ConureDelSol Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 So yesterday, one of my three sets of grandparents decided to take me, my mom and my dad out to dinner. Just to clarify this is my dad's mom and step-dad. Grandma is the leader of some massive international women's prayer group. Grandpa is a recently retired Anglican priest. I was seriously, seriously hoping they would limit their conversation to updates about the family and funny little stories like they've been known to do. Nope. The topic was NDE's, which of course, they didn't actually call it. Grandma starts in about some woman she's friends with who was in a car accident when she was young. Apparently, pieces of her skull were on the road and all and she was pronounced dead. She woke up later with a toe tag, got up and walked around the hospital until she ran into an understandably freaked out nurse. Well according to grandma, during the time she was "dead" she went to Heaven. They said that she felt so peaceful and all that but that God told her that it wasn't her time and she was sent back to her body. I figured, "Okay. Sounds the like a typical, run-of-the-mill Christian NDE." Then grandma said that ever since then she see's ANGELS. Seriously. Fucking angels. She said that this friend of hers would tell her what her angel looks like. Apparently, she "sees" them all the time but that she never talks to them because "you're not supposed to talk to them". My dad then claimed that she had a very bright "aura". Then they got to talking about how my dad has the gift of being able to see "spiritual auras" which is NEWS to me. We weren't even done yet. Then my mom started talking about my grandpa's (the one that lives with me) weird hallucinations. First, you have to understand some things about this grandpa: He is going blind, he can barely walk, and he's suffering from some specific form of dementia that in addition to the normal effects, makes it so his brain only processes about 30% of everything he hears. So basically, he's old. has been delirious from pain, and often delusional. Now on to the story. My grandpa went to the ER for some reason (I seem to recall it turned out to be something that wasn't a big deal at all). Supposedly he saw Jesus come to him and tell him that he'll be taking him soon. This was a year or so ago, for the record. So my mom, of course, completely and totally believes the whole thing. So she asks what Jesus looked like. He says that he was "just an ordinary looking fella." Naturally, everyone at the table but me are SO fascinated by this and chat on and on. Mom also brings up grandpa claiming that he talks to his dead dad ALL the time. So I think you all could understand why I'm feeling like the only sane person in my family at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openpalm45 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Oh wow... Thats intense. How did they react when you didn't really join in the conversation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConureDelSol Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Oh wow... Thats intense. How did they react when you didn't really join in the conversation? I don't really think they noticed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Honest Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Geez, I'm sorry you had to endure that. This reminds me a lot of the people at my yoga class (who are unbelievers but into other types of spirituality). Just goes to show you that there are different forms and variations of woo. A person of any belief system can have these types of experiences, so it amazes me how christians use it to try to prove that they have the "truth". I think it would have been so awesome if you had messed with them - like shook in your chair and screamed out that you just saw an angel or something. They would have totally bought it! hahaha But, I realize that pulling that kind of shit just gets you in trouble and makes things even worse in the end. But it's fun to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackpudd1n Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Yeah, that does not sound like one enjoyable family dinner, AT ALL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Wow, other than visions of angels and Jesus that kind of talk doesn't even sound Christian. No Christian I have ever been around would speak of seeing or talking to the dead - that was just not done. Early on I was taught necromancy was a sin. Auras and stuff like that would be relegated to New Age error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam5 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Wow, other than visions of angels and Jesus that kind of talk doesn't even sound Christian. No Christian I have ever been around would speak of seeing or talking to the dead - that was just not done. Early on I was taught necromancy was a sin. Agreed. The church I attended taught that the dead remain dead until the resurrection. And that talking to the dead is no different to consulting mediums ie "destestable" lol. Not that I have any problem with it now, apart from it being superstition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Wow, other than visions of angels and Jesus that kind of talk doesn't even sound Christian. No Christian I have ever been around would speak of seeing or talking to the dead - that was just not done. Early on I was taught necromancy was a sin. Auras and stuff like that would be relegated to New Age error. I was thinking that very thing. This isn't your typical evangelical fare of conversation. It was mentioned that these are common experiences across religions, and I agree. What makes them "woo" is really more how they are interpreted, as if proving ones mythology of literal entities and magical realms