“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.” Martin Luther King
People astonish me. I'm not sure how their reasoning goes but I'm not sure which astonished me more: the poll I was looking at or the comments that came after.
On Sunday someone mentioned that the 2 most requested songs at funerals were either Frankie Baby's I did it my Way or ACDC's Highway to Hell. Oh, & Queen's Another One Bites the Dust is right up there in the top 10 too. In actual fact Goodbye my Lover by James Blunt is at the top of this rather dubious pile because I just had to go & find out for myself, didn't I, if people really did think like this. Seems they do.
And if the accounts are true, there was Jeanne~Antoinette Pompadour, Marquise d'Etoiles, dying in her bed & begging, 'Just a minute', so she could apply more rouge. Seriously? Rouge to die in? I can think of things that would trouble me more on my deathbed than applying rouge or thumbing my nose at religion with my choice of funeral song.
What do people think happens to them when they die that they can be so facetious? Nope, I don't get it. Even if you don't believe in God, or Heaven & Hell, death is a pretty serious business. You don't get to come back & say, 'Oops, my mistake. Let's try that again.' And Highway to Hell? Really? But what if it's true? Oh, right, superstitious stuff!
I have a problem with this. It strikes me as callous ~ witty, in a rather macabre way, but callous just the same.
On the other hand, Douglas, a Scottish Shepherd turned preacher who wrote the definitive book for me on the 23rd psalm, would probably argue it's at least honest. He said, & I'm paraphrasing here because I can't find my copy of his book just now, that unless Christ is your Lord & Saviour then this psalm does not belong to you; it is full of personal pronouns: the Lord is my saviour; He leadeth me; Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. A very different mindset & here is the thing for me & something I concluded a long time ago when I was struggling with why anyone would ever believe any of this stuff: Take God out & what you are left with is not very pretty.
More & more we are seeing ugliness in people & things as we become more & more a godless people, telling ourselves comforting lies in the face of unpalatable truths.
Better minds than mine have grappled with Pontious Pilate's, 'What is truth?' For me it just got really simple. I can not cope with rampant humanism because left to their own devices I just do not find the majority of humans all that decent. Sorry, but I don't. I've worked with homeless youth & battered women. I know how many of the 200 odd children go to primary school here without breakfast & do not get tea at night. I could go on & on. The statistics on child murder are frightening. Parents....to their own children. Highway to Hell indeed!
8 comments:
i can think of many folks right off the top of my head who would think it a very fine thing indeed to have "my way" played at their funeral. there is a kind of glory in "bravely" forging ahead, doing things one's own way... i think this is especially true here in the usa. we have that "rugged individualism" and all that. well, call it what you will.. it still is pride, still is sin.
i have to believe in the utter depravity of man because i know myself all too well♥
As if I did not have enough of these thoughts on my own of late....dispiriting, isn't it?
"Better minds than mine have grappled with Pontious Pilate's, 'What is truth?' For me it just got really simple."
I'm still doing some serious grappling with capital-T Truth, so *thank you* for the reminder that "take God out & what you are left with is not very pretty."
God needs to be central to everything, and when He stops being the central point, everything falls apart!
I have found that when my quiet time with the Lord doesn't happen, my whole day falls apart - I can't imagine living without His presence, His grace and His love, undeserved at is.
Blessings,
Jillian
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I'd heard about that, too. Sad. And yet we feel obliged to tell each other that "people are basically good." Reminds me of a movie we started two nights ago, "He's not that into you." About how women encourage each other by saying how their guy-of-choice really likes them and he WILL call/propose/whatever instead of being honest and admitting that the guy is a jerk and it won't work out.
I don't know what I want at my funeral. Maybe "I'll Fly Away" - a long time favorite. Oh, I know... there's one by Randy Travis but I'd have to look it up. I used to worry about Bob dying early, in which case I wanted a song called "Don't, this way" (Don't lie this way, stretched straight from feet to head, Don't leave this way, so many words unsaid...)
Anyway, on another note, William was blog-hopping with me this morning and he REALLY likes your banner with the birds. :-D
Diane: I know *I* am not good & most of my motives are mixed so I'm not holding out too much hope for anyone one else. All that is decent in me is Christ. On the other hand I have a feeling mum might have chosen My Way for my dad. I know he liked Sinatra but I'm a bit vague about the whole thing. I was doing the eulogy & concentrating on not falling apart at the time.
Seeking: sorrow...not. Gives you something to mull over while you are busy activity~ing.
Allison: I still have more questions than answers but I've reached a point where some things just seem glaringingly, painfully obvious to me & tossing God out does not strike me as having improved the human condition at all. A good deal of simple decency of one human to another is the result, pure & simple, of Judaic law.
Jillian: Too true.
MamO: Hey, I love your *wee Willie*. The lad has class! Ditz has been practising Amazing Grace on the violin forever so she can play it at her ma's funeral ~ whenever that may be. If she hasn't nailed it by then I guess she'll save it for mine. lol.
Oh, goodness, Ganeida, I have never heard of such a thing at a funeral. I pity the funeral directors and the attendees. :[
"All that is decent in me is Christ."
me too sistah, me too♥
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