(August 3, 2014 at 3:32 pm)FlyingNarwhal Wrote: I've always thought that a lot of them probably lost their faith just because of funerals alone. I've never been to a funeral where the priest says that the person in the box is going to hell. I would think that for all the preaching of fire and brimstone as a punishment for sin, that even they have to question their faith in those moments, when they realize that every person they've sent off has been with the implication that they're going to heaven.1. Not all clergy are much into hellfire. I always had a bit of sympathy with the position of Origen (early theologian, 184 - 254 AD) who held that ultimately all spirits will be saved. I wasn't sure, thought maybe some really evil people like Hitler would end up frying in hell, but I never thought people were destined for hell just because they hadn't been churchgoers.
2. I have been to a funeral where the minister plainly said the deceased was in hell. It was ghastly. It was shortly after I had left the ministry. A friend of my second wife (still my girl friend then) had committed suicide. The family asked the funeral home to find a minister. They came up with a retired woman pastor from one of the "brethren" churches. She looked like your sweet old grandma, and her delivery was so mild, it took a while for the meaning to sink in.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people — House
