[Blindtlk] an awkward experience

Wed Oct 9 00:51:54 UTC 2013

Or another thing is, oh you poor thing, for being the way you are, you do
such a good job getting around and taking care of yourself. I just want to
cringe!

Gloria Whipple

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brandon
Olivares
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 17:43
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience

OH,I so know how being smothered is. When I was in college, I would be
standing 3 feet from the elevator and be asked if I needed help getting
there. It was well-intentioned, but still a bit too much.

On Oct 8, 2013, at 8:36 PM, "Gloria Whipple" <glowhi at centurylink.net> wrote:

> Hi Christine,
> 
> First, welcome!
> 
> My name is Gloria Whipple and I am Catholic.
> 
> I also had people try to pray over me and didn't really like it, and told
> them so in a nice way. If God wants me to see, he will make it happen.
> 
> I am also happy with my adaptive technology.
> 
> I have some women in the church who try to smother me because of my
> blindness. I try to tell them I can get along without them trying to
smother
> me. I think I got the point across without being snotty about it.
> 
> Again, welcome to the list.
> 
> 
> 
> Gloria Whipple
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christine
> Olivares
> Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 17:10
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] an awkward experience
> 
> Hi everyone,
> I just joined today, but my husband sent the experience you had, Michael.
I
> may have a different opinion than you guys do, but then again I haven't
had
> quite the same experience except for once. I was standing in line at
Church
> waiting to sit down, when this random guy came behind me and turned to my
> left. All of a sudden I felt his left hand on my eyes. He said nothing,
but
> I new what he was doing. He should have asked me if he could have prayed
> over me since I would have said of course.
> 
> I grew up in the Catholic charismatic Renewal, so I do believe in healing
of
> all kinds. I have been prayed over many many times for my miracle, and I
> believe it will happen. My visual impairment is more medical since I have
> congenital glaucoma and have to go for eye appointments and surgeries
often.
> 
> If someone were to come up to me in a store, most likely I would accept
> because I grew up with it. However, there must be some tact. I am not a
> "poor child" because of my visual impairment, for it is just an
> inconvenience. However, that doesn't mean I don't have hope for a miracle
> someday. Until then, I use adaptive technology and am happy with it until
> that day comes.
> 
> Michael, I am sorry for what happened to you. I think this person who
prayed
> for you should have been a little more tactful. At least she didn't touch
> your eyes. :)
> 
> God bless,
> Christine
> On Oct 8, 2013, at 7:17 PM, "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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>>> 
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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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>> 
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