the death

[duc]

I’m a Vietnamese student. Now, I’m looking about the> death according to Protestant. Would you like to> anser me some questions as following:> 1. Does Protestan have any rites about the death?> What is it? Whose is it? How about its meaning?> 2. How does Protestant have point of view of the> death? Who use it? Where use it? > 3. Why Protestant and Catholic believe one God, but> every one has different rites and point of view> about the death?> I would like You anser my questions.> May God bless you.> Nguyen Tien Duc.

 

[duc]

duc:

I’m a Vietnamese student. Now, I’m looking about the> death according to Protestant. Would you like to> anser me some questions as following:> 1. Does Protestan have any rites about the death?> What is it? Whose is it? How about its meaning?> 2. How does Protestant have point of view of the> death? Who use it? Where use it? > 3. Why Protestant and Catholic believe one God, but> every one has different rites and point of view> about the death?> I would like You anser my questions.> May God bless you.> Nguyen Tien Duc.

 

[jeffreedy789]

hey! no quoting yourself.

 

[jeffreedy789]

you’ve asked some tough questions there, duc!

first off - you’re asking questions about protestant teachings, and you’re on a catholic website.

this is problematic for two reasons - one, we are catholics, and if we tell you what protestants believe, we’re going to point out how it’s flawed.

two - it’s difficult to really SAY what protestants believe, because they believe lots of different things.

you seem to be asking questions regarding death. do you mean funerals, or burial rites, or cemeteries, or what?

considering your vietnamese background, i would assume you might be asking why we bury rather than cremate?

if you explained a bit more, i’d be happy to answer you. i just don’t want to blah blah about things you’re not asking.

 

[ephphatha]

Your questions are hard to understand, but I’m going to take a stab at answering them, because this is one of the shortest threads, and I’m afraid before I jumped into a really long thread, I’d be obligated to read the whole thing first, and I’m too lazy to do that.

1. Does Protestan have any rites about the death?> What is it? Whose is it? How about its meaning?> First, as Jeff pointed out, protestants differ with each other on their opinions about some things. “Protestant” isn’t a particular sect with a particular organization or authority. Protestant refers to a whole group of sects which are not Catholic.

Anyway, to answer your question, most protestants don’t have anything like “last rites” before death, though we often pray for the person dying, and we pray for each other that we might be comforted. After death, protestants have funerals, but there are no spelled out rules for how these things are supposed to be done. Funerals are for the living, not the dead. It’s a way of getting closure. Sometimes, there will be a eulogy where somebody gets up and says nice things about the person who died. Then they bury the person. None of these things are prescriptive–that is, they are no obligatory. People do it more as a matter of cultural preference. It’s just custom.

1. How does Protestant have point of view of the

death? Who use it? Where use it? > Everybody uses death when they die. They use it wherever they happen to be when they die. It could be anywhere.

1. Why Protestant and Catholic believe one God, but

every one has different rites and point of view> about the deathOur common belief in one God doesn’t have much to do with why we disagree on death. (Actually, I don’t think we really do disagree that much on death.) Catholics and protestants really only disagree on two things regarding death. First, Catholics believe most people go through a purification called “purgatory” after they die. Protestants usually don’t believe in purgatory. There are two reasons for this disagreement. First, because Catholics base it on writings that protestants dont’ consider authoritative. Second, Catholics base it on the authority of the church and the tradition which they suppose to have come down from Jesus, Peter, and the rest of the apostles, whereas protestants doubt the tradition goes back that far.

Second, Catholics believe in sacraments through which they obtain grace, and one of the sacraments (I think) is “last rites” which are given to people who are about to die. Protestants don’t believe grace is obtained through sacraments. The reason for this disagreement is matter of Biblical interpretation–they have simply arrived at different conclusions. I suppose, also, that these sacraments are part of the tradition of the church which carries the authority of the teaching magisterium, which protestants don’t accept.

Sam