R3SPECT FUNERALS

In order to enable a dying person to clearly recollect all of his or her sins and thus to confess them, he or she is given a candle. Holding the candle is also said to illuminate the future path of the soul. The dying are supposed to ask God, their relatives and friends for forgiveness, repeating the request three times. Forgiveness is supposed to be mutual and those who arrive too late to ask for forgiveness while a person is still alive, make their request of the dead body.

 

In Christianity, a funeral is insignificant compared to when being in the face of the abyss of death. They believe that the love of God is greater than death. The significance of a funeral lies in the unique opportunity it affords to rest in the love of God. Christians believe that they have now attained eternal life in heaven through Jesus who died on the cross to erase the sins of the world. By his death and resurrection, he has broken the chains of sin and death that bound humanity. Christian funerals are less of a time for mourning but more of an occasion to offer worship, praise and thanksgiving for the gift of life which now has been returned to God that he may now enjoy eternal life in heaven.

 

Christians funeral customs has seen is changes over the course of time from death being perceived as a joyous occasion to one of mourning. However today, death in the Christian community is perceived as a combination of both joy and sorrow – joy when we seek comfort in the knowledge that the deceased is enjoying life eternal in heaven and sadness due to the loss of a loved one.