Here are some wt quotes regarding church funerals.
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*** w70 3/15 191-2 Questions from Readers ***
黜
May
dedicated
Christians
attend
church
funerals
of
other
religious
organizations?-C.
S.,
U.S.A.Some Christians may feel obligated to attend a church funeral because of a debt of gratitude, because a close relative is involved or due to pressures from an unbelieving mate. But before doing so each one should consider the various factors involved and the possible alternatives. While doing so is not forbidden by the Christian congregation, such a course is certainly fraught with dangers and problems.
First of all, it is well to remember that a church funeral is not held primarily to afford friends an opportunity to console the bereaved family. Usually that is done in the funeral parlor beforehand or by visiting the family in their home. The church funeral is really a religious service. It therefore is likely to involve a sermon advocating such unscriptural ideas as the immortality of the soul and that all good people go to heaven. It may also involve unscriptural practices such as making the sign of the cross and most likely the joining in united prayer with a priest or minister of another religion. Of course, a Christian could not take part in such, in view of the command at Revelation 18:4.
In this regard Japanese funerals represent a real test for dedicated Christian wives with unbelieving husbands. If they attend the funeral, their name is called out and they are expected to go up and offer incense and a prayer to the dead. So, many of such Japanese Christians have decided that it is better not to attend these funerals.
Some dedicated Christians have attended church funerals because they wanted to stay close to the immediate family and support them. So they went to the funeral parlor, to the church funeral and then even to the grave. They might have been able to do all that without personally committing any false religious act. There are, of course, spiritual hazards in going to any place of false worship.
True, a Christian wife whose husband is an unbeliever and who wants her to attend a church funeral might look to the example of Naaman. He was the Syrian general who was cured of leprosy by bathing himself seven times in the Jordan River at the command of the prophet Elisha. Because of this miraculous cure Naaman was determined never to worship any other god than Jehovah. But that would be a hard thing for him to do because he was still in the service of his king. He helped the king get around and so would have to go with him into the house of the pagan god Rimmon. He might even have to help the king bow down. So he asked that Jehovah God forgive him and not hold this against him. Naaman, who had become a true worshiper of Jehovah, was not himself worshiping this false god; he was only there under orders.-2 Ki. 5:1-19.
And so with the Christian wife who has an unbelieving husband. If her husband insisted that on a certain occasion she go with him to a church funeral of a relative or family friend she might feel that she could act in a way similar to that in which Naaman did-be present on that occasion but not share in any acts of false religion. But whether she went would be up to her to decide. She would have to resolve the conflict between respect for her husbands wishes and obedience to Jehovah and the dictates of her conscience, trained by Gods Word.-1 Pet. 3:16.
Yes, her conscience would be involved. Why? Because others might see her, one of Jehovahs witnesses, entering the church, and they might be stumbled. She would therefore have to consider that possibility. As the apostle Paul wrote: "Make sure of the more important things, so that you may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ."-Phil. 1:10.
Better it would be if such a wife tried to explain her position to her husband. She would do well to pick a time when he was relaxed and in a good frame of mind, taking a lesson from Queen Esther, and then tactfully try to explain why she felt she could not attend such a church funeral. Among other things, she could point out that if she attended and did not take part in the ritual it might be very embarrassing to others, and especially to her husband. So an unbelieving husband might agree, out of love for his wife, respect for her religious scruples and a desire to avoid embarrassment.-Esther 5:1-8.
But might one offend the bereaved family by not attending? Only if one ignored the death entirely. One would not need to do that. A person could do things to show that he was sympathetic and interested in helping. He could go to the funeral parlor beforehand, express condolences to the family and offer practical help. A person could bring over food if need be, or cook a meal there for the family, or watch the children, relieving the adults of that responsibility temporarily. Then the family would not think that the person was unloving just because he did not attend the church funeral.
Thus there is no need for a Christian to feel obligated to go to a church funeral of another religious organization, where there may be the temptation to give in to pressure and follow the crowd when everyone else is performing some false religious act. Thus also the danger of performing an act of apostasy and displeasing Jehovah God can be avoided. But each one must decide for oneself on the basis of circumstances and ones own conscience.
*** w70 3/1 131 Bible Truth About the Dead Gives Hope ***
It may be that, when faced with such a need for comfort, you offer the same expressions of condolence that you have heard offered by clergymen at funeral services. It is true that many people look to their church for comfort in time of sorrow. But many are plunged into a deeper sense of loss by what they have been taught to believe about death.
