If you were (or are) missing a limb, would you ever ask for a priesthood blessing for your limb to be made whole? If you are a priesthood holder and someone asked you to restore their limb through a blessing, how would your respond?
Priesthood blessings to restore limbs
I would never ask for this.
If I was asked to administer the blessing, I would do it and tell the person that the blessing would be fulfilled according to their faith and God’s will.
More power to anyone with the requisite faith.
That would be a pretty intense request for someone to make.
I’d say the same thing Brigham Young said to a man who challenged his priesthood, saying the prophet probably could not replace a lost limb.
BY said he would be happy to, but the man would have to live with three for eternity after his other was restored to him in the resurrection.
I would give the blessing as the Spirit directed me to. I would be reluctant to make such a proclamation in a blessing unless I felt compelled by the Spirit to do so. Even then, I don’t know if my faith would be sufficient to follow through with it.
That’s awesome, cantinflas. :)
I’m not sure I’d ever have enough faith ask for such a blessing or give such a blessing. My response would likely be similar to JM’s.
If I was about to LOSE a limb for whatever reason I would ask for a blessing that Heavenly Father save that limb if that was His wish. I have enough faith in the power of Priesthood blessing for that to work. But if the limb was not meant to be saved all the amount of faith would not save it.
I would never ask for it to “grow” back if it was already gone. Although it certainly would be a conversational piece at dinner parties!
So is it that God can’t grow the limb back, or the request is just so selfish and onerous that it’s not work asking?
Neither. It’s that most of us doubt it can be done. Many of us have became more realist in the latter years.
So God is restricted to the laws of biology, in a sense.
God can do anything. So He could restore a limb, but most people don’t have enough faith to do it, I would venture to say. To recieve it or to bless someone to. But then, whatever the Spirit directs to do, whether to restore or not, is the key.
We believe he is restricted by laws of nature. We rationalise those instances when he does something that seems to defy the laws we know by saying there are unknown laws he follows that seem to defy the ones we do know.
Like changing water to wine for example, or bringing someone back from the dead?
Yes.
Rick,
It also has to do with what is necessary. I personally believe that God will directly interfear with us mortals as little as possible. Otherwise it’s not a fair test.
If the limb growing back is somehow necessary in the grand scheme of things, I’m sure it would be restored. However, I doubt any limb is that necessary to God’s eternal plan.
In fact, I think that a request like this would be similar to throwing a handfull of pebbles in a lake and asking God to stop the ripples. It just isn’t going to happen.
“I personally believe that God will directly interfear with us mortals as little as possible.”
Right, like NOT turning people into pillars of salt, and NOT striking down whole cities…
Inconsistent, a bit I think.
Is there even one instance in the canon where a limb was miraculously restored?
little as possible != never
I read in the newspaper today about a woman who thought she had cancer so she cured herself with prayer. She can know cure others for a fee. Are there any documented cases of someone being cured of cancer via a PH blessing?
For a pretty comprehensive discussion of this topic, see:
http://www.whydoesgodhateamputees.com/
i just read a report that said brain damage is FOREVER – like a lost limb.
Prayer fails again!
(If God saved Joan of Arc it
would have been
“too obvious”?)
Anonymous said: “i just read a report that said brain damage is FOREVER – like a lost limb.”
Are you sure about your statement?
Does a penis, finger or hand that is reattached count?
If Joan of Arc had been saved, it would not have been in the history books and she would not have been a martyr much like Joseph Smith would not be a martyr if he had lived and died of old age.
Heroes need to die so myths can be created about them.
As long as you’re dealing with mythology, why not just stick to made up people to go along with the made up stories?
Unless you didn’t mean ‘myth’ as in fiction.