The Christian church allows burial or cremation. The family will follow the wishes of the person who died in this matter. The priest or the minister from the church will meet with the family of the deceased. The person who has died may have left instructions for the hymns and prayers that are to be sung at their own funeral. If not the family will choose them with guidance from the minister. The funeral service may take place either at the church or at the crematorium. Although a funeral is always sorrowful, a Christian funeral is not total misery, as Christians are aware that as long as the deceased has lived a good life, death is the doorway into a better existence. Hence, the funeral does nothing for the deceased. Its purpose is to help the living come to terms with their grief.
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There is an error in the above explanation – “if the person lived a good life”. In Christianity, one need not lead a good life, in fact Christianity teaches that “all have sinned – there is none that doeth good, no not one.” We all recognize that we have all “fallen short of the glory of God”. It is through God’s gift of grace and mercy over us that we enter heaven IF we believe Jesus Christ took the punnishment for our sins and mis-deeds, and desire that he repair our lives for us =- God has to do everything for us we can do nothing of ourselves; he even gives us our faith! Some Christians interpret this to mean that once someone has accepted Jesus Christ’s life as God on earth, his death for our wrongs, and his resurrection to lead us in a resurrection to immortality, we must begin leading perfected lives. However, Christ’s atonement, which occurred 2000 years ago covers all sin for all people in the era prior to his death, in the era of his life and in all eras after his resurrection and ascention. This means that if you sin in the future, after you accept Christ’s forgiveness, you remain forgiven – “not height nor depth, nothing can separate you from the love of God”. Christians are deeply aware that God designed each person and knew their sins prior to their birth – their entire life of sins. God does not wish to judge us, but to be reconciled to us. He wants us to be sorry for hurting God, ourselves and others as well as his creation. If we are sincerely sorry for our wrongs, we are forgiven, and it is that simple. Therefore at a Christian funeral, there is an element of relief, no matter how grieved the bereaved are, because they know that 1) their loved one is forgiven no matter how many sins were committed in his or her life, if she believed in Christ’s forgiveness and 2) that Christ has the power to resurrect all of mankind, returning each person and every animal into a state of immortal and physical youth, Those who reject Jesus Christ’s forgiveness do not have to accept it – they may choose to dwell where he is not. 3) the departed are in a specific place: God’s presence. In Christianity we know for a fact where our departed loved ones are; we do not worry about if they were reincarnated that they are living as another person somewhere, or being punnished with a troubled life, or as an animal, no, we know that the spirits of our loved ones are with our God in a specific place of comfort, joy and peacefulness and healing. This place is described in the Book of Revelation 20-22, as a wonderful city where God dwells and where we have our citizenship. Unfortunately, those who make the choice to reject Christ are not making a good choice in the eyes of Christians, for where Christ is not, neither is life, health, healing, joy, or any good thing: to dwell without Christ is to dwell in a place void of good, which is what Christianity calls “hell”. Fortunately an individual need not join a church to believe in Jesus Christ: a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jew, a New Ager, a Wiccan – all these people may believe that Jesus Christ forgave their wrongs at the cross and he will forgive them in full, even if they have no church membership and have never declared themselves to be “christians”. Jesus never taught, “join ye a church” – he only taught that one must believe in him with full faith that they will be forgiven for all wrongs and it will be so. Your good deeds can not get you into heaven, and your bad deeds can not keep you out. The Apostle Paul taught “judge not one another according to new moons, festivals or sabbaths” – specifically indicating that we human beings are not ever to judge another person according to their religion or the holy days they keep. This teachings gives a person who believes in Jesus a trememdous amount of freedom in expressing their faith toward Jesus who forgives them of all wrongs at all times. Further knowledge, considered a ‘work’ gains no person heaven, only faith; this means that if a person has faith in Christ but does not understand even simple teachings about Christianity or the religion Jesus taught, they are still saved and fortgiven, and will receive as their spiritual inheritance, a place before God. However, those who believe in Jesus usually want to know what Jesus taught – something easily obtained with the use of internet or the library. Many people in non-Christian religions have secretly confessed to faith in Christ without ever leaving their religion of origin for fear of persecution from family and community. These to are saved. But those who reject forgiveness from Jesus deliberately choose the opposite of what Jesus offers, and this is what Christians call hell, a place described by Jesus multiple times in the Gospels. Of all people, Christians and those who can not publically profess faith in Christ but believe in their hearts, are most fortunate, because they know they will see forgiveness, and eternal bliss at the very moment of their death; they may also see their believing, deceased loved ones again when they cross over, and then we will all be reconstituted as the same individual that we were while we lived upon earth, only we will receive an immortal body capable of doing all the miracles that Jesus did while he lived and after he was resurrected.