of the undead, not that these things happen to humans the planet over. I would actually view it as encouraging of more open minds than some sort of 'proving the afterlife is real' to support some narrow religious belief. This goes beyond the typical, we have the truth and this is how it is, dogmatic belief structure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConureDelSol Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 It may help to clarify some of the beliefs my grandmother and all has. My grandma was raised Catholic so she believes in saints and angels and all that. I'm pretty sure she remained Catholic even when my grandfather became an Episcopalian priest and then later converted to Anglican. Now my grandfather (the non-dementia one) believes in saints as well. So their beliefs are a little weird, even for Christians. As far as the "talking to the dead" thing, they think that my grandpa with dementia is being talked to by his father from heaven or something crazy like that. There was one time he thought he was having a heart attack and I walked in to see him on the bed reaching his hands in the air saying "It's okay dad. I'm coming...I'm coming..." Right after he said, "You may not believe me, but I was talking to my father just then." My mom seriously believes him even though she's a nurse and has probably seen that a good portion of mentally ill people REALLY think they are seeing things they aren't. For the record though, he wasn't having a heart attack. He was having issues with his massive hiatal hernia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peace Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 As long as I wasn't expected to participate I think I might have found that entertaining. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I overheard a similar conversation among my family recently, though not quite so New-Age. I was dining with family recently -- my folks, my sister, her husband, and his parents -- and my sister's in-laws were recounting the tale of how one of their blood relatives had been scared straight by some vision he'd had of Jesus. I don't remember the details of what he saw and heard, but it prompted this hardened old boozehound to call up his family and tell them he loved them. My sister's mother-in-law at one point said, "And you can't discount that," others chimed in agreement. For about thirty seconds I felt very out of place and just wanted to yell at them for not considering the possibility that a man with a history of substance abuse might have had a scary hallucination or a very vivid dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 It may help to clarify some of the beliefs my grandmother and all has. My grandma was raised Catholic so she believes in saints and angels and all that. I'm pretty sure she remained Catholic even when my grandfather became an Episcopalian priest and then later converted to Anglican. Now my grandfather (the non-dementia one) believes in saints as well. So their beliefs are a little weird, even for Christians. Believing in angels and saints is normal for Catholics. Episcopalian and Anglican are pretty much the same as Catholics, just without the Pope. Catholics make up the majority of Christianity with 1.1 billion world-wide. Protestants come in at 800 million. Talking to saints and angels and departed relatives doesn't seem that strange for Catholics, and those that claim to see them would be being consistent with those beliefs, even though that would be less common to actually experience them that way. I wouldn't call that New Age, except for the bit about seeing Auras. That does seem to be adopting that from culture. But hey, Catholics historically are all about adopting and adapting cultural beliefs into their own. My mom seriously believes him even though she's a nurse and has probably seen that a good portion of mentally ill people REALLY think they are seeing things they aren't. For the record though, he wasn't having a heart attack. He was having issues with his massive hiatal hernia. Well yes, that doesn't seem too objective on her part. I'd say it seems harmless enough to her to hear him say this, along with that it inspired her own faith that it didn't seem worth challenging it. If he was saying his departed father was telling him to go do things, such as walk on the freeway, then I'm sure her training would kick in and say it's not really dad in the sky, but his dementia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 one of their blood relatives had been scared straight by some vision he'd had of Jesus. I don't remember the details of what he saw and heard, but it prompted this hardened old boozehound to call up his family and tell them he loved them. My sister's mother-in-law at one point said, "And you can't discount that," others chimed in agreement. For about thirty seconds I felt very out of place and just wanted to yell at them for not considering the possibility that a man with a history of substance abuse might have had a scary hallucination or a very vivid dream. Out of curiosity, did the guy's life reform? Were they maybe saying that even though he probably didn't really see Jesus, that as strange as it sounds, you can't discount the effect it had on him? Or were they saying that his experience proves that Jesus is real as the Christians say, out there in the sky somewhere looking down on all of us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted June 14, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2012 Sounds like they were tripping. What did they have for dinner? Perhaps some tainted rye bread? Seems like a fun conversation to be in on; a little embarrassing if you're related, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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