Hypothetically, is it possible to decline a blessing?

[Pedro de San Patricio]

I've wondered this forever now, but I haven't really asked about it since getting run off a Muslim forum for asking. Let's pretend that your god is real for a while. He/shit/it actually does exist, notice your existence, and care enough about it to occasionally break his/her/its preordained "divine plan" and/or reality itself in ways that benefit you. Much of theistic thought over the millennia has been about encouraging this. The question seldom asked, though, is how you can do the opposite. What if you just don't really want what's being offered for some reason? Could you politely decline it? "That's sweet that you'd pick me to be the lone survivor of this terrible accident that kills my family but no thank you. I couldn't deal with that." "No, thanks, I'm really okay with my current occupation. I really couldn't accept that promotion you've manipulated my boss into giving me."

 

[TrinityPower]

People decline it all the time. If they accepted it they would not be so sick, depressed and poor.

 

[amrchaos]

How do you decline a blessing, again?

Do I just say "No, thank you"?
Do I destroy any good fortune that someone claims is due to a blessing?(How would they know, anyway?)

You know--op got me stumped. How do you return a package without a return address?

 

[Avatar4321]

Many are called but few are chosen.

So yes, people decline blessings all the time.

 

[zaangalewa]

I've wondered this forever now, but I haven't really asked about it since getting run off a Muslim forum for asking. Let's pretend that your god is real for a while. He/shit/it actually does exist, notice your existence, and care enough about it to occasionally break his/her/its preordained "divine plan" and/or reality itself in ways that benefit you. Much of theistic thought over the millennia has been about encouraging this. The question seldom asked, though, is how you can do the opposite. What if you just don't really want what's being offered for some reason? Could you politely decline it? "That's sweet that you'd pick me to be the lone survivor of this terrible accident that kills my family but no thank you. I couldn't deal with that." "No, thanks, I'm really okay with my current occupation. I really couldn't accept that promotion you've manipulated my boss into giving me."

Hmm - good question. How is someone able not to be loved? Seems not to be difficult - on the other side I was often astonished to see how patient and powerful love can be. Nothing changes but it changes everything.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

That's not actually how it works. Basically it comes down to the Mormon beliefs in free agency/will and the afterlife. They believe that it's their duty to go through their genealogy and perform a proxy baptism for each of their non-Mormon ancestors. I'm not going to describe the ritual itself but the belief is that it offers a choice for the dead who never heard about the church or didn't join in life the opportunity to take it. If the soul accepts, then it's considered a fully legitimate baptism. If not, then that's their choice and they can expect to be offered it by their descendants again in the future. There have been (numerous) cases where it didn't work like that and you had, say, Anne Frank offered baptism by little Timmy Gentileson thirty times in a row, but that's more to glitches in the system than anything. Sometimes even Mormons don't fully understand it, which is understandable since it's quite possibly a twelve year old boy performing it.

Tl;dr:

• It's a common misconception that the practice turns anyone Mormon.
• It's meant to give your ancestors another shot at a better heaven.
• Adolescent kids sometimes don't have a perfect grasp of their religion.
• You can refuse it if you want to.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

That's not actually how it works. Basically it comes down to the Mormon beliefs in free agency/will and the afterlife. They believe that it's their duty to go through their genealogy and perform a proxy baptism for each of their non-Mormon ancestors. I'm not going to describe the ritual itself but the belief is that it offers a choice for the dead who never heard about the church or didn't join in life the opportunity to take it. If the soul accepts, then it's considered a fully legitimate baptism. If not, then that's their choice and they can expect to be offered it by their descendants again in the future. There have been (numerous) cases where it didn't work like that and you had, say, Anne Frank offered baptism by little Timmy Gentileson thirty times in a row, but that's more to glitches in the system than anything. Sometimes even Mormons don't fully understand it, which is understandable since it's quite possibly a twelve year old boy performing it.

Tl;dr:

• It's a common misconception that the practice turns anyone Mormon.
• It's meant to give your ancestors another shot at a better heaven.
• Adolescent kids sometimes don't have a perfect grasp of their religion.
• You can refuse it if you want to.

And who decides whether the soul accepted it or not? Presumedly it's between the soul and the living Mormon. When other people find out about it, who makes the determination what the soul decided? Some Mormon priest? Can't they just say, "they accepted, prove they didn't."