So what happens at a Christian Funeral?
The Body is prepared for viewing, and people go to view the body, knowing that the spirit of the deceased is with God and Jesus Christ in a place of comfort, joy and health. Christians often see appartions of the departed shortly after the funeral – the departed appear healed and in a state of joy. Christians who die and are then revieved and return from death are often angry and want to return to the place of joy where their spirit went.
People enter into a church and listen to a sermon relating to eternity from a Christian perspective, depending on what the minister hopes to reflect on.
Loved ones may be selected to speak on behalf of the deceased. In some cases if the deceased was creamated, the funeral picks up here and there is no viewing of the body, only a memorial service where memories of the departed are shared, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is emphasized so that others may come to know Jesus and enjoy resurrection to eternal salvation. In this case photographs may be positioned on the altar in memory of the departed, along with floral arrangements.
Depending on the Christian denomination as well as the traditions of the specific church or minister/priest, different nuances may color the funeral to make it specific to that group, denomination or individual. The deceased may have also left instructions for his or her funeral. At one funeral, the departed was a biker, and he desired his biker friends to bring their bikes into the sanctuary and rev their engines at the same time at the end of the funeral, surrounding his empty bike. While the priest did not like this very much, he permitted it all the same. It was the biker-friends way of “riding into eternity” with a beloved friend, escorting him to God, along with the angels.
Christians also believe that each individual has two angels to accompany them from death into God’s presence. Each person is also given a guardian angel, according to Jesus Christ. Christians are surrounded by Angels through their lives and are escorted in death by Angelic forces. The Holy Spirit also brings the prayers of Christians before God, and the departed saints and angels in heaven burn incense in golden bowls (Revelation 5) before God so that God will be petitiond with the prayers of those on earth. Angels are also sent to earth with answers to prayers, sometimes they are intercepted by demons and have to fight to get our answers through, which is why answers to prayer take longer than they should, according to Biblical texts. Angels are made of fire, and are spirits. There are several groups of Angels, all with different ranks. Angels move with such speed that according to one mathematician, an angel can encircle the earth 7 times in one second. Christians are not beneath the angels when they enter heaven, but are “a little higher than the angels”, and the ancient church termed this position “theosis” or deification – we will not be in God’s position, however he will place us as close in position to him as we can.
After the funeral, The body is removed by pall bearers, usually family members, and of them, usually men and older teen age boys with the strength to carry the casket to the hearse are selected.
The family and guests follow the hearse to the graveyard, where the pall bearers remove it and set it near the grave which is already dug up and ready to receive the casket containing the body. In some cases the funeral service is a grave-side service and the sermon and memory sharing are done here instead of in a church.
The body is lowered into the grave, and the earth is placed upon it. A scripture stating, “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust” may be quoted, reminding everyone that life is fragile and that in the end our bodies return to the state which God created us from, when God created Adam from earth. We remember that we are spirits and that our spirit belongs with God; our earthly home and our tabernacle/body is only temporary. Musicians may also be employed, depending on how much money is spent on the funeral.
People mourn at the gravesite, and eventually proceed to a “wake” – a time where refreshments or a meal is served to all the guests who desire to speak with, comfort, or even catch up with relatives and friends they have not seen in sometimes years. The food may then be brought to the home of the nearest bereaved, who may be to depressed to cook; the flowers are also brought there.
The bereaved should send thank you notes to everyone who sent flowers, or contributed to the meal, as sometimes churches have volunteers who have signed up to bring pot luck dishes to funerals as a ministry to the guests of the funeral as well as the bereaved family members.
The bereaved move on through the stages of grief, and eventually return to a life of faith and normalcy, but alwyas look forward to joining the departed when they die.
hi
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‘ur mother’ can go suck a fat one
this is a religious site
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To “Cynthia”
He asked for what happens at funerals not the history of the universe
I think the jews do it better….christianity is a fabricated story.
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hiya i just wanna say that:
Christian funerals aren’t or shouldn’t be sad as christians believe that death is a new bigining and has many new things inside. Also christians beliave that hell is not beneath us and above us is just stars. But with this they also believe that it is just like a computer game or something, you will find problems, solve problems and eventualy you will pass to a new level. this new level is like death you don’t know what you are in for and you can’t guess it is different to lige as you know it now you may still find problems and soloutions but not as like in this world
Dictionary
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ohh ug uys shld nat be rude
she was only telling us what she knows
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gyoyt
Yu guyz are all didiots seriously… think of the catholics “weep” lol
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lol
had to use this for homework
eugh bob they said lol who says that
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