I am curious to know if you would be offended, if at church on Sunday your Pastor got up and said a prayer for Church Mice?
I mean he prayed that the mice be strengthened and given the ability to carry out their mousey duties and to eventually render the Church unusable, so that the Parisheners would finally have to pony up the dough to pay for a new Church.
ok I am kidding here is the original post but hey if you are just now reading this thread there have been many twists and turns and I no longer say a prayer over the deceased and yes largely due to many of the points made in this thread. Also NO i would not be offended if anyone of any belief Satanist, TO Catholic said prayers or whipered chants or whatever in my ear that said it was and is an interesting thread but please read about 5-10 of the current posts prior to posting
Now The
ORIGNAL POST
I am curious to know if you would be offended, after death if someone were to say a prayer over you.
I would really like to hear from as many Agnostic or Atheist as possible.
I recently began saying a prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. Many times I do not know if the person had a religious preference or not. I am curious to know if people would be offended if they knew someone was going to pray over them when they die.
here is the prayer
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom![/Quote]
I am curious to know if you would be offended, after death if someone were to say a prayer over you.
I would really like to hear from as many Agnostic or Atheist as possible.
I recently began saying a prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. Many times I do not know if the person had a religious preference or not. I am curious to know if people would be offended if they knew someone was going to pray over them when they die.
here is the prayer
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom!
My advice, do it silently. That way the family can't be offended by what they don't know and the patient sure isn't going to care. I pray for my patients if the pt requests it, I never hesitate to mention my Lord in front of patients, he is the reason I am there. If patients state they don't want to hear about God I abide by their wishes and silently pray that God will show them the way when he is ready, if that be his will. Because of bringing up my Love for Jesus I have heard some wonderful testimonies to the Lord and have got to know some of my patients much better. My only concern with your prayer is that the family needs your prayer more than the deceased. The deceased has already made the decision where they will go, the family needs strength to deal with the death of a loved one and its not too late for them to find salvation if they aren't already there.:)
there is nothing wrong with you practicing your own religious beliefs in public, as long as you are not asking anyone else to participate. someone telling you can't pray in public is pretty much like athiests forcing their beliefs and practices on you. prayer never hurt anyone, and it can't be as offensive as some of the other things they do with your body after you die!:uhoh21:
As your prayer sounded to me like an expression of deep caring and compassion (as opposed to a negative judgment, as in, 'oh please lord have mercy on this horrible, unbelieving sinner, and send them not into the eternal hellfire and damnation that they well deserve, but into heaven'), were I not dead, I would feel honored and touched to have these sentiments directed toward me. And I am probably as non-religious and 'unbelieving' as one can get, having no belief in any form of afterlife, 'divine' or 'cosmic' purpose, or 'universal consciousness'. What I tend to hold 'sacred', if you will, is the worth of my fellow human beings, a worth that I feel is predicated not upon the mandate of any timeless, eternal, transcendent, divine or all-powerful being, but rather is determined by our very practical need, which has been determined by a series of evolutionary contingencies, to be affirmed and accepted as valuable by other human beings.
So, in short, no, as a consummate atheist, I do not feel at all offended by the thought of a health care provider saying such words, imbued as they seem to be by compassion, over me in private. Instead, as one who is still living, it gives me a sense of peace to be reminded that people with such compassion as you seem to have, do exist.
..... it gives me a sense of peace to be reminded that people with such compassion as you seem to have, do exist.
Not if their compassion is based in amentia, fraudulent, and driven by their extreme thirst for immortality. I contend that offering prayer of your own faith toward an unknowing corpse is a selfish act. Please don't use my dead body to demonstrate your worthiness to YOUR God. I choose to take a minute and just look at the body in the bed and use that time to remind myself to have some fun today..... take the baby to the park... go to a concert.. you know, live a little. We know we are alive now, and whatever comes next is something we can never understand so we need to live now. I think knowing that you only get one lifetime is what makes being alive so special, sacred if you will. Someday the body in the bed will be mine and there is no escape from that fate. Nothing you do or say after I die can have any effect on the powers of nature and what, if anything, has become of me, and are thereby not for my benefit. There are very few genuinely compassionate people in this world the rest of them are just trying to cut a deal with the big "G".
Merricat, The Jewish tradition involves no embalming. Aslo all lines like IV;s catheters, etc. that were in teh body at death are to remain in the body. QUOTE]
That's interesting--I did not know that the lines remained in at burial.
I used to work with a Jewish anesthesiologist who got addicted to narcotics. He got found out, went to rehab, came back to work and 2 weeks later was found dead at home with an IV in his arm. No one knows if it was suicide or overdose, but we all asssumed overdose.
Kinda sad in some ways that he had to be buried with the object that led to his death. Course, I guess no one saw it or was aware that it was there, unless his wife chose to tell them.
