by Enrique Tomlinson 1 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
So sorry for your loss. As others said, a JW funeral is little more than a Watchtower infomercial. The dear departed gets only the briefest of mentions, and even that concentrates on their service to the Borg.
I like StephaneLaliberte's suggestion of simply walking up to the podium and announcing that you have a poem to read. Go for it!
Have you discussed this with the more immediate relatives? You won't be permitted to read the poem. The format is as described by the other posters - a short ( 30 minutes or so ) talk from an outline , usually with a few anecdotal comments about the deceased. JW beliefs are presented as beliefs of the deceased ( such as the concept that the deceased is just sleeping and will be resurrected soon with perfect health into a paradise earth ) .
From the latest Society funeral outline:
Adapt the material to match the circumstances of the deceased and the needs of grieving ones. While not overpraising the deceased, you may use events from his life throughout the talk to show how those in attendance can benefit from his example. Use good balance in this regard. You may choose to arrange a well-rehearsed interview with a brother in good standing who knew the deceased well. Any use of humor should be moderate. The dignity of the occasion should be preserved. The talk need not exceed 30 minutes. Do not invite the audience to make expressions about the deceased, as this could introduce inappropriate or unscriptural elements into the program.
https://faithleaks.org/wiki/documents/4/41/S-32-E-16.pdf
JW funeral talks used to be very scripted but I have noticed a trend in more recent times towards being less so and the latest ( 2016 ) outline deleted the expression about not eulogising the deceased. .
Yes it's true...they will talk about your dead Grandmother for about 5 minutes 10 if you are lucky, the rest will be a plug for Jehover.
People are not important in the religion.....only the organization matters.
