Comments on: “Nourished and Healed by Prayer and Other Exercises of Belief” http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/ A Mormon Blog Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:36:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: James http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132859 Fri, 08 Dec 2006 03:29:49 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132859 Chas,

What HIPAA prohibits and permits and what the hospital staff thinks it prohibits and permits are sometimes very different concepts.

]]> By: claire http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132858 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:48:08 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132858 Whoops, that was from me, forgot to switch the name field. cje does not have a husband.

]]> By: cje http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132857 Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:45:48 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132857 When my husband was EQ president he got a card that he was an ordained minister or something to that affect so he could get into the prison, hospital, etc. I’m almost positive the full time male missionaries in our ward do as well, but can’t see how the Sisters could carry the same card, since they aren’t ‘ordained.’ Hmm.

Also facinated with your explanation, Naismith, of the wards in your city alternating responsibilities for the Prison, hospitals, etc. We had a Transient Bishop at one time that handled a lot of that for our urban area, but more recently our ward has handled all of it, and our ward contains the bulk of the city and it’s related shelters, prisons, and hospitals in it’s boundaries. (Hence the reliance on the EQ pres. for help in administering to all those who were in need.)

]]> By: Naismith http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132856 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:44:17 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132856

Religion and being listed as admitted to the hospital are the two things HIPPA allow hospitals to tell the outside world (religion can only be given to clergy).

But do missionaries count as “clergy”? Do sister missionaries also count as “clergy”?

I thought only bishops were “clergy,” but maybe that is a local thing.

]]> By: Chas Brown http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132855 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:06:38 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132855 smb
I think I get your gist, but I do not fully understand all that you say. Perhaps it is due to the foreignness of the notions of “(prayers) represent moments of contact with God” and “is, or can be, a true act of communion”. I have tried (I think), but never achieved that closeness/communion or feeling with God in my prayer experience. That perhaps explains my different perception.

]]> By: S. P. Bailey http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132854 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:01:49 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132854 Great and interesting post. I have always been vaguely proud of hospitals with Mormon history. In our family’s life beyond Utah, we have wound up using hospitals with other religious affiliations or histories (several Catholic and a Seventh-Day Adventist hospital). Interesting how except for the names, the religious flavor seems to have been almost completely lost from these places. Too bad. Even if churches don’t want the risk or whatever of running hospitals, maybe they could do more to maintain a presence.

]]> By: smb http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132853 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:36:20 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132853 Chas, my heart goes out to you at a complex time in your life. Negotiating belief within one’s family and community is never easy, no matter how much people from the sidelines seem to believe it ought to be so.

I would, respectfully, disagree with your implication about blessings though. One way of understanding blessings are that they represent moments of contact with God, however they are ultimately phrased and reported and analyzed by the participants. In this understanding, “each result [was] an answer to prayer,” where at a fundamental level the prayer was that the recipient would not be abandoned by God on the cusp of mortality or in the midst of pain. This to me is more than simply the vaguely psychologized notion of comfort. It is, or can be, a true act of communion.

NB: I do not personally doubt that miraculous healings can happen, nor do I exclude the possibility that these healings may happen as a result of God’s will. I think that those aspects are less important and less substantive than the central element of these blessings.

I hereby confess that without this self-referential disclaimer, I would be entirely sidestepping a huge debate in Christian (and Mormon) theology regarding the efficacy of prayer.

]]> By: fMhLisa http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132852 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:27:13 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132852 Great post Kris! Isn’t this stuff just fascinating!

]]> By: Chas Brown http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132851 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:21:22 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132851 “I agree, that since HIPAA (privacy rules in effect April 2003) it would be nearly impossible for a stranger to find out about patients’ condition or religion”
This is incorrect
Religion and being listed as admitted to the hospital are the two things HIPPA allow hospitals to tell the outside world (religion can only be given to clergy).

My opinion on prayer and blessings in medicine (realizing I attend our branch actively with my family, but am in the middle of the crisis of faith [unbelief], and I did not feel comfortable baptizing/blessing his own son) is agnostic:
I was a med student at LDS hospital and Primary Children’s hospital (as part of the U of U med school). I saw many blessings take place, but I did not participate in any of them (some of my fellow students did). One thing that has brought my current unbelief was realizing any result after a prayer or blessing can be taken as an answer to the prayer or blessing. It bothered me that if a patient received a blessing and died or lived, each result would be used as an answer to prayer.
I think prayer or a blessing can calm someone and help their struggle a crisis, but I do not believe it has any effect other than comfort.

]]> By: Susan M http://bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/05/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132850 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:37:41 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2006/12/%e2%80%9cnourished-and-healed-by-prayer-and-other-exercises-of-belief%e2%80%9d/#comment-132850 My first child was born in a Catholic hospital, and the forms asked for my religion. I put LDS, not thinking anything of it. After my son was born, a nun came in to visit with me. She asked if she could say a prayer. I think her words were something like, “Do you mind if I offer a prayer? I can make it an LDS one.” It was really sweet and one of the few details I vividly remember of my first hospital experience.

Anyway, very interesing post, thanks Kris!

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