Purpose of Religion

I was recently counseling a family that lost a young 1-year old child to an accidental death. The Mother of this child confided in me that she was a recent convert to Christianity and now a Jehovah’s Witness. This Mother was extremely emotional and distraught over her child’s death as you can imagine.

The Mother’s support group consisted of family members along with people from her new church. The hospital staff and other family members seemed very supportive to her in her time of need. However what was most disturbing was when one of the members of her church told this grieving Mother that her baby died because of the Mother’s past sins and she needs to ask forgiveness from God so the child can enter into the Kingdom of God.

This Church member went on to tell the grieving Mother that her baby will not become an angel in God’s kingdom because they already have enough angels.

Now I can understand why Christians have their beliefs about why certain events happen in life and in our Universe but to beat someone while they are down and make them feel even guiltier about the loss of their child is an unconscionable act.

If we have learned anything about Jesus’ life it is that he uplifted and befriended the downtrodden. He brought the dead to life, he healed the sick, brought sight to the blind and allowed the deaf to hear.

This Biblical passage describes this from John 16-22 which discusses the death and resurrection of Jesus:

16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. 21 “Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

This was the message Jesus brought forth in his gospels. He would have told this grieving Mother that her child has returned home to God and she will see her again. Her grief and pain will one day be taken away and her joy will return.

Even the name Jesus (Yeshua) was given means help of Jehovah and the Christ is the anointed one.

So this church member really only compounded the Mothers grief instead of lifting her up and making her feel better. Was this helping God? In the end the Mother continued to believe even more that the circumstances surrounding her child’s death were her fault when they were clearly accidental. It also made it even more difficult for the Mother because she was a new convert to Christianity. This made her vulnerable to follow these false beliefs so she could continue to be accepted by her new church.

I will have to do more research on Jehovah Witness’s beliefs on death and the reasoning behind individual death. If you know the answers please let me know.