[Blindtlk] Unsolicited Prayers

Tue Oct 8 23:49:05 UTC 2013

Praire works that way; you can pay it forward.  That is a very nice gesture
actually.  

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
Silverman
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 7:46 PM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: [Blindtlk] Unsolicited Prayers

Hi all,

I have a slightly different take on this issue because I'm not a Christian.
In fact, I was raised Jewish and now consider myself Agnostic. In Jewish
culture there is a tendency to be wary of any evangelist activities, and I
was taught not to talk to evangelists if I could help it and certainly not
to discuss my Judaism with people I didn't know and trust. Now that I am
grown up and have some close Christian friends, I've let go of some of those
fears and prejudices, but I still tend to be pretty private about my
spiritual beliefs and I don't really know how to speak the Christian
language or give scriptural responses. When people try to pray for me I feel
it's a violation not only of my dignity and  wholeness as a blind person but
also of my spiritual integrity and I don't like it being assumed that I'm a
Christian or want to become one.

That said, when it has happened to me a handful of times, I usually just go
along unless it is inconvenient for me to stop and wait for them to pray for
me. I'm not sure how well I could convince these folks of the follies of
their thinking. If I have time and am feeling patient, and think the person
might listen, I will tell them that I respect their desire to pray and I
will leave the choice up to them, but that I believe their prayer would be
better spent on others who experience real pain, such as starving children
or people living in war-torn countries. People don't really seem to get it,
but at least I try. In fact, if you are religious, you might think about
trying to pay their prayer forward, either by praying with them if you feel
comfortable with that or praying later on your own, and then thank God for
the blessings in your life and pray for healing for those who are truly less
fortunate. This is analogous to how if somebody buys me a meal just because
I'm blind, (has happened a few times too), I will make a donation to a local
food bank or the NFB in their honor. They obviously wanted to be charitable
but just gave their charity to the wrong person, (me) so I'm just
transferring their gift to someone who can really benefit. I don't know if
prayer can work this way too, but perhaps it can.

I once had a woman stop me on campus to tell me that she had been born with
some kind of rare spinal deformity which God had healed. She didn't directly
mention blindness but the implication was clear. I also knew a blind girl
who, probably around age 15, told me that someone at church had healed her
eyes in a ceremony. She was partially blind and I think her sight might have
fluctuated enough that maybe she could believe it had improved when it
didn't. I never saw her in person to verify whether her sight had actually
changed, (she just told me this over the phone) but it was strange.

