I attended a funeral for a childhood friend on Monday night. I haven't spoken to him in around 4 years and I haven't seen him in over 10. He was an on-again off-again christian and during the times he was "on-again", he was very open and forthcoming about his salvation: a very preachy individual.
He was a very troubled individual who spent most of his 20's in and out of prison (he died at 28). He was a drug addict who abused anything he could get his hands on. He could hardly keep a job and used a lot of friends, burning many bridges.
When I found out about the funeral, I was extremely hesitant because I knew it would be a religious cerimony in which the life of the deceased would not be celebrated, but instead would be a sermon. I was correct in assuming this.
Here is the reason for this topic:
1) The cause of death was suicide by hanging. He was scheduled for release next month. In light of this and the aforementioned life he led, the pastor and all attending still spoke of him in heaven and "being called on by god". Is this not hypocritical? Or is it ok to be a complete scumbag and kill yourself and still be all good in the eyes of your god?
2) Is it appropriate to use a service for a deceased person as your (the pastor) pulpit and to preach about your own supposed salvation? Is this a christian tradition?
I find it odd that through all he had done negatively in life and the fact that he committed suicide that they still decided to think of him as being in an allegedly wonderful place that heaven is purported to be. For me personally, it hammered home the reality that any thought of an afterlife is simply there as a consolation factor.
"A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the milky way"
-Carl Sagan
™ Version 4.2