[Faith-talk] Prayer and Blindness

[Poppa Bear]

You made a lot of very good  points. I hope that some of us can gleam from this wisdom. 
Thanks for sharing

-----Original Message-----
From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Greg Aikens via Faith-talk
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 5:15 PM
To: Sheila Leigland; Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Prayer and Blindness

I have grown up in Pentecostal/charismatic churches that put a large emphasis on physical healing. Sometimes it can feel a little dehumanizing when people I don’t know come up and ask to pray for my blindness because I feel like all they see about me is that I am blind. They reduce my identity to that one characteristic, a characteristic that only represents a part of who I am. I particularly feel this way when there is little or no effort to get to know me and no interest in what I might need prayer for. I feel like I have been reduced to an object in need of fixing, sympathy, etc. It’s rarely that overt, but I have felt that way sometimes.

As a result, I make an effort to make every encounter like that a humanizing one. I make sure I learn the person’s name and something about them so that it is not a one-way conversation. If they ask to pray for my eyes, I tell them they can but then I’ll often suggest something that I really want prayer for too. “Could you pray for this situation at work, guidance in some decision, etc.” I find those kind of encounters far more satisfying and uplifting. If I’m in public, I don’t always say yes. 


> On Jan 31, 2015, at 4:33 PM, Sheila Leigland via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> agreed that is not good at all.
> On 1/23/2015 10:23 AM, Linda Mentink via Faith-talk wrote:
>> That's wacked. Blindness is not demon-related. Those who think so give Satan way too much credit! Those are the same ones who say he gives them colds and other illnesses. They don't know their Bibles, nor do they really know their Lord.
>> 
>> Blessings,
>> 
>> Linda
>> 
>> At 11:09 AM 1/23/2015, you wrote:
>>> Hi I have had faith healers come up to me while i'm out running errands sometime and they want to pray for me and they put their hands over my eyes. They ask God to "cast this demon out of me. After they're done, I tel them that with perpoer training and alternative techniques, blindness is just a  physical neusance. Sometimes they get it and sometimes they dont.
>>> 
>>> I also had one person tell me that since my parents sinned , that's why i'm blind and I'm part devil!
>>> 
>>> After they left I asked God to protect me and to tell the devil to go away!
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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