Occasionally I take a funeral service. Although I believe in heaven and hell I do not think a funeral is a time when one should judge the spiritual state of the deceased. After all only God knows that and it is not for us to interfere. In such services I declare the gospel in a positive way hoping that the living will benefit, but there is no hint of detriment to the deceased. Some preachers make themselves odious by being judgmental. I declare the truth by using scripture and give a dignified farewell to the beloved relative.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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