This is my first comment on this forum as I haven’t felt I could contribute anything of value until now, although I have followed along on here since day one.
I am an Ex Mormon, but received my patriarchal blessing when I was 17. I met the patriarch of our Stake the day of my blessing and saw him once again when he delivered a hard copy to me (in which he had changed something pretty significant from his verbal blessing) and then never saw him again.
It’s a blessing delivered by the Patriarch much like a prayer as he lays his hands on your head. It’s a very reverent process and the things said in the blessing are considered sacred to members, often only sharing the details with ones parents and spouses. As someone else mentioned, it is intended to be a guide to ones life, often giving specific examples of how you’ll be blessed based off of your worthiness and devotion to the restored gospel and its teachings. Although they often read like a prophecy, it is given with the understanding that you have free agency and your actions in life will have an affect on these promises. Some are pretty vague and general, while others (like my own) deliver pretty hefty promises of a future roll one might play within their life or within the church. Since I’m no longer a member, I feel now like it’s more of a tool used to further indoctrinate it’s members. Mine put a great deal of pressure on me to continue to act faithful way past my first inclination that this religion was not for me.
It is possible that Chad or Lori have patriarchal blessings that they’ve interpreted in a way that they feel justifies their behavior, but that’s the thing, they’re most always just vague enough that one can often gather many interpretations of their own blessing. It’s very unlikely that a patriarch or their patriarchal blessing would be of any help in this investigation. MOO
MOO
