Neonmadman is that your picture? It reminds me of someone I knew in Mass.
Well, I was in Mass. for pretty much all of my life as a JW (I was considerably heavier then, though) - PM me and let's figure out whether we know each other.
Elder gives service for non-JW
by jt stumbler 13 Replies latest jw experiences
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NeonMadman
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BluesBrother
Back in my days, up to the late 90's we would conduct funeral services for the unbelieving relatives of witnesses. It was seen as a provision for the grieving witness relative, and yes "An opportunity to give a fine witness" . As I recall, the instructions were that elders could give a funeral even for the disfellowshipped (provided they were not notorious ion the community and the funeral would give the congo a bad name)
I actually conducted a funeral once for my own father, who was never a witness. But he was not affilliated with any religion and I am sure he would have preferred that I do it than a strange minister of another church. I just talked generally about what I then believed to be the "hope for the dead" and avoided any specific reference to him getting a ressurection or not. Although it added to the stress of the day, I felt it was the right thing to do, in that case
It was a cremation and it felt weird pressing the button that started the curtains closing and the coffin's journey to the fire, but I did it .
As for my own wishes? I really do not mind what they do with me. I believe that funerals are for the benefit of the living, rather than the dead, so they can do what they like - nobody would come anyway..I might just offer my body to medical resarch instead
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jt stumbler
Thanks to those who read my thread and shared their experiences.
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Cygnus
I hate JW funerals/memorials. When one of my close friends was murdered in 1991 (the case is still open), the funeral talk was all about JWism, practically nothing about her. Her Catholic family that attended were visibly (and rightly) extremely pissed off.
When my grandfather died a few years ago, I went to the kingdom hall for his service. What a horrible talk the elder gave. My non-JW family were pissed that his military service in WW2 was not mentioned. The elder read about six scriptures "proving" that the dead are really dead. NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Y'all are right, these services are nothing more than a live JW commericial.
Edited to add: Wow, 1000 posts. I made it. Fascinating.