Posted by:
Nightingale
(
)
Date: September 20, 2017 06:45PM
Oh no. Bad end. Perhaps unnecessary.
I wish people would realize it usually works better to stay grounded, whatever their faith beliefs. It's like that old joke repeated here every once in a while about the guy in a hurricane (or whatever difficult situation) and three times he refused rescue attempts as he was waiting for God to save him. And in the end, when he died in the storm, God said "I sent you a car, a boat, a helicopter - what the heck were you waiting for?!" (OK, so I botched that thoroughly but maybe you get the idea and the reference). Like the guy in the joke, we need to use the brains God gave us (so to speak; I know atheists abound and I'm just using an expression, not stating that God is the reality for everyone) and take responsibility to use reason for the basics in life.
I saw something like what happened to the man you speak of when I knew many missionaries in my area back in the day when they wanted me in the font. I've told the story several times here through the years so will cut it short now but one of the sister missionaries, who was partnered with an unkind, domineering sister mish, became very ill (so much so that she had to roll off the couch she rested on and crawl to the bathroom).I personally witnessed her mish partner berate her for slowing down "the work" and causing them not to produce the results that were expected of them.
I finally persuaded them to go to my GP (for which I paid, being unaware that mishies are covered by the church, apparently, and nobody informed me before or after that they had health insurance that would have covered the hundreds of dollars I paid out in dr and lab bills) and the GP told sick sis mishie she should be in hospital. Of course, the companion refused and later became even more abusive to the point I found myself witnessing actual domestic abuse, for lack of a more accurate term.
I tried separating them and talking to the APs and then the MP and his reaction was "there is no problem here" and no matter what I said he just stared at me and repeated "there is no problem here" until I got it - no problem that anybody was willing to acknowledge.
I subsequently set up a network, with the help of zone leaders, to try and help other missionaries in similar seemingly hopeless situations. Not being able to talk about a problem or acknowledge it or ask for help and not being “heard” can be mind-bending. (As a matter of fact, I just went through that with our much vaunted health care system in Canada - a family member with an acute medical problem and nobody, nobody, listened to me - repeatedly unto the point of death. Now I feel like I have PTSD over the whole thing. That's why sounding off can be so good for the mind, body and, uh, soul - or whatever term you want to use).
Meanwhile, the sick sister missionary in my example took the blame onto herself, chanting "I must have more faith, I must have more faith" and telling me it was all her own fault.
Very creepy to witness this whole thing.
(OK, so I didn't keep that short enough, again, sorry).
Edit to Add: I forgot to mention that the sister missionary called the elders quite often to ask them to come over and give her a blessing. And they did. And she eventually got better. (After visits to my GP, lab work and antibiotics).
So I guess the blessings worked. !!
I once saw my only Mormon friend vomiting to the point of exhaustion (cause unknown) and asking only for a PH blessing from her husband. Being a nurse I was always mystified by the failure to seek medical care in a timely way for obvious medical issues. I guess some people would admire such "strong faith" as these people seem to exhibit but again it reminds me of the above joke where even their God would say "Hello? Call a doctor?" This same mo friend often told me of faith-promoting tales of miraculous survivals based on the wearing of garments and/or PH blessings only. My immediate thought was always did anybody confirm the actual cause of the illness or injury. I like to get the scientific details. You know that "trust but verify" meme that circulating lately? I would like more people to have that in their faith kit. They can "Trust in the Lord" but use the resources available in the land of humans to help yourself and prevent needless negative outcomes. You can trust, if you want, that your life will go the way God planned it, if such is your belief, but you can verify that you have an infection that will respond to antibiotics or a laceration that will heal if sutured. Use simple remedies for easy fixes and save the miracles for when they're really needed. Like saving kids from earthquake rubble, as is occurring this day. Would you rather call for a PH blessing, stand back and wait for a "miracle", or dig out concrete with your bare hands to try and rescue a child?
Sheesh. Things like this give faith a bad name. :/
NB: I had to edit so many times as I got the dreaded message of a disallowed word in my post. Of course, it was in the very last sentence I checked (I didn't go in order but tried to guess which was the culprit, which took a good length of time. I can't tell you the disallowed word because, well, it won't post! Anyway, I finally got my story out, as above and no, I don't usually edit incessantly as in this case. I'll stop now). Uh, OK, so I went back and changed something else. Attempting not to make judgemental statements. I do try but I am only human, which seems quite a disappointment to some folks at times.
Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2017 12:26PM by Nightingale.