It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 NIV
Usually it is assumed that the dead are “in a better place.” Yet for some, this simply is not true. But is that relevant at all to the living? Would it be relevant at all in a funeral service? Why is it ok to assume the dead are in a better place, when it would be considered judgmental and cruel if the pastor at a funeral assumed they were not? Sensitivity, of course. For the grieving, it seems highly insensitive to even bring up the possibility of a negative after life.
Why not just remember the person’s positive earthly life?
Because some lives were lived so negatively that few even showed up to the funeral.
So why not remember the most good in the dead person's life?
Because no one may be able to remember any good in his or her life.
Still, is it even anyone’s business where others are for all eternity?
Loving parents who believe in God would think it their business. They’d want the hope of seeing their children again in heaven, not in hell. Therefore, everyone's eternal end is much more relevant than some make out.
As the writer of Ecclesiastes said, it is wise to contemplate the end of everyone's life. But the funeral service is not that end. Judgment before God is the end everyone faces.
On Judgment Day the heart will be judged--the heart expressed in words and deeds.
As it is written,
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV
Yet the Bible doesn’t make it so that people cannot know the secrets of the heart until Judgement Day.
The heart can be known now.
It can be known if someone is saved or unsaved.
It can be known who is in heaven and who is in hell.
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