I have been to some awful ones & some really awful ones.
In all my time, I attended one JW funeral which spoke about the person for a prolonged period of time.
The JW funeral talk outline - poor taste or REALLY poor taste?
by Mr. Falcon 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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nugget
I have been to many JW funerals and have been dissappointed by them. You would think that if someone died in faithful service this would be a time to really celebrate their life and make much of them for once. I attended one funeral for a wonderful brother who was the epitomy of all that can be good in the organisation, he had lived an exemplary life of self sacrifice and love for others and yet his funeral talk was true to the society outline. He was a minor component. It could have been the funeral of anyone.
It is contemptable to a degree to use such an event as an advertorial. In the Bible JWs are taught that the day of death is better than the day of birth and yet babies are made much of when they are born the person is lost in the doctrine when they die.
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Mr. Falcon
when they are born the person is lost in the doctrine when they die.
That's because the person never really mattered. Or so it seems that way.
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oompa
i am kind of surprised nobody has mentioned this...unless i missed it....but every funeral i have attended the guy would go on and on about what DEAD GUY believed!!!! he believed this...he believed that...he had hope he would wake up in the paradise......barf!........oompa
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cult classic
That is so true Oompa, I would always find myself thinking "how the hell do you know what ____ believed?" Especially if it was an older person who had been bed-ridden and off the radar for a while. What if their beliefs had changed?
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Magwitch
They always read the scripture..."better the day of one's death than the day of his birth..."
SUCH ABSOLUTE DISRESPECT - especially for someone that was not considered old. What were the parents thinking?..."Oh yes, we should be happy our child died - much funner than when she was born."
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Juan Viejo2
I specifically wrote a short eulogy, about 7 or 8 minutes, about my father. At the beginning, I wrote a dry, standard local newspaper style eulogy (born, died, survivors, number of grandchildren, etc.) and then followed up with:
"That would be what a newspaper would report about Brother X. But there is so much more to know about his life (went to school during the depression, served in WW2 but never carried a gun, brought up three kids and numerous grandkids that all lovingly called him "XX", loved to fish, loved to play catch with his boys, etc.). Although his life was pretty normal and he faced no great tragedies or anything, he had his funny little quirks and sayings that made everyone love him such as: Etc., etc., etc."
I went over it with the brother that gave the talk and was sure he understood what the family wanted. He was supposedly a family friend, so we counted on him to follow our wishes. He took the short eulogy I had written and slipped it into his Bible.
He got up and promptly read the part that included the very short newspaper eulogy that I had used as an example - and then went directly into his Watchtower outlined talk. Sitting in the audience I wanted to stand up and yell out, "Read the rest of it, damn it!"
I could not have been any more angry about what he did - and if I was a violent man he would have spent some time in a hospital after that little episode. If he wasn't going to use it, then he should have said so right up front that he could or would not and maybe we could have printed a bio or something out to pass out afterwards.
So typical of the Watchtower. To hell with the family. Just follow the freakin' outline...
Bastards!!!
JV
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SweetBabyCheezits
I'll take REALLY poor taste for $500, Alex.
The wife and I recently attended a funeral at a church for our kids' pediatrician. This was our first church experience. While we didn't particularly enjoy the hymns interspersed throughout the service, we were both impressed at the amount of time spent on the eulologogogy. They showed a lot of respect & honor for the man who died.
JW funerals I've been to were usually 10% honoring the deceased, 90% sales pitch. This one was 90% honoring the deceased, 10% sales pitch.
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Mr. Falcon
10% honoring the deceased? Damn, Cheez, that was generous.
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eva luna
This is the norm isnt it?
I attendend one a few years back and it was not the standard. Given by a Bethelite too.
He talked mostly about the Deceased, his love of life , made jokes even. Packed house too.
Maybe JWs have more control over this then they realize.
Or maybe you just need to fly a Bethelite out.