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Marcion Meets E. Sibyl

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Hi,

Do you have a special prayer or method to bless the object you just bought for your altar or sacred space? I usually buy pre-blessed objects with priests or nuns as their provenance; however, here's an intimate prayer that rings true to me:

Blessed are you, Lord God, king of the universe.

You have made all things for your glory.

Bless this (name of object)

and grant that I may use it in your service

and for the good of my surrounding.

Father, I praise you through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Peace.

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1) Why would one bless a single inanimate item? Wouldn't the true grace be in the person using it? The tool is completely irrelevant.

2) Why would anyone spend money on this? What kind of a racket is that, and how do I get in on it

4) I bless with mead (though it's not always true mead).

Edited by Paranoid Android
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I bless this (object) with the power of Air (run it through sage), Fire (light a candle run it through the flame), Water (sprinkle with water) and Earth (sprinkle with salt}, Be it only used in good intent and peace. As Above, so below. So mote it be.

Though different things get different treatment. My sword took a month of keeping near by and working with it every day. My staff I took to the river and immersed in the water.

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in my culture we tend to bless something big in your lives, such as a new car or house and so on

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Different faiths have different ways of looking at this. In a Judeo-Christian sense of the term, I can't think of a single time when an object was "blessed". People are blessed. Often. But not objects. So from my own personal world view I can't really justify blessing any object for any personal altar.

But if you gain spiritual insight/enlightenment from this, best of luck to you :tu:

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The Catholic faith is one of the most idolatrous religions and certainly the most idolatrous Christian religion on earth. Unfortunately, other Christian denominations are becoming the same with idols of crosses, graven images of God, angels, glorifying the devil on Halloween, and some even have statues of "things that are in the earth beneath" (gargoyles, etc) on the outside of church bldgs to ward off evil spirits (like a demon is afraid of a sculptured piece of cement). And they think there is nothing evil in that. It is the drunks, criminals, and crooked politicians' fault that their land needs healing. WRONG!!

Please adhere to the guidelines: the bashing of specific religions, countries, races or belief systems is strictly disallowed.

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Beany,

Thank you for your reprimand. I will be more careful from now on. Just trying to awaken Christians against idolatry.

God bless

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methods of blessing amongst catholics..................................... http://www.ewtn.com/library/prayer/roman2.txt

Are catholics judeo-christians?

http://libertyandculture.blogspot.de/2007/01/what-does-judeo-christian-mean.html

To clarify, I missed a word when posting my previous message. I meant to write that I cannot think of a single time in the Bible that an object is blessed. People are blessed, regularly. But never in scripture are objects blessed. Therefore, as a Christian I won't be blessing any objects anytime soon.

Catholics are definitely part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many people in Catholic churches are Christian. Catholic doctrine is mostly scriptural. However, the idea of Catholics blessing objects is unbiblical, so while I won't judge any Catholic for their beliefs, I won't support the blessing of objects as a biblically acceptable action.

Of course, it's not a major issue, and if there is biblical evidence that I'm unaware of, I'd happily change my stance on this. But my comments weren't intended to start an argument, just to outline my views. If people gain spiritual joy from blessing items, then go for it.

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Did Jesus say we can't have crucifixes? Did Jesus say we can't pray the rosary? Isn't the virgin mary the mother of Jesus? Isn't Jesus the New Covenant???????????????? Through Jesus the bible has been fulfilled. The bible is not stagnant because its followers are still around and Jesus and virgin mary are still around. The pope the representative of Jesus is alive.
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1) Why would one bless a single inanimate item?

Please respect other people beliefs. Thankyou

Edited by SolarPlexus
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Please respect other people beliefs. Thankyou

I don't necessarily have to respect other people's beliefs.

BUT, most importantly, how was my simple question disrespecting anyone's beliefs?

Thank you for your prompt answer.

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1) Why would one bless a single inanimate item? Wouldn't the true grace be in the person using it? The tool is completely irrelevant.

2) Why would anyone spend money on this? What kind of a racket is that, and how do I get in on it

4) I bless with mead (though it's not always true mead).

My post was edited, and now I can't remember what #3 was; and since I can't remember it, I guess it wasn't important.

Oh well. I guess this censorship was for the best this time around.

:tu:

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Why was my blessing removed? I bless things with bacon. This is part of my beliefs. Why was it removed?

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Beany,

Thank you for your reprimand. I will be more careful from now on. Just trying to awaken Christians against idolatry.

God bless

It wasn't a reprimand, it was a reminder of the guidelines.

