[Blindtlk] Unsolicited Prayers

[Arielle Silverman]

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