*** w80 3/15 7 Do You Honor the Dead? ***
In all matters pertaining to the services for the dead, it is vital to conform to what is true. Hence, Christians avoid anything that even remotely resembles ancestor worship or
a belief in "departed spirits." Godly persons manifest faith in the resurrection and determination to praise Jehovah by engaging in worship that is not defiled by any form of falsehood.John 4:23, 24; Jas. 1:27.
*** km 3/97 7 Question Box ***
A brother certainly would not share with a clergyman in conducting an interfaith service nor in any funeral conducted in a church of Babylon the Great.
*** w95 12/1 22 A Hundred Years Old and Going Strong ***
Facing
Up
to
Trials
Soon after I accepted the truth, my mother passed away, and I had to return to North Carolina for her funeral. I felt that I could not in good conscience attend the services that would be conducted inside the Methodist church. Hence I phoned my father before making the trip and asked him to keep the coffin at the funeral home. He agreed, but when I got there, they were on their way to the church, where they thought that I would surely join them.
Well, I did not, and this caused quite a stir in my family. Though my sister Edna and I had always been close, after Moms funeral she would not talk to me.
*** w80 12/15 28 Our Five Decades of Integrity-keeping ***
We were so deeply affected by this terrible loss that I do not know how we managed to make arrangements for the funeral, for even in this we had to contend with the Catholic Church. Obviously, we wanted a civil funeral, and for that we had to obtain clearance from the local parish priest. With a document proving we were Jehovahs Witnesses that hurdle was overcome.
*** w77 6/1 346 Mourning and Funerals-For Whom? ***
Nor can it be said that a funeral service is somewhat like a sacrament that bestows virtue upon the deceased. True, most church members of Christendom would view with horror the prospect of a burial without a church service. Thus the Roman Catholic Church has various kinds of Masses for this very purpose. These may contain blessings for the deceased and are claimed to help a soul in purgatory. However, all such practices have no Scriptural backing, for Gods Word makes clear that the dead are unconscious and remain so until the resurrection.Eccl. 9:5, 10.
*** w67 8/15 491-2 Limping upon Two Opinions ***
What makes the situation today most urgent is that God has made it plain that the time of his execution of judgment upon "Babylon the Great," the world empire of false religion, is at the door. This is no time to be limping upon two different opinions. The warning from heaven for our day is: "Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4) There is no time for dallying. God will no more spare the organizations of false religion than he spared the glorious temple built by Solomon at Jerusalem.
And it is not only in the larger matters involving active support of Great Babylons religions that you must be on guard. Some of the smaller matters are those that appear harmless and yet do much to reveal where your heart is. Lots wife probably thought it could do no harm just to look back at Sodom. Yet she perished.-Gen. 19:26; Luke 17:32.
Some parents, though no longer members of a Babylonish church system, feel it is all right to send their children to Sunday school in one of those systems. They imagine that any Bible stories they will hear there will do them no harm. They overlook the danger that the foundation for some false doctrine may well be laid in their young minds and that the youngsters are being exposed to association with those who conform to Babylonish rites and religious duties.
Then, again, there are some who feel they can personally attend Christendoms religious services from time to time just to keep up with what is going on or to please some worldly relative or acquaintance. Yet, the apostle Paul, following his conversion to the true faith, publicly denounced interfaith attitudes: "Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what sharing do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light [true Bible teaching] have with darkness [superstition and human tradition]. . . . And what agreement does Gods temple have with idols? For we [the apostle and fellow anointed Christians who abide by Gods Word] are a temple of a living God . . . "Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves," says Jehovah, "and quit touching the unclean thing.""-2 Cor. 6:14-17.
To still others it may seem a small thing to give time and attention to reading literature put out by Babylons false religions. Perhaps they feel strong enough not to be easily moved from their stand for Bible truth. Nevertheless, they will probably wonder why they do not get the same clear-cut understanding and the same positive attitude as others who are zealous in the worship of the true God. The fact is that they lack the wholeheartedness that is pleasing to Jehovah, and so cannot expect to enjoy his fullest blessing. They are in danger of developing a limp in their thinking.
Edited by - saintsatan on 19 September 2002 4:23:54