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No-ThingBornPassion,

Thank you for starting this wonderful thread. I was surprised to see the levels of skepticism regarding the practice; so I wanted to comment and ensure you, you are not alone in this practice. I do it as well. I also really liked your prayer of blessing; it is excellent.

Speaking for myself, I am a Protestant; but one who has always had very strong Catholic leanings; thus it should come as no surprise that I am a firm believer in blessing and sanctifying objects. I am fortunate to have several blessed items in my home. Here is but a few:

The rosary that I use and pray on has the Crucifix of St. Benedict. The rosary itself was made by Benedictine Monks at a Benedictine Monastery that I visited in the Philippines. During a long conversation that I had with the Abbot; he blessed it for me personally.

I have a replica of the miraculous Kursk Root Icon that was placed over the ACTUAL Kursk Root Icon and was blessed by a Russian Orthodox Priest. It was awesome to have it blessed over the real Icon; because that Icon has real power. When I brought the blessed replica home for the first time, I said the Jesus Prayer before entering my home; then I raised the Icon above my head and walked it throughout the home in a sort of processional as I prayed a prayer of blessing very similar to yours; only that the Icon would BLESS THE HOME and those who dwell in it.

I also have a Buddhist Rosary that a Buddhist Monk at the Po Lin Monastery was kind enough to bless for me. I use the Buddhist rosary for meditation.

There are others, but those three are the most significant to me. I usually get objects that have already been blessed also; I guess overall at this point I still feel sort of unworthy to bless objects.

Because a few people were questioning this practice; I will try to say something about that here as well.

Of course, it's not a major issue, and if there is biblical evidence that I'm unaware of, I'd happily change my stance on this.

It isn't Biblical. There is nothing in the Bible that affirms the practice of blessing objects. However; you must be aware that within Protestantism there is this (questionable) idea of Sola Scriptura; but this does not exist within either the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches. Both uphold the notion of Sacred Tradition along with Sacred Scripture; and the practice arose out of Sacred Tradition. It got started I believe with the use of Relics; that the items and even the bodies of the saints themselves possessed a certain kind of supernatural power. Healings and other miracles were taking place, and this led to the tradition that objects, like people could be sanctified and used for a higher purpose.

Let me put it another way. Within Protestantism it is generally the view that a Sacrament serves as a symbol; it is an outward sign of an inward grace. But within the Catholic and Orthodox traditions; both believe that there is more to it than this. Something supernatural is indeed taking place. When a priest is ordained, his hands are anointed with oil and they pray that God may "consecrate and sanctify these hands, through our unction and Thy blessing, that whatsoever things they shell bless, they may be blessed". So to them it is not some empty ceremony or symbol; it is a transferring of God's power of holiness and consecration onto an object. It is supernatural, not symbolic. The blessing of an object takes an ordinary thing and bestows it with a supernatural means of heavenly grace. It adds to the object, thus it is no longer merely a natural object; but a natural and supernatural object.

So no, it is not in the Bible; but the practice of blessing objects and using relics as a means of grace is nearly as old as the Church itself. To be frank, this is one of the problems I have with the Reformation. In divorcing themselves from the Catholic Church; a lot of tradition was branded as being heretical or evil when in fact, many of these were probably good and very useful applications. In effect, it was throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We have lost a lot.

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Someone asked a simple question about how to do a blessing and received what I think are very rude comments. Surely those of you who don't believe in blessings can express yourselves in ways that aren't cynical, rude, or judgmental. Please review the rules for this forum. No one can force any of you to respect a belief different from your own, I get that, but there is no reason why a person can't express themselves within the bounds of good manners unless one chooses to do otherwise. Demonstrating respect is one of the forum rules, if you can't hang with that, then don't post here.

'Spirituality, Religion and Beliefs' board guidelines Please always respect the beliefs of other members - the bashing of specific religions, countries, races or belief systems is strictly disallowed. Several of the topics in this section cover some sensitive areas and it is important to respect the views of others; this means no flaming, no flamebaiting, no trolling and no personal attacks. We must also ask that members do not use the forums to promote or 'preach' their personal spiritual beliefs to others.

The Spirituality, Religion and Beliefs board is primarily aimed at discussing general topics pertaining to religion and spirituality, for skeptic vs believer style discussion and debate on the nature of spirituality themed topics please visit the Spirituality vs Skepticism board.

Edited by Beany
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No-ThingBornPassion,

Thank you for starting this wonderful thread. I was surprised to see the levels of skepticism regarding the practice; so I wanted to comment and ensure you, you are not alone in this practice. I do it as well. I also really liked your prayer of blessing; it is excellent.

