Anyone who has lived in a minister\u2019s house knows that\u00a0middle-of-the-night telephone calls often bring bad news.<\/p>\n
But for many pastors there is one kind of call that is uniquely\u00a0painful. There are times when the shock of death is easier to handle\u00a0than questions about eternal life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens like this,\u201d noted the Rev. J. Gerald Harris, who became\u00a0editor of the Southern Baptist newspaper of Georgia after 40 years in\u00a0ministry. \u201cA grieving widow would call and say with a broken heart\u00a0and with tears in her voice, \u2018Pastor, my husband had a heart attack\u00a0last night and we took him to the hospital, but he was dead on\u00a0arrival. I can\u2019t believe it has happened, but we need your help. I\u00a0know he was not a church member, but we would like for you to preach\u00a0his funeral.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The pastor says \u201cyes,\u201d of course. Then, while talking with the\u00a0family, it often becomes apparent that the deceased was not a\u00a0believer or may even have been someone who \u2014 by word or deed \u2013flaunted his status as an unbeliever. Others may join the church,\u00a0then walk away for decades.<\/p>\n
This is awkward, noted Harris, for clergy who believe salvation is\u00a0found through faith in Jesus Christ, alone. It\u2019s one thing to step\u00a0into the pulpit and preach on the mercy of God and to speak words of\u00a0comfort to a grieving family. It\u2019s something else for a pastor to go\u00a0a step further and do what loved ones may want him to do \u2014 openly\u00a0proclaim they will be reunited with the deceased in heaven.<\/p>\n
Harris said he started receiving calls and emails soon after he wrote\u00a0about this subject in the Christian Index, in part because this\u00a0dilemma pivots where the minister draws a theological line, a line\u00a0that many liberal Christians no longer believe needs to be drawn at\u00a0all.<\/p>\n
There is no question, Harris stressed, that pastors should provide\u00a0comfort and care for families in these circumstances. Obviously,\u00a0there is no need for preachers to speak words that would cause\u00a0grieving relatives pain. However, he also is convinced that it\u2019s\u00a0wrong for pastors to deliver messages they sincerely believe are not\u00a0true \u2014 to embrace the doctrine of \u201cuniversalism,\u201d which proclaims\u00a0that all people find eternal salvation, no matter what they believe\u00a0or how they live their lives.<\/p>\n
This is tricky doctrinal territory, as Sen. Barack Obama learned\u00a0during a June 10 meeting with clergy behind closed doors in Chicago.<\/p>\n
While other conservative leaders asked Obama about controversial\u00a0social issues, the Rev. Franklin Graham \u2014 son of evangelist Billy\u00a0Graham \u2014 asked an openly theological question: Did the candidate\u00a0believe that \u201cJesus was the way to God, or merely a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, Obama told Newsweek that \u2014 in a candid, personal answer \u2014 he\u00a0replied: \u201cIt is a precept of my Christian faith that my redemption\u00a0comes through Christ, but I am also a big believer in the Golden\u00a0Rule, which I think is an essential pillar not only of my faith but\u00a0of my values and my ideals and my experience here on Earth. I\u2019ve said\u00a0this before, and I know this raises questions in the minds of some\u00a0evangelicals. I do not believe that my mother, who never formally\u00a0embraced Christianity as far as I know \u2026 I do not believe she went\u00a0to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Harris said, it\u2019s all but impossible to ignore this kind\u00a0of doctrinal division. However, pastors do have options when handling\u00a0these situations, other than delivering sermons that violate their\u00a0own consciences.<\/p>\n
In many Christian traditions, funeral rites consist of hymns and\u00a0prayers that place more attention on the words of scriptures than on\u00a0a minister\u2019s message. But if the family insists on a sermon that\u00a0focuses on the deceased, he said, pastors can suggest that a friend\u00a0deliver this message. In some congregations, loved ones offer\u00a0eulogies during gatherings \u2014 fellowship meals, perhaps \u2014 following\u00a0funerals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese questions aren\u2019t going away,\u201d said Harris. \u201cFor many people\u00a0today it\u2019s not enough to be tolerant of other people\u2019s decisions and\u00a0religious beliefs. Now they want a kind of positive tolerance, they\u00a0want you to accept and praise other people\u2019s beliefs. You have to be\u00a0willing to say what they want you to say. \u2026\u00a0\u201cThat just isn\u2019t possible, for a lot of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anyone who has lived in a minister\u2019s house knows that\u00a0middle-of-the-night telephone calls often bring bad news. But for many pastors there is one kind of call that is uniquely\u00a0painful. There are times when the shock of death is easier to handle\u00a0than questions about eternal life. \u201cIt happens like this,\u201d noted the Rev. J. Gerald Harris, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[97,421,422,678,764,813,893],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-heaven","tag-hell","tag-preaching","tag-salvation","tag-southern-baptists","tag-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n