AboutHannah Expertise I can answer questions concerning standard doctrines, scriptures, curiousities, Mormon culture and society. I will not respond to debates. I'm sorry, but there are some things that I simply will not answer, not because I don't want to, but there are some things that the LDS people do not discuss casually--it's only talked about within the temple. Though I am a member, I do not believe that anyone could convert anyone to a religion over something as impersonal as the internet. So I won't even try to.
Experience I have been a member of the LDS church for 8 years. Though I'm still a young person, I can answer most things about the church.
Question So, in your opinion, is just doing it for the sake of the grandparents the right reason to do it? Even though my husband & I do not intend to raise him in the church.
Dyana
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Thank you so much for the speedy response. I am not worried about you trying to convert me, though I do appreciate you respecting my beliefs. What does it mean to be put on the rolls of the church?
Dyana
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I married a non practicing Morman. Two months ago we had our first child. Now the family wants to have him blessed. My Husband & I talked and decided that it wasn't something we wanted to do because we don't go to church and we are not planning on raising him in the Morman Faith. Now they are telling us that the only way our Grandparent who are on a mission will be able to meet their Great Grandson is if we have this done. My husband having the kind heart that he does decides that he would like to do it for that reason. My questions are, is this really true? And what exactly does it mean when you do a blessing? Will my child now become a member of a church that I do not even belong to? And if that is so, now that this has happened is there a way to make him a non member? Please help me as I feel like I am not getting the whole truths out tof my in-laws.
Answer -
All right, here's how it goes. If your grandparents are on a senior couple's mission, there is a possibility that they could go home for the blessing. But I'm not even sure that's true. I do know that a lady in my ward was married to a gentleman, who's parents were mission presidents in Hong Kong, and they were married in the Hong Kong temple, as to make it so that the parents could be present.
I think it depends on what their mission president says whether they can do this. However, they can still meet their great-grandson when they return from their mission.
For an infant to be blessed, it just means that he's been blessed. It's just a priesthood blessing. It's sort of like how they used to present infants to the Lord. They officially give it a name and all that jazz, and just give it a priesthood blessing, to help it live its life to the fullest. Pretty much it starts its life with priesthood power in it.
Your child will not become a member of the church. It is impossible to be confirmed until the age of eight. If he/she were to become a member, people can always request their names of the rolls of the church.
However, there is a possibility that if you blessed your child, he/she'd be put on the rolls of the church as your husband's child. If you husband is still officially a Mormon, but just doesn't go, I think there is a larger possibility of this.
Did I cover everything?
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It really only means that the name is on the records. That's pretty much it.
Thanks for the question. :)
Answer I don't know everything about the situation. So I'd look into the possibility of the grandparents actually being able to attend the blessing anyway.
I think that if staying in the good graces of the family depends on this, you should probably have the child blessed.
However, the blessing of the child is something that if you don't really want to have the child blessed, I don't think you should. I don't see why the family is trying to pressure you. The priesthood is a sacred thing, not just a ceremonial item. So, if you aren't doing it because of the sanctity thereof, only for the ceremonial purposes, I don't think you should.
It seems to me that you husbands's family wants the child blessed for the ceremonial purposes, not for the sacred. But I, once again, don't know all the details. I'd actually ask them if they're wanting it for ceremonial reasons, or sacred reasons. Of course you know them better than I, and you'd know how'd that take this.
If they only want the child blessed because they want to keep with the Mormon culture, I'd call that almost sacreligious, if you get my gist.
But shortly, I'd look into the possibility that your husband's grandparent's attendance. There's a possibility they couldn't come anyway.