Speaking for myself, I am a Protestant; but one who has always had very strong Catholic leanings; thus it should come as no surprise that I am a firm believer in blessing and sanctifying objects. I am fortunate to have several blessed items in my home. Here is but a few:

The rosary that I use and pray on has the Crucifix of St. Benedict. The rosary itself was made by Benedictine Monks at a Benedictine Monastery that I visited in the Philippines. During a long conversation that I had with the Abbot; he blessed it for me personally.

I have a replica of the miraculous Kursk Root Icon that was placed over the ACTUAL Kursk Root Icon and was blessed by a Russian Orthodox Priest. It was awesome to have it blessed over the real Icon; because that Icon has real power. When I brought the blessed replica home for the first time, I said the Jesus Prayer before entering my home; then I raised the Icon above my head and walked it throughout the home in a sort of processional as I prayed a prayer of blessing very similar to yours; only that the Icon would BLESS THE HOME and those who dwell in it.

I also have a Buddhist Rosary that a Buddhist Monk at the Po Lin Monastery was kind enough to bless for me. I use the Buddhist rosary for meditation.

There are others, but those three are the most significant to me. I usually get objects that have already been blessed also; I guess overall at this point I still feel sort of unworthy to bless objects.

Because a few people were questioning this practice; I will try to say something about that here as well.

Hi,

Thank you for mentioning your sacred objects.

By the way, you might find these religious statues appealing. Hans Teppich (from Jerusalem) created these (Judaic) Biblical figures, except for the Phra Bid Tah with the sacred and protective "yahn" symbols all over its body (including the backside). This holy object is unique to Thailand, and an actual monk made it -- it's antique. They'll be up for auction, soon.

zzzzzzstatues1c.jpg

Regarding blessing, according to the Bible, all "Christians" are saints and priests: "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:"

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"

Peace to you, Marcus Aurelius.

Edited by No-thingBornPassion
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I thought this might be helpful to the discussion, it's from Wikipedia. As I see it, a blessing is a way of bringing an emotional connection, belief, idea, concept, etc. from the metaphysical to the physical world. Art can also do the same thing. It's a physical reminder of what's important to us, the value is not necessarily in the object itself, but the idea/person/belief it represents, and can be a source of inspiration, a symbolic representation.

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To me blessing an object is to imbue it with the energy of what I am using to bless it with. If I bless it with a god or goddess then that is the energy that it has. It is not related to idolatry, you don't worship the object you worship what the object represents.

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Of course, it's not a major issue, and if there is biblical evidence that I'm unaware of, I'd happily change my stance on this. But my comments weren't intended to start an argument, just to outline my views. If people gain spiritual joy from blessing items, then go for it.

Blessing of wine and bread. Anointing the sick. Casting out demons in to a herd of pigs. Jesus himself did all these things.

Shaking the dust from the feet, the reverse of blessing.

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Blessing of wine and bread. Anointing the sick. Casting out demons in to a herd of pigs. Jesus himself did all these things.

Shaking the dust from the feet, the reverse of blessing.

None of these objects are "blessed". Jesus took the bread and wine, and "gave thanks". Neither is anointing a blessing of items, but people. Not sure what casting out demons has to do with blessing objects. The dust is not cursed (opposite of blessed?), so again, nowhere are objects blessed. People are blessed.

If others want to bless objects, that's their choice, and that's what this thread is for, so I'm happily going to read the . stories of people who bless their sacred spaces. It's just not for me.

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I personally use whatever blessing feels right in my heart. I do not think the words themselves matter much at all but what matters most is the intent and the energy put into it.

On rare occassions Ive had blessed objects from others esp when those others carry more power then I do when it comes to blessing things. Ive been put into an ecstasy state from a blessed food item by another one time. I wouldnt mind having some of that again (Ive never had to pay for a blessed object). I once also had a piece of jewellry which was blessed (as a protection/guidence thing).

At times I bless people, I bless my crystals before they are used and I bless my food to raise its vibration.

How to bless something... focus on your heart.. think of a time in which you felt a lot of love, protection, peace etc then focus the energy into the object. Will the energy to stay.. One can call for the energy of others to be channelled into the object too (this is where prayers come into the blessing).

The more love you feel and the more you do this.. the stronger you will be able to bless things.

Edited by sea-dove
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None of these objects are "blessed". Jesus took the bread and wine, and "gave thanks".

I don't know, isn't it kind of like when the boss "asks" you to do something, and you know it isn't really a request?

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