What the man would like to know is if the dreams are revelatory. He has read about Joseph and his interpretation of dreams. He has studied Lehi’s dream. He has studied Daniel and the stone cut out of the mountain without hands.
In his stewardship interview with the stake president, he asks, because after all, the dreamers often had to ask an interpreter.
“The situation is always different, but the themes are pretty much the same. My dad is back from being dead, but he is still sick and he is going to die all over again. He has no memory of the afterlife and he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“How do you feel when you wake up?”
“Terrible. Like it happened all over again. Like it’s the day after he died. And I know Joseph Smith said that revelations communicate divine intelligence. I can’t detect any intelligence from these, though.”
“So why do you think they might be revelatory?”
“Well, Nebuchadnezzar felt clueless and troubled by his dreams. The baker and the butcher couldn’t understand their dreams. Maybe mine need interpretation.”
The stake president shakes his head. “You’ve prayed about these?”
“Yes. But like I said, some people need interpreters.”
“They don’t feel revelatory to me. I think the Lord would tell you if they were.”
The Living and the Dead, by Gordon Laws 