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VRIJZINNIGE MORMOONSE
SPIRITUALITEIT
EEN ZOEKTOCHT
NAAR KENNIS
EEN LEVEN
MET CHRISTUS
EEN OPROEP
TOT GODS WERK
HET DOEL
VAN HET LEVEN
Geloof en Getuigenis
De Geest Herkennen
Verstand
Ervaring
Gebed en Meditatie
De Schriften
Levende Profeten
Geinspireerde Zegens
Persoonlijke Openbaring
Voortdurende Openbaring
Van Anderen Leren
Alle Waarheid Aanvaarden


Geinspireerde Zegens

Geinspireerd door de Heilige Geest kunnen we de woorden spreken die Christus zelf zou spreken: woorden van troost, raadgeving of gezondmaking (2 Nephi 32:2-3). Zegens, gewoonlijk vergezeld door handoplegging, zijn een instrument waardoor Heiligen der Laatste Dagen persoonlijke openbaring voor zichzelf kunnen ontvangen of kunnen fungeren als profetische spreekbuis van God's liefde ter ondersteuning van anderen.

De gewoonte om kinderen te zegenen volgt het voorbeeld van Jezus (Mattheus 19:13-15; 3 Nephi 17:11-12). Zegens kunnen ook gelegenheid bieden om dank te zeggen bij een geboorte, voor het veilig behoud van moeder en kind. Een patriarchale zegen (ofwel "evangelistische zegen") verschaft 'vaderlijk' advies van een alom gerespecteerd ouder lid van onze geloofsgemeenschap; we kunnen haar in ons leven raadplegen op dezelfde manier waarop we de schriften met een onderzoekende geest bestuderen. Zegens ter gezondmaking bieden naast 'n helende werking de verzekering dat wat er ook gebeurt, we ons in God's handen mogen weten (LV 42:44). De redenen om een zegen te ontvangen kunnen velerlei zijn: vrijwel elke belangrijke gebeurtenissen in ons leven of moeilijkheden kunnen daartoe een aanleiding zijn.

De inspiratie om een zegen uit te spreken kan spontaan zijn (LV 100:6) of komen d.m.v. een daaraan voorafgaande gebedsvolle overweging (LV 9:7-8). Zegens worden dikwijls op 'gebiedende' toon uitgesproken of in de vorm van een belofte, maar zij kunnen ook in de meer gebruikelijke vorm van een gebed worden uitgesproken (Mattheus 19:13; Jacobus 5:14-15; LV 42:44). In de HLD traditie is er een precedent om niet-priesterschapdragers bij zegens te betrekken door hen een hand te laten leggen op het bed van een zieke. Er is ook een precedent voor mannen en vrouwen om gezamelijk handen op te leggen, of voor vrouwen om zelf zegens te verlenen.

Aanverwante Onderwerpen:
De Vrouw en het Priesterschap    


Blessings for Children

John Taylor: "Every member of the Church of Christ having children, is to bring them unto the Elders before the Church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ and bless them in his name." . . . [T]his command is attended with beneficial results to babe and to parents, who by bringing their child before the Church manifest their faith in the sight of their brethren and sisters, in God's word and in his promises, as well as their thankfulness to him for increasing their posterity and for the safe delivery of his handmaiden. The child is also benefited by the united faith and responsive prayers of the assembled Saints . . .
Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965-75), 2:311

Gene R. Cook: We ought to be careful not to give blessings only when there are problems. We should encourage our children to ask for blessings when they're going away from home, leaving for school, starting a new job, or at any other appropriate time. Sometimes a father may just feel prompted to give a child a blessing of commendation. If the family wants to record these for the child's future benefit, that could surely be done.
Raising Up a Family to the Lord (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993), 196


Patriarchal Blessings

Karl G. Maeser: Our patriarchal blessings are paragraphs from the book of our possibilities.
"Dr. Karl G. Maeser's Sayings," Conference Report, October 1937, 18

John A. Widtsoe: These blessings . . . rise to their highest value when used as ideals, specific possibilities, toward which we may strive throughout life. To look upon a patriarch as a fortune-teller is an offense to the Priesthood; the patriarch only indicates the gifts the Lord would give us, if we labor for them. . . . Those who seek patriarchal blessings should ask for them . . . with an earnest, prayerful desire to become, through the blessings, more completely happy in their lives, and more perfectly serviceable in the work of the Lord. . . . As the blessing was given through the inspiration of the Lord, so its meaning will be made clear by the same power; and its fulfillment will be in His hands.

Evidences and Reconciliations, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960), 323-324

Ezra Taft Benson: Receive a patriarchal blessing. Study it carefully and regard it as personal scripture to you—for that is what it is. A patriarchal blessing is the inspired and prophetic statement of your life's mission together with blessings, cautions, and admonitions as the patriarch may be prompted to give.

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 214


Participation by Non-Priesthood Holders

Owen Woodruff: After the meeting Brother David H. Cannon and myself returned there, and we were requested to lay hands on the little one. We knelt down by the bedside, and laid our hands upon her, and the mother and brothers and sisters knelt down also and laid their hands upon the bed . . .
Collected Discourses (Burbank, CA and Woodland Hills, UT: B. H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992), 5:348

Joseph F. Smith: Does a wife hold the priesthood with her husband? and may she lay hands on the sick with him, with authority? . . . [I]f she is requested to lay hands on the sick with him, or with any other officer holding the Melchizedek priesthood, she may do so with perfect propriety. It is no uncommon thing for a man and wife unitedly to administer to their children, and the husband being mouth, he may properly say out of courtesy, "By authority of the holy priesthood in us vested."

"Questions and Answers," Improvement Era, February 1907, 308

Heber J. Grant: When I was a little child, in a Relief Society meeting . . . , Sister Eliza R. Snow, by the gift of tongues, gave a blessing to each and everyone of those good sisters, and Sister Zina D. Young gave the interpretation. After blessing those sisters, she turned to the boy playing on the floor, and pronounced a blessing upon my head by the gift of tongues, and Zina D. Young gave the interpretation. . . . What was it? It was a prophecy, by the gift of tongues, that [this] boy should live to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ . . .

Conference Report, October 1919, 31-32


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