Dear Readers,
I remember attending the grandmother of a friend over 20 years back. The pastor was a fundamentalist Baptist. An Independent Baptist, I believe. He talked about how "everyone goes somewhere" when they die and talked about he became a Christian when he was in his twenties, he was in his forties at the time. He said that he once had long hair and was in a band, as if that is a "bad" thing, I don't believe it is. He talked about the love he had for his children and the walks he took with them after dinner, fine. He said he hoped that the people in the room "would come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior if they didn't believe". Everyone does go somewhere when they die, it is most likely the grave, whether there is an afterlife or not, no one really knows as such a concept has not been proven to exist as of now.
He talked about her being in "heaven". He quoted numerous passages from the Bible. He was obviously a Trinitarian. I must say that today, I don't believe she is in "heaven" or that there is a "hell". He mentioned how "hell" is a place that is often not talked about anymore. The pastor apparently doesn't consider the fact that not everyone reads the Bible in a literal way, he does and that is choice. I don't read the Bible literally, nor do I accept it's claims as being "true" without evidence. I don't think that he knew my friend's grandmother personally, he didn't mention any memories that he had of her, which is weird. Most of the religious funerals that I attended, the clergyman usually knew the deceased person and would talk about their memories of them.
My Jehovah's Witness mother didn't go because she would not listen to a Baptist preacher. She would not listen to a non-Jehovah's Witness Christian pastor spread "the false doctrines of Christendom". The funeral was held in a fundamentalist Presbyterian church since the Baptist church did not have enough space to hold large memorial services. My friend's grandmother did not act religious, I knew she belonged to some branch of the Baptist denomination and went to church, she did not act religious or talk about deities, afterlives or organized religion from what I remember.
He made a lot of pity comments like how people would think or say "pastor, the Bible is just a book" when mourning this woman. He made claims of how she would want her loved ones to join her in "heaven". The pastor said that she led the "best kind of life", a life for Yahweh and had a "personal relationship" with Yahweh whom he believes is also Jesus. He encouraged the mourners to live their lives in a manner that pleases Yahweh. Excuse me, sir, but where do you get off telling people what kind of life they should be living, hmmm? People can lead their lives for Yahweh and still be immoral and hate-filled people, so many Christians prove that everyday. The pastor said something about the grandmother's soul leaving the body which was only her "temporal home" and that her soul in "heaven". I know that any JW or SDA would freak out about the soul leaving the body remark.
JW's and SDA's believe that the soul and body never separate. Being dead is like being in an unconscious sleep until Yahweh decides to resurrect you, if he decides to resurrect you. The JW's believe you are given a new body and get to live on the earth which has been transformed into a paradise which is sustainable for immortal life, while Adventists believe that you will go to heaven.
He said she had been a member of his church congregation for over 50 years, so what? He claimed that the Bible is " not just a book", well, pastor, show us that the claims written in passages in the Bible are "true"; if you please. I think that the Bible is just a book, it has some good things and a lot of bad things; I don't and will not accept anything on faith. Quoting passages from the Bible in an authoritarian manner, does not make the claims in the Bible of an afterlife or anything else "true", dude.
He quoted something about Pilate and the Jews, I think it was about the Jews begging for Pilate to have Jesus crucified an how the Romans tormented him and how Jesus died for our "sins", a concept that I don't believe in The pastor said something about people can choose to accept Jesus as their lord and savior or they can choose to reject him and implied that if they reject him, then they will be tormented in a pit of fire and brimstone forever. What a nice message, right? I reject Jesus' message because I see no proof that what he said is "true". Oddly enough, the pastor did not quote any of the words attributed to Jesus in the Christian Bible that I recall. Is that not weird? He quoted from the Book of Psalms in the Jewish Bible and from the Book of Corinthians and the Book of Revelations in the Christian Bible, nothing from the four Gospels that I remember. Biblical scholars have stated that most of the sayings in the four Gospels in the Christian Bible were not actually spoken by historical Jesus to begin with. The pastor struck me as being anti-Jewish because of his remarks about the Jews wanting Jesus dead. Does this pastor forget that the Biblical Jesus and the historical Jesus were religiously Jewish?
He said that people cannot think that they are getting into heaven just because my friend's grandmother was there, he said that people could only get into heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, how loving, threatening people with eternal damnation, right?
I don't believe in the promise of "heaven" because I don't believe that "heaven" exists, nor do I believe in the shunning of "hell" because I don't believe that "hell" exists. The woman was a Christian and accepted Jesus as her " Lord and Savior", that's fine. She was one beautiful lady. I don't think she was a "righteous" person because she was a Christian, she was a good person because that is what she wanted to be. It was who she was. I don't believe that Jesus is a "shepherd" or an "anchor".
The pastor called himself a "sinner" and accused everyone else in the room of being a "sinner" which is just rude. I am not a "sinner". I am a flawed person who makes mistakes who tries to better myself, just like everyone else. Just like my friend's grandmother, despite the fact that she held beliefs different from me, and that I hold different beliefs from her and no longer hold to the beliefs that I held when I knew her. The pastor can believe and say that she is in "heaven" all he wants, but that doesn't make it true, if you cannot prove that belief.
The woman might have inspired people to " go to Christ" and gotten them to convert to her particular version of Christianity, she was well-known for taking her friends to church. He kept talking about how my friend's grandmother would tell us about how much Yahweh who is also Jesus according to him, "loved" us. I don't believe that Yahweh "loves" anyone. The pastor should be ashamed for using scare tactics with his "comforting" messages. I don't believe that this woman is in "heaven". I think she lives on through my memories. I knew her since I was a teenager. This friend was someone that I grew up with, one of the few close non-Jehovah's Witness friends that I had.
I remember hearing one person, a Seventh-day Adventist who attended my dad's church and was a neighbor to my friend's grandmother, she said to the woman sitting next to her who was an acquaintance of my friend's grandmother and a fellow Adventist that the pastor was a "false prophet" for talking about "hell". My friend's grandmother, her sister and youngest daughter were converts to Methodism and they didn't like the pastor's mentions of "hell", which is what they told me. The oldest daughter of my friend's grandmother was and also a fundamentalist Baptist, I just cannot remember what branch of the Baptist denomination that they were members of. My friend's mother was a liberal Pentecostal.
I largely feel that the pastor took the funeral as an opportunity to preach about his version of Christianity, rather than talk about this amazing woman's life. He sang Christian hymns, he had a very good singing voice. I disagreed with his religious words, I still believed in god at the time. I was involved with Orthodox Mormonism back then. I don't think she was a good person because she was a Christian, she was a good person because that is who she was. She will never be forgotten. I will treasure her memory for as long as I live.
Funerals should be a time to remember and celebrate the life of a loved one who is no longer with us, not listen to a religious leader preach about how one can live eternally, despite not being able to offer any supported evidence for such beliefs.
Sincerely,
B.W.
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