Funerals Without God

'They refused to have God in their knowledge', commented the apostle in his epistle to the Romans (1:28). He was referring to human decline from the original knowledge of God, the deliberate rejection of divinely revealed truth which led generations of mankind into deeper spiritual ignorance. Modern humanists are similarly guilty of refusing to have God in their knowledge. Divine revelation is spurned. A member of the British Humanist Society is recently reported as saying, 'We simply don't believe in God or in the supernatural. We're born, we live and then we die. It happens to everyone and that's it. But death is the end, there's no afterlife. That's what we humanists believe. Lots of people in our society lead secular lives, about a third of the population have no belief, and I'm one of them'.

That there should be a growing proportion of people 'leading secular lives' in a country which for centuries has been characteristized by Christian beliefs is a sad sign of the times. That people who have the light of divine revelation in Scripture so readily available should opt for the darkness of humanism is tragedy indeed. In both Psalms 14 and 53 David wrote by the Holy Spirit, 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God': as though God would confirm by this repeated affirmation the folly of rejecting the evidence of His Being. 'For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse' (Rom. 1:20).

However, the British Humanist Society is now stepping up its efforts to acquire equal status with religions in education, public ceremonies and the like. One of its targets is to popularize the idea of funerals without religion. They stress that there is no legal requirement to have a religious element in the procedures provided the necessary legal documents are signed. Representatives of the Society are given brief training on how to conduct a burial service which focuses on the celebration of the life which has ended. They dwell on the achievements of the person who has died. Often there are poetry readings. It is all designed to help family and friends through their grief, providing the background for a dignified farewell.

There is of course no mention of the deceased now being in a happier place. No hymns are sung, no attempt made to console relatives with the thought of future reunion. But there is usually at some stage in the service a brief period of silence. This gives opportunity for everyone to think of the deceased in their own way; so that people with religious beliefs might then silently include their own prayers.

It may well be argued of course that a service on these lines could in fact be truer to reality than a burial at which scriptures cited are relevant only to true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the deceased has made no profession of faith in Him there must be a hollow ring about hymns and prayers based on Bible truths applicable to children of God.

Nevertheless the dismal darkness of humanitarian thought is emphasized in the presence of death. Humanist philosophy answers exactly to the inspired analysis given in Ephesians 4 of those who walked 'in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart (verses 17,18): 'having no hope and without God in the world' (2:12). The revealed truth that 'all that are in the tombs shall ... come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement' (John 5:28,29) is defiantly denied.

In glorious contrast Christian burial of those who fall asleep in Jesus so often includes triumphant reaffirmation of the mighty facts that He is the Conqueror of death (1 Cor. 15:55-57); that life and incorruption have been brought to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10); that at His coming to the air 'the dead in Christ shall rise first' (1 Thes. 4:16). Infinite comfort derives from these great truths, and the mystery of suffering in human experience is seen in the perspective of eternity: 'the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward' (Rom. 8:18).

Where humanism stands bankrupt and comfortless in the presence of death, the consolations of Christ abound.

unknown | Nov 1995
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