The Importance Of Funeral Service In Society
This article will make reference to the Bible to support the views discussed on the topic of funeral service in society. We can demonstrate that the Bible is divine rather than human in origin. We make this determination based upon the manuscript evidence that we possess, the archeological evidence, the predictive prophecies that have been fulfilled and the science of statistical probabilities. Statistics refers to the fact that the Bible was written over a period of 1500 years, by different authors, on different continents with the same message pointing to God’s substitutionary atonement for sin.
In this article I will discuss the topic of funeral service and rituals, what the Bible has to say about them and the implications of funeral service from a psychosocial perspective. This terminology includes, then, both the discussion of personal psychological implications of funeral service and how this relates to society as a whole.
It has been a recurring factor throughout many of the theological articles written through Jordan’s Journal that the changes, specifically manifesting during the 1960s, that have been instrumental in the problems that we have witnessed in recent years. Two changes have been the breakdown of the nuclear family and an increase in crime involving adolescents. The late 19th century French sociologist Emile Durkheim predicted that as society moved away from the church and family ties, to pursue materialism within metropolitan centers, there would come what he termed a “secularization” of society, or an “anomie” (which means namelessness) or rootlessness. Durkheim’s shift came to it’s ultimate fruition or culmination during the 1960s and what we have witnessed for the most part, is a shift away from God, the church, and the family. With this shift, funeral service underwent great change during the 1960s, as well.
During the 1960s cremation became an increasingly popular means of disposition and continues to gain in popularity to this day. The trend towards cremation also has included, in many instances, an immediate cremation with no service. The introduction of the memorial service instead of the more traditional service with the body present, was included in the model, to some extent, but the trend was and still is, by many, that it is better to get things over with fast; get rid of the body, and get on with life. Ultimately, though, ignoring death and the period following a significant loss is detremental. The funeral process is a time of transition which is psychologically necessary.
Just what are the implications of funeral service for us today? We will now look into the Bible and some underlying principles, and how they relate to funeral service in specific ways. Three areas will be considered: earth burial vs. cremation, having a service, and methods of memorialization.
In the instance of earth burial versus cremation, it is interesting to note that throughout the Bible, earth burial is the customary method of disposition of the body. For instance, we read in the Old Testament book of Genesis, that Joseph who had been made governor of Egypt by Pharaoh, had his father Jacob embalmed and transported to Canaan, his homeland by the Jordan River, where he was buried. After having mourned his death for 70 days in Egypt, Genesis chapter 50 tells us a great company of individuals went with Joseph to bury his father’s body in Israel, after which Joseph mourned the loss for another seven days. This process is referred to as the Jewish custom of “Shiva”.
Both Genesis chapters 49 and 50 go on to mention that all the early church followers of Jehovah, those that preceded the birth of Messiah Jesus, were buried in Israel. None of these individuals were ever cremated. It is common historical knowledge that the Jews during both the Old Testament and even in our New Testament, did not cremate their dead. These practices, emphasize the importance that human life had for those people and how an individuals are important to God, as well.
There are several examples of cremation in the Bible. I will mention two, in particular, that stand out and the message that they bring to us. The first instance is that found in the book of 1Samuel 31:12. Here, King Saul of Israel, who turned his back on God, eventually ended his days with the fate of falling into the hands of the Philistines, the long-term enemies of Israel, and was decapitated.
In order to obviate any further dishonor to Saul, he and his dead sons were cremated. Otherwise, the philistines may have dismembered their bodies even further. Their remains were quickly cremated to prevent this from happening. The other instance of cremation is found in Amos 2:1. Here we find the minor prophet of the Lord stated that the King of the Moabites would be punished for burning the bones of the King of their enemies, the Edomites, they had vanquished. It should be noted that it was, in particular, the spirit of revenge that drew the wrath of God; that this King carried his revenge to the extreme degree of having the audacity to burn the bones of his rival. Although it was the attitude of revenge that we can say is the chief concern, it was his action of burning the remains that was also wrong in the sight of the Lord. One could argue that this passage indicates it is a dishonorable act to burn the remains of a human being…
Within the New Testament we find the same pattern of earth burial. In Acts chapter 8 and the verse 2 we read that when Stephen the martyr for Christ was murdered, and “devout men carried him to his burial where they lamented for him”.
Ultimately, the Bible indicates that there will be a resurrection of the dead and in the book of Revelation we read that the sea will give up its dead etc. Cremation will certainly not frustrate the Lord, however, there seems to be an underlying principle that cremation is a disrespectful act towards the deceased.
From a psychosocial standpoint, the school of psychology agrees unanimously that whether cremation is sought or not, it is important to have some type of funeral or memorial service. Stifling the grief involved with losing a loved is not a healthy option. Taking time to remember character traits, memories of an individual’s contribution to family life, friends, and the society at large, is an important part of the grief process. This allows a cathartic experience, enabling detachment to take occur, fully realizing the death has taken place. After this has happened, the individuals can begin to let go of the deceased and embrace the normal stages of grief. This is best done by way of an organized, formal service, in which the professional staff at the funeral home is involved.
A formal funeral service with a viewing affords a tangible opportunity to say goodbye to an individual with the care and support of other family members and friends who knew the individual also. Seeing the individual in a decent environment, in nice clothing, and with a good preparation, is important. It brings a sense of dignity to the deceased. We must remember that though we are born with a rebellious spirit, a sin nature, we are still loved by the Lord. Pain, crying and death will someday be put away (Revelation 21)… God created man with a free will to chose to sin. It is not God’s ultimate plan that there be any death in the world, but this is the end result of sin. Someday the old order of things shall pass away for God’s redeemed people. This will be a wonderful time! Still, in the meantime there is nothing wrong with bestowing dignity upon a human being (an individual created in God’s image), for a funeral service. God meant us to be in a position of honor. We are the crowning jewel of his creation.
