lurkette

I was at a memorial service yesterday for my friend John Walker who died of a heart attack at age 70. This guy was one of the sweetest, kindest, most loving people you would ever meet. He was a former Navy captain with this big barrel chest. Actually, he looked a lot like Santa Claus, and he gave the best bear hugs. He always made you feel loved and like the most special person in the room. I'll miss him terribly.

Anyhow, at his memorial yesterday, the family spoke about John and then they opened up the floor for friends to say stuff. This couple in their 50s-60s got up and talked at great length about their reminiscences (and I mean at GREAT length) and at the end said something along the lines of "we know John is in heaven and he would want to see you, so if you haven't accepted Christ as your savior, would you please bow your head and admit you are a sinner and accept him as your savior and lord, because John wants to see you in heaven and there's only one way to get to heaven, by accepting Christ."

Bullshit! John never said a WORD about religion - he didn't have to. He just lived it, and he never ever ever would have said something like this, and it was kind of offensive to have this injected into an otherwise loving and peaceful ceremony.

I wouldn't have thought much about it except that the exact same thing happened at my brother's memorial a year ago. People would stand up and talk about who Josh was and what they'll miss about him, and then one of his friend's mothers, who is a lay minister, got up and started talking about the path of righteousness and how there's only one way to get into heaven - by accepting Christ yadda yadda yadda. Which was so out of place - my brother was a consummate atheist, and he would have been making rude gestures at her if he was in the room, and all the people who really KNEW him were all looking at each other like "WTF is she saying?" If the only way to get to heaven is by "accepting Christ as your lord and savior" then Josh is skateboarding in hell, and I'll see him when I get there, thank you very much!

Why do Christians feel the need to proseletyze at such an inappropriate time? Is it just their way of dealing with a profound mystery (death)? But why do they feel like they have to browbeat everyone else into thinking the way they do? It's not at all who these two people (John and Josh) were, and not even something they really believed. What gives?

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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France