Just came back from a funeral and people were talking about how it 'came off'. Which made me wonder if funerals are for the living who attend to be able to mourn and/or celebrate, or are they for the deceased to 'go out on their terms' as one person there said?

By Kaye on Monday, March 19, 2012 - 08:32 am:

I think a funeral has several purposes. One is to comfort the living, closure is important, but also I think it is about representing the deceased. Think about it, if you were Christian and had a Jewish funeral, or a non denominational funeral that wouldn't match you. So that closure wouldn't quite be right. You want to say goodbye to that person,which at this stage is about their personality.

By Peteg4 on Monday, March 19, 2012 - 12:18 pm:

Well said. I read this and liked it very much too - http://www.two-views.com/article_funerals.html