AboutBrenton Hepburn Expertise I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I can answer questions on the reliability of the NWT, the so called mind control problems, so called prophecies, and general practices and history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.....
>>>>WARNING<<<<<< ....Please be aware that there are at least ... 3 .... people here who ARE NOT practicing JWs and, (at other times there have been as many as 5.) These ones will, at times, appear to have an agenda against JWs., and will often give answers that are not correct in regard to JW teachings and practices. If you are after a answer from one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, please read some of the answers that the various experts have published before choosing someone. If you want to ask them a question that is fine, but if you want a balancing view after asking one of the NON JWs, ask a JW the same question
Experience I have been a publisher since 1964. When I first went on the internet I found a lot of negative information dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses covering prophecy, mind control and what many said was a very bad translation of the Bible known as the NWT. It shook my faith. After may hours researching these topics I could see why some felt that way, but, I was also able to explain why there were these misleading views. I can now set matters straight for anyone that has negative information about Jehovah’s Witness to show them that such information is at best misleading and at worst dangerous lies.
Education/Credentials I have been a student of the Bible for many years, am trying to teach myself Biblical Greek.
Was a public tax accountant for many yrars untill SEP 2009 when I gave it up.
Question in south africa and was asked why your religion does not allow crying or singing at the grave sites of the deceased. not being of your faith i have no answer. do you know
Answer Hello Steve, from Australia,
Thank you for your interesting question. This is one I have never encountered before. Not knowing anything of funeral customs in South Africa, it is difficult to give a definitive answer, but I can give you the Biblical guide lines by which we act.
But first from here in Australia, most funerals are conducted in side a building, either our place of worship or at a funeral home. Most JW funerals I have been to have not had a burial but cremation. Some that have chosen to have a burial have had close relatives only to the grave site. I have been to some none JW funerals and they have been conducted in similar manner. I have never been to a funeral of either JW or non JW at a grave site where there has been singing. I assume that is just the general way here. However when there has been a funeral service held inside (not at the grave site) some families have decided to have a song or two as part of the service. It would appear to be a personal decision. JW's endeavor to keep funeral customs dignified. We look to the Bible as a guide.
Numerous Bible examples can be cited wherein individuals were truly moved by the death of a friend or relative and so gave way to proper mourning. When Jesus was with Lazarus' grieving relatives, Jesus was not impassively unmoved or inappropriately jolly. Though having confidence in the power of the resurrection, Jesus wept. (John 11:33-35) After Jesus himself died, his disciples mourned, even though he had told them that he would be killed and raised again to life.—Matthew 16:21, 28; John 16:17-20; 20:11.
When Jacob thought he had lost his son, “all his sons and all his daughters kept rising up to comfort him.” (Genesis 37:35) In many lands it is customary for relatives to gather for a funeral. That provides an occasion for others, who may not have been as close and so are not as affected emotionally, to offer words of sympathy and consolation. After Lazarus died ‘many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their brother.' (John 11:19) This also involves Christians who want to “be able to comfort those in any sort of tribulation.”—2 Corinthians 1:4. It is part of human nature to cry or to weep. Some authorities say that it is beneficial to grieve in this manner.
To balance that we understand that it is not right to overly show a display of grief . Jesus said: “When you are fasting [because of sorrow], stop becoming sad-faced like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you, They are having their reward in full. But you, when fasting, grease your head and wash your face, that you may appear to be fasting, not to men, but to your Father who is in secrecy; then your Father who is looking on in secrecy will repay you.”—Matt. 6:16-18.
There are many funeral customs through out the earth we do not reject all customs that are associated with death For example in Gen. 50:2, 3: we read of a forty day embalming “Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father . . . and they took fully forty days for him, for this many days they customarily take for the embalming.”
When Jesus died he was prepared in a different way, very quickly …John 19:40: “They took the body of Jesus and bound it up with bandages with the spices, just the way the Jews have the custom of preparing for burial.”
However there are Certain customs that we would not be involved with as they reflect belief that man has an immortal soul that survives death of the body and, so, is aware of what the survivors are doing. But the Bible says: “The dead . . . are conscious of nothing at all.” (Eccl. 9:5) Also, “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.”—Ezek. 18:4.
Many customs arise from belief that the dead need the help of the living or from fear that they may harm the living if not appeased. But God's Word shows that the dead are experiencing neither pain nor pleasure. “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” (Ps. 146:4; see also 2 Samuel 12:22, 23.) “Their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.”—Eccl. 9:6.
When local customs do not conflict with Bible principles it is up to each JW to decide what they will do.
Now as far as customs in South Africa, there may be some other factors of local customs that reflect different religious ideas that involve crying and singing at a grave site. JW's would not want to be seen as emulating religious practices of other religions. I do not know if that is the case or not in South Africa but it might be a factor.
I hope I have been able to answer your question. Please feel free to ask any thing else