To my knowledge, group of of Jews trained in traditional practices come in after the patient is pronounced, and handle the body including the ritual bathing, either in the room or at the funeral home. The patient is accompanied at all times until transported to an appropriate funeral home for traditional treatment and burial.
All parts of the body are returned to the earth, the patient has all jewelry and other non degradable objects that can easily be removed, removed, is bathed, ritual is done. The body is wrapped in a plain white ( single fiber) cloth shroud and buried. No embalming is done, and no autopsy is performed unless required by law. All parts disturbed during autopsy, will be returned to their placement in the body and be buried. Bodies are buried in a wooden coffin, with NO metal fasteners or metal parts...everything is made of wood, including the fastening pegs/hinges. Prefer no vault be used unless required by law, and then prefers the most naturally biodegradable substance used (cement rather than metal).
All must return to the earth, which gives us life.
Funerals are closed casket, generally held before the sun sets a second time on the deceased. No stone is set at the site for the first year. Some soil from Israel is placed in the coffin.
While in some hospitals, there may be request not to remove lines by staff, this is not universal. If nothing else, they might be removed later by the burial group. While some sticklers of religious law might say, "Well, there is blood in the line, so it must be buried with the body," I have never known it to be buried while still physically in the deceased, as it would not be easily degradable (like jewelry). I have worked at a couple of Jewish hospitals, and the lines were pulled by staff, or the burial group prior to leaving the floor. But it also varies by sect and their traditions. As I am a conservative Jew, my experience is limited to what I have seen.
Jewish patients generally are picked up from the floor by the funeral home. Religious law prefers that they not go to the hospital morgue.
Some other idiosyncrasies, mostly with stricter groups. The family remains in mourning (sits shivah) for 7 days. Mirrors are covered. People bring in food. Clocks are stopped (time has no meaning in death). Finery and Jewelry are not worn (we are poorer in our loss). In the home of the deceased, no shoes are worn.
I would welcome all the prayers I could get before and after for my family in thier grief. IN LTC I deal with a lot of families and pray when asked. The condolences I offer is that thier loved one is no longer suffering in pain, SOB or what ever may be the cause and the pain is always there and so much suffering. If the family has been dealing with religion,then I will say and they have went home to where is no suffering or pain
JMO on what I do and I pray in silence
Also as EMT we were allowed to Baptize(sp)if requested by the family
Not if their compassion is based in amentia, fraudulent, and driven by their extreme thirst for immortality. I contend that offering prayer of your own faith toward an unknowing corpse is a selfish act. Please don't use my dead body to demonstrate your worthiness to YOUR God. I choose to take a minute and just look at the body in the bed and use that time to remind myself to have some fun today..... take the baby to the park... go to a concert.. you know, live a little. We know we are alive now, and whatever comes next is something we can never understand so we need to live now. I think knowing that you only get one lifetime is what makes being alive so special, sacred if you will. Someday the body in the bed will be mine and there is no escape from that fate. Nothing you do or say after I die can have any effect on the powers of nature and what, if anything, has become of me, and are thereby not for my benefit. There are very few genuinely compassionate people in this world the rest of them are just trying to cut a deal with the big "G".
WOW!!!
God Bless you!
ps not mentally retarded just have faith, possibly you will learn one day what this means, perhaps not?
I am not only a nurse, but also a church song leader. Prayers do not have to be out loud or toward any certain religious belief. In my own mind I simply ask God to care for the patient as they pass, but most of all to comfort the family left behind.
Not if their compassion is based in amentia, fraudulent, and driven by their extreme thirst for immortality. I contend that offering prayer of your own faith toward an unknowing corpse is a selfish act. Please don't use my dead body to demonstrate your worthiness to YOUR God. I choose to take a minute and just look at the body in the bed and use that time to remind myself to have some fun today..... take the baby to the park... go to a concert.. you know, live a little. We know we are alive now, and whatever comes next is something we can never understand so we need to live now. I think knowing that you only get one lifetime is what makes being alive so special, sacred if you will. Someday the body in the bed will be mine and there is no escape from that fate. Nothing you do or say after I die can have any effect on the powers of nature and what, if anything, has become of me, and are thereby not for my benefit. There are very few genuinely compassionate people in this world the rest of them are just trying to cut a deal with the big "G".
salinajd
6 Posts
My advice, do it silently. That way the family can't be offended by what they don't know and the patient sure isn't going to care. I pray for my patients if the pt requests it, I never hesitate to mention my Lord in front of patients, he is the reason I am there. If patients state they don't want to hear about God I abide by their wishes and silently pray that God will show them the way when he is ready, if that be his will. Because of bringing up my Love for Jesus I have heard some wonderful testimonies to the Lord and have got to know some of my patients much better. My only concern with your prayer is that the family needs your prayer more than the deceased. The deceased has already made the decision where they will go, the family needs strength to deal with the death of a loved one and its not too late for them to find salvation if they aren't already there.:)