue cat - beautiful and very sweet-natured - whom I absolutely adored. He got sick with what I was told was feline infectious peritonitis. (I have since lost a number of cats to this plague.) The vet said that the odds were not good.

I prayed - on arthritic knees at my bedside, morning and night. And I fasted, which gave me some nasty headaches during the day. But by golly, for a while, my beautiful kitty got better. I eventually lost him to congestive heart failure (which did NOT respond to prayer and fasting) but I will never forget the awe that I felt when my vet confirmed that my beautiful little guy was actually doing better. For a while, I believed in the magic.