Having others around to support a family after a death has taken place is also important. Funerals provid an opportunity for those flying, or driving in from out of town to support also. An event such as a funeral, particularly, is an opportunity to stop and assess what life is all about. With the trends that we have witnessed during the 1960s, of moving away from family values and from the God of the Bible, we have seen that in many instances, our society has become cold and crass towards death. Unfortunately, mass media, and particularly the television, has desensitized many people by showing very repetitious and graphic killing. One can think of Bruce Willis movies, or Sylvester Stallone. Also, one can see, for instance, how slasher, horror films tend to parallel pornography in the way pornography tends to make sexual intercourse lesser than it is intended to be. Think of the Nightmare on Elm Street saga, or Friday the 13th.
Funeral service, from a societal standpoint, offers individuals from the community a chance to come together corporately to offer support to the family and also to acknowledge and assess the loss of one of its contributors. The Bible states emphatically, in the New Testament: “do not deny the assembling of yourselves together, as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25). Rituals such as a funeral service are important and add to a sense of community that is so often lacking in our culture today. The Lord Jesus Himself gave support to corporate rituals when He instituted the “Lord’s Supper”. In Luke 22:19 He stated: “this do in remembrance of me”. This was to be done to remember Him and what He did for the world. We may also make an application of this not only if we are members of the church, but also as members of society as a whole.
Another common complaint in today’s society is that “we don’t have any money”. And that, “disposible income is hard to come by”…”it’s not the way it used to be”, “we don’t have money for funeral service”. It is interesting to step back and really analyze those statements. Today’s western culture far more luxury than what we actually require. If an individual has a vehicle that can take them from point A to point B they should be pleased, but it seems that people want more and more. Also, do we really need to have leather couches? The Lord Jesus stated that “the foxes have holes but the Son of man has no place to rest His head”.
At the same time, one of His followers came to Him one evening and poured out an expensive alabaster box of ointment on His head before He was crucified and Jesus did not care how much money she had spent. Judas, Jesus’ betrayer, who really loved money more than God, grumbled that the money could have been spent helping the poor. But Judas was really a thief who stole money for himself. Jesus told his disciples “leave her alone, the poor will always be with you, she has done a nice thing, she has prepared me for my burial”. Jesus saw the love that this woman had for him. Money was secondary. Obviously, good stewardship of our finances is important. The Bible speaks of this as well, but this passage of Scripture found in the New Testament gospel of Matthew 26 is important. It uncovers truths and places money within its proper perspective. Money should be a means to an end, not the end.
It is interesting that sensational, tabloid-style media loves to make the funeral profession feel guilty about making money, also. It often makes the statements: “funeral directors prey on grieving individuals who are vulnerable”. Of course, this obvious awareness has lead to much scrutiny and the funeral profession has truly laid its cards on the table for everyone to see. Prices are given in detail over the phone and price lists are conspicuously displayed in funeral homes for people to scrutinize. I know of no funeral directors that are able to get away with duping the public, nor do I feel it is in their character to want to do this.
First and foremost, funeral service is a public service, a social work. At the same time, it is a business and there is nothing wrong with trying to make money. Capitalism is what made America and Canada the great nations they are today. The founding fathers of our nations were Bible-believing, Christian people. The Bible speaks to taking what you have and making it grow. It is applicable to both our strengths as individuals, or our gifts and talents, and also to making money. Here is a passage of Scripture that makes specific reference of this, and note that the term “talents” refers to money in the Jewish vernacular of the day:
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, though deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, well done, though good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou intothe joy of thy lord” (This is how it is in the kingdom of heaven, Mat 25:20-21).
There will always be a difference between growth and greed. Modern large corporate capitalism, especially from the U.S., unfortunately, has gone to the extreme. As with anything, the consumer must be savvy.
In closing, memorialization is another key component to funeral service. A good example of this is the placing of a tombstone or grave marker. It has become increasingly popular since the 1960s to cremate and scatter the cremated remains as if to say, “that’s it; forget about me; I’m done with”. Of course, speaking from a biblical perspective, the Bible teaches us otherwise… The Bible also advocates memorialization. When the children of Israel were delivered from the yoke of bondage under Pharaoh and Egypt, the Israelites were instructed to erect monuments as a memorial, in order that they would not forget how God delivered them and the essence of this experience. The Lord said to Joshua as they prepared to cross the Jordan river on one occasion:
Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
And commanded them saying, take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night and they shall be pitched on the land…When your children ask in times to come, what mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you. (Joshua 4).
We can see from this passage that memorialization is important. It enables us to create an everlasting memory.
Anyone who is quite familiar with the Bible, also knows the well-known verse about the young man who was asked to follow Christ. He told the Lord that he had to bury his father first, who evidently, was not a believer in Christ’s message. Jesus’ reply to him was: “let the dead bury the dead; come and follow me” (Matthew 8:22). It has been my experience that many Christians involved in funeral service have felt a certain ambivalence about this verse. But what is this verse really saying? We must acquire a background into the context of the statement to truly understand it’s meaning.
The context of was that in the tradition of that day, it was the responsibility of the son to stay with the aging parent and look after him until he passed away. Jesus knew, though, that this custom was used as an excuse only by the hearer. It does not mean that Christians should not be involved in working as funeral directors. It simply states that we should not procrastinate our response to the gospel message, or procrastinate following Jesus Christ. He could have done both. God saw through the man’s intention.
In conclusion, we can see that there is value in funeral service and that from a biblical perspective, the Bible does advocate the traditional style of funeral service. The study of individuals and society also corroborates with biblical teachings and principles.