Arielle

On 10/8/13, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's not off topic; John 9 is awesome.  Why is it that people forget that.
> Seems like they harcon back to old testament when the blind profit 
> fell dead when he found out that his sons died, or when the man rose 
> from the wheelchair after jesus laid hands on him.  Or any number of 
> other instances.
> The one in John nine seems like that would be the deciding factor as 
> that it is in the new testament.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
> Brandon Olivares
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 6:58 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
>
> James,
>
> Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that. As a Catholic, I don't get that kind 
> of thing within the Catholic Church, thank God. It brings to mind this
> passage:
>
>> As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples 
>> asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was 
>> born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his 
>> parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him."
>> (John 9:1-3 RSVCE)
>
>
> A bit off topic, but that came to mind.
>
> On Oct 8, 2013, at 6:33 PM, "James Kelm" <jameskelm at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Hello there...
>>
>>   I just thought that I would throw my own thoughts into this discussion.
>>
>>   As many of you on this list already know, I am a Christian pastor.  
>> I
> have a church, and work fulltime within this position.  I mention this 
> only to say that I have perhaps a bit more familiarity with the Bible 
> than a lot of people, and have a recognized commitment to its 
> teaching.  But this still does not prevent those who are rude, 
> ignorant, or just plain goofy from expressing themselves to me on the 
> subject of my blindness.  I don't think that this is because they are 
> any particular religion, belief system, etc.
> I
> just think that they are rude people, and would be rude regardless of 
> their own justification.
>>
>>   A few weeks ago, I had a woman visit my church.  A few days after 
>> her
> visit, she came to my home.  After I had answered the door, she 
> promptly said that she had to talk to me right away, and that it was very
important.
> This is not uncommon for a pastor, so thinking that she had some kind 
> of a personal emergency, I invited her in.  After we had sat down, she 
> began telling me that she really liked our church, and thought that I 
> was a very good pastor/teacher.  She then proceeded to tell me that 
> although she liked our church, she could not regularly attend our 
> services because as our church's leader, I had so much unrepented sin 
> in my life!  I have dealt with this kind of thing before, so had a 
> good idea where she was going with it.
> I
> asked her to please explain herself to me.  She then went on to 
> explain to me that unrepented sin was the only reason that I was 
> blind.  I went on to gently explain to her that she was not 
> understanding Scripture properly.  I was actually quite shocked when 
> she then told me, "I don't care what the Bible says...  I know what I 
> know, and God has revealed things to me directly".  She went on to 
> explain to me that I shouldn't be allowed to lead a congregation, 
> until I addressed the sin that was obviously within my own life!
>>   So I guess the moral of my story is, that some people are just 
>> stupid,
> and sometimes even our Lord's teaching can't help stupid!
>>
>>
>> Respectfully,
>> Pastor James Kelm
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: o
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 5:07 PM
>> To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
>>
>> Oh Marion - you have made my day!
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: National Association of Guide Dog Users <blind411 at verizon.net>
>> To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List' <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tue, Oct 8, 2013 5:04 pm
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
>>
>>
>> Michael,
>> I once went to my local grocery store and the person assigned to help 
>> me shop asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
>> I replied that I did, but probably not with the same understanding he 
>> has. He told me that, if I believed, I could be healed. I replied 
>> that I had already been healed of the false perceptions of blindness 
>> and that my blindness was actually a source of healing for others as 
>> I share my philosophy of independence and self-determination. He 
>> became a little indignant and said he was referring to me getting my 
>> sight back. I asked him why he thought that was important and he told 
>> me blindness wasn't normal. I asked him when he was going to be healed.
>> He became a little puzzled and asked me what I meant. I told him that 
>> he was shorter than normal and black, not something that is normal in 
>> our town, so, given his logic and definition, he needed healing! Was 
>> Jesus going to heal him of his shortness and blackness? He told me I 
>> didn't understand what he was saying. I told him it was more that he 
>> did not understand what I was saying. He said, "God bless you!' and I
> replied, "She does!" The conversation ended quite abruptly!
>>
>> Peace!
>> Marion
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
>> Michael
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 9:24 AM
>> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
>>
>> Good morning folks,  I lost my sight six years ago and went through a 
>> very dark time for a couple of years and eventually became 
>> comfortable with who I am and have since then gone on to do most of 
>> what I did before.
>>
>> But I had an experience yesterday that I didn't know how to handle.  
>> I was at the gym and had just completed an hour of cardio.  I was 
>> sitting at a table located in the center of the gym floor cooling 
>> down when a woman began a conversation with me.  She said that she 
>> was sitting at the table also (which I
>> doubt) and that God had put her there to talk to me and that she was an
>> evangelist.   She asked if she could talk to me.  When I answered in the
>> affirmative she stood next to me, took my hand in both of her hands, 
>> and began praying over me.  She asked God to help this poor  child, 
>> saying that Jesus had healed the sick, cured the blind, and raised 
>> the dead.  She prayed for over a minute (at least it felt like), 
>> using verbage that I only hear on Sunday morning.  Then she finished 
>> and left me sitting there.  I was shocked and didn't know what to 
>> say.  I let her do her thing thinking that I had probably made her 
>> feel positive about herself by helping "this poor child".  Understand 
>> that I am a christian but have never had such an embarrassing display 
>> since losing my sight.  Has this happened to others, and how did you 
>> handle such
> a display?
>>
>> Michael
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>>
>> Respectfully Yours in Christ,
>> Pastor James Kelm
>> True Hope Church of Duluth
>> Phone: (218) 727-4186
>> Church Office E-mail: office at thcduluth.org Pastor's Direct E-mail:
>> jameskelm at thcduluth.org Web Site: www.thcduluth.org
>>
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