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I don’t see your anecdote as being on conflict with my post.
You contacted Jewish officiants, and you got Jewish prayers. That was a religious funeral.
Obviously different people and different denominations are going to have different degrees of forcefulness in their approach, and some clergy are going to be more empathic than others. You were at the other end of the spectrum from the article cited by the OP, but that may simply be as a result of your particular branch of Judaism, your thorough vetting of the clergy, luck, or a combination of all three.
The difference is that the Psalm almost universally used is neutral and nonjudgmental, and the family rather than the religious official usually delivers the bulk of the eulogy. My mother would have been a poor choice to eulogize at my father's funeral due to a combination of self-pity, and scurrilous accusations that created chaos at the condolence call, or Shiva after. I probably could have done it but I doubt the audience would have wanted a 15 year old delivering the eulogy.
That was an individual person. That doesn't necessarily indicate official church doctrine. Never get the two confused.
The point was that he was a Protestant. The post was in response to another saying Protestants don't think that way.
The Reformed Church's stance is on suicide is that it is murder of the self, I believe. Whether or not they think that means hell, I'm not sure. But whether doctrine or not, it is not surprising to me that someone in the Reformed Church would say that. It's a very sin/hell/death-centered denomination, or at least it was when I was growing up in it. It may be individuals who say such things, but the Reformed Church breeds those individuals.
I heard a Baptist preacher once say that suicide was murder committed by a demon. In other words, the victim is not responsible for the crime since he is overpowered by a demonic influence.
I heard a Baptist preacher once say that suicide was murder committed by a demon. In other words, the victim is not responsible for the crime since he is overpowered by a demonic influence.
The demons that cause suicide are depression and despair.
Too bad priests like that so often don't even know the deceased well.
If they did they could mention things like, he beat his kids, he was an adulterer, or who knows what other 'sins' he committed.
Funerals could be very interesting!
As much as I disagree with the way the priest handled this, I think that the Catholics do have a minor point in this particular sin being such a bad one. The reason is because it is kind of selfish and can have a negative effect on other people in his life. If a person has to resort to this it is often evidence that he has not been able to pull himself out of a depression, which is often just a psychological condition. Something that can often be easily achieved by focusing on other people who have REAL needs that he would be able to help them with, taking the focus off himself and putting his own problems in better perspective. Obviously, I'm not referring to people who might be undergoing a difficult physical condition.
Ah! You should become a therapist so that you can help hundreds by showing them how "easy" it is.
Religion does the same as medical therapy but often more effectively. Unfortunately some people hate religion so much they would reject it even if it would help them.
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