Singing "Called to Serve" at a funeral?

[CardiacCoug]

In reference to the following,

http://www.cougarboard.com/frames/me...tml?id=4555370

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=4564162

It sure is comforting to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God who calls His chosen missionaries by burning them to a crisp while they are sitting in their car at a stoplight minding their own business.

Singing "Called to Serve" at this funeral implies to me that God actively took the lives of these kids. Does that make any sense based on what we believe about the character of God? It's one thing to believe that God allows these terrible things to happen because that's part of mortal life or free agency or whatever. It seems to me like another thing to believe that God "calls to serve" in this manner. Are people saying God cares so little about the feelings of the families involved that He had to have these kids start being post-mortal missionaries immediately? He didn't want to wait a measly 60 years for them to live their lives?

[RC Vikings]

I'm with you on this one Cardiac. The thought that God would take someone so young because he had a higher calling elsewhere is bizarre to me. They may think that the family will feel better that way but I'm afraid I would be bitter knowing that God was playing us like chess pieces.

[byu71]

Perhaps it was the families choice of song and they felt comfort in feeling that the departed were moving on to something very worthwhile. Certainly wouldn't be my choice, but I give some leeway in how someone else wants to deal with and frame their relationship with God.

Now if someone gave a talk and said God took these kids so they could do missionary work, I would then shake my head and wonder if that person wasn't taking some liberties in determining how God functions.

[Surfah]

Perhaps it was the families choice of song and they felt comfort in feeling that the departed were moving on to something very worthwhile. Certainly wouldn't be my choice, but I give some leeway in how someone else wants to deal with and frame their relationship with God.

Now if someone gave a talk and said God took these kids so they could do missionary work, I would then shake my head and wonder if that person wasn't taking some liberties in determining how God functions.

Pretty much how I feel. People all grieve in different ways and will compartmentalize all sorts of things to give themselves some peace and respite.

[CardiacCoug]

Maybe the distinction between God allowing something to happen and God causing something to happen really isn't so great. If one of us had the power to prevent an innocent person from dying but decided not to act, we would be guilty, right?

This is why I kind of like the idea that God is not really all-powerful -- He must be subject to some type of external "laws of the universe" or else surely He would intervene to prevent these terrible things.

[LA Ute]

In reference to the following,

http://www.cougarboard.com/frames/me...tml?id=4555370

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=4564162

It sure is comforting to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God who calls His chosen missionaries by burning them to a crisp while they are sitting in their car at a stoplight minding their own business.

Singing "Called to Serve" at this funeral implies to me that God actively took the lives of these kids. Does that make any sense based on what we believe about the character of God? It's one thing to believe that God allows these terrible things to happen because that's part of mortal life or free agency or whatever. It seems to me like another thing to believe that God "calls to serve" in this manner. Are people saying God cares so little about the feelings of the families involved that He had to have these kids start being post-mortal missionaries immediately? He didn't want to wait a measly 60 years for them to live their lives?

Well, as far as the song goes, to each his own, but I don't like that kind of funeral message. David Gardner, a former U. of U. and University of California president, openly expressed his unhappiness about people telling him that his wife Libby, who died unexpectedly in her early 50s, was "called home" to more important work. She left him behind and a ton of grandchildren, and he did not like being told she had more important things to do. That approach to an early death is much overused, I think. I prefer President Hinckley's approach: "I cannot explain it."

Maybe the "called home" approach helped that family in the story. Still, I'd like to see it underplayed.

[SteelBlue]

Maybe the "called home" approach helped that family in the story. Still, I'd like to see it underplayed.

It's long been a pet peeve of mine. I can certainly understand that it might bring comfort to a family during very difficult times but overall I think it's a coping mechanism.

[il Padrino Ute]

Perhaps it was the families choice of song and they felt comfort in feeling that the departed were moving on to something very worthwhile.

My experience would say that this is the case. When planning the funeral, the family almost always makes the decisions about everything.

[Clark Addison]

In reference to the following,

http://www.cougarboard.com/frames/me...tml?id=4555370

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=4564162

It sure is comforting to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God who calls His chosen missionaries by burning them to a crisp while they are sitting in their car at a stoplight minding their own business.

Singing "Called to Serve" at this funeral implies to me that God actively took the lives of these kids. Does that make any sense based on what we believe about the character of God? It's one thing to believe that God allows these terrible things to happen because that's part of mortal life or free agency or whatever. It seems to me like another thing to believe that God "calls to serve" in this manner. Are people saying God cares so little about the feelings of the families involved that He had to have these kids start being post-mortal missionaries immediately? He didn't want to wait a measly 60 years for them to live their lives?

My biggest problem with it is that I really hate that song.

[Indy Coug]

In reference to the following,

http://www.cougarboard.com/frames/me...tml?id=4555370

http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/...tml?id=4564162

It sure is comforting to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God who calls His chosen missionaries by burning them to a crisp while they are sitting in their car at a stoplight minding their own business.

Singing "Called to Serve" at this funeral implies to me that God actively took the lives of these kids. Does that make any sense based on what we believe about the character of God? It's one thing to believe that God allows these terrible things to happen because that's part of mortal life or free agency or whatever. It seems to me like another thing to believe that God "calls to serve" in this manner. Are people saying God cares so little about the feelings of the families involved that He had to have these kids start being post-mortal missionaries immediately? He didn't want to wait a measly 60 years for them to live their lives?

Why is this mortal existence the be-all, end-all of our existence and any impingement, discomfort or truncation of this existence viewed as the ultimate tragedy? Broaden your vision.

[Indy Coug]

My biggest problem with it is that I really hate that song.

I'll go along with that. It sounds like a rejected school fight song.

[Indy Coug]

This is why I kind of like the idea that God is not really all-powerful -- He must be subject to some type of external "laws of the universe" or else surely He would intervene to prevent these terrible things.

Don't be bashing God just because you aren't smart enough to see the rhyme to His reason.

[wuapinmon]

Don't be bashing God just because you aren't smart enough to see the rhyme to His reason.

God isn't omnipotent. He is subject to natural laws and his own commandments. The belief that he is/isn't can be traced back to Plato and Augustine.....right, Solon?

[Indy Coug]

God isn't omnipotent. He is subject to natural laws and his own commandments. The belief that he is/isn't can be traced back to Plato and Augustine.....right, Solon?

So God isn't able to operate outside of space and time?

[byu71]

Why is this mortal existence the be-all, end-all of our existence and any impingement, discomfort or truncation of this existence viewed as the ultimate tragedy? Broaden your vision.

Broaden your vision?? This from the guy who is the poster child for the word "anal".