The Grave, Visit or Not ?

[warrior12]

First let me say, I know this may be a sensitive subject and it is not to offend anyone, just to get a response from folks of how they respond to the dead at the grave.

Driving by this week and today, I observed a lot of people at the cemeteries placing flowers, cleaning or paying their respects I would suppose.  These places are immaculately kept.

I never heard of evangelicals visiting a grave site of a loved one or cleaning and placing flowers ect.    My personal belief as Paul mentions in scripture is "absent in the body is to be present with the Lord".   Is visiting and paying respects of any value to the evangelical or protestant Christian ?.  I gather that the Catholics have more of that relationship, but not sure how the evangelicals respond to this.   

Or, is there any reference to it in scripture ?.   

[other one]

Personally I don't feel the need to go to the grave site.    I have pictures of my parents and grand parents and look through them often...    sometimes I have a little one way chat with them and express my appreciation for their input into my life...…    don't suppose they can hear but it makes me feel better about life and can remember some really good times.

 

[Willa]

Some do, but I have only visited when cousins were looking for genealogical information.  My parents souls are not there.  I trust that they are with the Lord.  

Those that do visit should never speak to their dead loved ones or expect them to communicate in any way.  That is communing with familiar spirits and is strictly forbidden in scripture.  This sort of ancestor worship is rampant in Yugoslavia and Mexico, among other countries.  It incurred the death penalty in the OT.

Some cemeteries have no maintenance and each family must care for the area.  I don't see anything wrong with keeping it presentable as we would any property.  

[ayin jade]

When my brother in law was murdered and was buried,my husband visited the grave after the funeral. As he also did his dead sisters grave decades later. It helped with his grief. There is nothing wrong that i see in it. He was not idolizing or worshipping them. He left flowers and a cross at his brothers grave.

 

[Neighbor]

Hi as a start here is a premise for consideration:

“Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land and their loyalty to high ideals.”

— William Ewart Gladstone

 

 

[warrior12]

9 minutes ago, Willa said:

Some do, but I have only visited when cousins were looking for genealogical information.  My parents souls are not there.  I trust that they are with the Lord.  

Those that do visit should never speak to their dead loved ones or expect them to communicate in any way.  That is communing with familiar spirits and is strictly forbidden in scripture.  This sort of ancestor worship is rampant in Yugoslavia and Mexico, among other countries.  It incurred the death penalty in the OT.

Some cemeteries have no maintenance and each family must care for the area.  I don't see anything wrong with keeping it presentable as we would any property.  

Absolutely, nothing is wrong in taking care of the area.  Here in urban Ontario, public places are kept very well and even so better at privately owned ones.

 

[Neighbor]

52 minutes ago, warrior12 said:

I never heard of evangelicals visiting a grave site of a loved one or cleaning and placing flowers ect.

I can tell you that they do by the many thousands. I have personally guided thousands to the places of individual memorialization for their deceased family members and friends.

[LearningToLetGo]

Cemeteries are for the living. They are places for the living to remember their dead, to mourn and to heal. I see nothing wrong with visiting the graves of loved ones, with bringing flowers, saying prayers and paying respect.

[R. Hartono]

Bible says believers will be resurrected  so we need to respect them at their place of rest as we will be gathered again in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 26:19 But those who die in the Lord will live, their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth,  will rise up and sing for joy!
For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!

1 Thes 4:¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Edited September 24, 2018 by R. Hartono

[Debp]

I don't feel obligated to visit the gravesite of my dad but in the past, friends wanted to drive my mom and me up there.  So we went and mom bought flowers for the grave.   Also, a couple of times we cleaned the grave marker.   Haven't been there for several years at least.

It's a nice cemetery, Forest Lawn, in Glendale, CA.   They have gigantic paintings of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, stained glass Last Supper, and replicas of famous churches.   It was made by a Christian.   There are several Forest Lawns around Los Angeles.