 

[amrchaos]

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

That's not actually how it works. Basically it comes down to the Mormon beliefs in free agency/will and the afterlife. They believe that it's their duty to go through their genealogy and perform a proxy baptism for each of their non-Mormon ancestors. I'm not going to describe the ritual itself but the belief is that it offers a choice for the dead who never heard about the church or didn't join in life the opportunity to take it. If the soul accepts, then it's considered a fully legitimate baptism. If not, then that's their choice and they can expect to be offered it by their descendants again in the future. There have been (numerous) cases where it didn't work like that and you had, say, Anne Frank offered baptism by little Timmy Gentileson thirty times in a row, but that's more to glitches in the system than anything. Sometimes even Mormons don't fully understand it, which is understandable since it's quite possibly a twelve year old boy performing it.

Tl;dr:

• It's a common misconception that the practice turns anyone Mormon.
• It's meant to give your ancestors another shot at a better heaven.
• Adolescent kids sometimes don't have a perfect grasp of their religion.
• You can refuse it if you want to.

And who decides whether the soul accepted it or not? Presumedly it's between the soul and the living Mormon. When other people find out about it, who makes the determination what the soul decided? Some Mormon priest? Can't they just say, "they accepted, prove they didn't."

Hey--I want to know too. Of course, this place us at the "I don't think we should look into your eyes" stage

 

[Moonglow]

Every time the Lord sent me a blessing disguised as a piece of sweet meat, I took it...

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

And who decides whether the soul accepted it or not? Presumedly it's between the soul and the living Mormon. When other people find out about it, who makes the determination what the soul decided? Some Mormon priest? Can't they just say, "they accepted, prove they didn't."

I've never been a Mormon, but I wouldn't figure they would even pretend to know. That would explain why they continue to offer them to the same people. The list literally grows as people's number of ancestors does.

 

[PixieStix]

Abortion is declining a blessing. So yes, it is more than possible

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

I'd argue that it's more like being chickenshit about killing your child. If you can have a "doctor" do it while she's still inside you then you don't have to look her in the eye while you cut her apart yourself. You can have a nurse shovel her little body into a trash bag and toss her in the dumpster for you too.

 

[Avatar4321]

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

That's not actually how it works. Basically it comes down to the Mormon beliefs in free agency/will and the afterlife. They believe that it's their duty to go through their genealogy and perform a proxy baptism for each of their non-Mormon ancestors. I'm not going to describe the ritual itself but the belief is that it offers a choice for the dead who never heard about the church or didn't join in life the opportunity to take it. If the soul accepts, then it's considered a fully legitimate baptism. If not, then that's their choice and they can expect to be offered it by their descendants again in the future. There have been (numerous) cases where it didn't work like that and you had, say, Anne Frank offered baptism by little Timmy Gentileson thirty times in a row, but that's more to glitches in the system than anything. Sometimes even Mormons don't fully understand it, which is understandable since it's quite possibly a twelve year old boy performing it.

Tl;dr:

• It's a common misconception that the practice turns anyone Mormon.
• It's meant to give your ancestors another shot at a better heaven.
• Adolescent kids sometimes don't have a perfect grasp of their religion.
• You can refuse it if you want to.

And who decides whether the soul accepted it or not? Presumedly it's between the soul and the living Mormon. When other people find out about it, who makes the determination what the soul decided? Some Mormon priest? Can't they just say, "they accepted, prove they didn't."

The same one who decides if we really accept it

Related question occurs, Mormons occasionally baptize non-Mormons as Mormons posthumously. Can the deceased refuse that? Or stipulate in a will, 'no posthumous baptisms.'

That's not actually how it works. Basically it comes down to the Mormon beliefs in free agency/will and the afterlife. They believe that it's their duty to go through their genealogy and perform a proxy baptism for each of their non-Mormon ancestors. I'm not going to describe the ritual itself but the belief is that it offers a choice for the dead who never heard about the church or didn't join in life the opportunity to take it. If the soul accepts, then it's considered a fully legitimate baptism. If not, then that's their choice and they can expect to be offered it by their descendants again in the future. There have been (numerous) cases where it didn't work like that and you had, say, Anne Frank offered baptism by little Timmy Gentileson thirty times in a row, but that's more to glitches in the system than anything. Sometimes even Mormons don't fully understand it, which is understandable since it's quite possibly a twelve year old boy performing it.

Tl;dr:

• It's a common misconception that the practice turns anyone Mormon.
• It's meant to give your ancestors another shot at a better heaven.
• Adolescent kids sometimes don't have a perfect grasp of their religion.
• You can refuse it if you want to.

And who decides whether the soul accepted it or not? Presumedly it's between the soul and the living Mormon. When other people find out about it, who makes the determination what the soul decided? Some Mormon priest? Can't they just say, "they accepted, prove they didn't."

The same one who decides for the rest of us. God