The Cemetery Gates
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 8:46 pm
Why do you suppose there are no Mormon cemeteries per se?
Most every major religion has institutionalized the burial, memorial, and bereavement process in the public forum - yet not the LDS church. Apart from an abandoned asset from last century the church has all but left members to their own devices with regards to final earthly disposition. Not to mention the ignored opportunity for the church to utilize a cemetery to proselytize like the Catholics have...and even endorsed by GA:
Wherever I travel, I try to pay a visit to the town cemetery. It is a time of contemplation, of reflection on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death.
- President Thomas S. Monson
Funerals.... are designed for the comfort, blessing, and edification of the living. ...They are proper occasions on which to preach the truths of salvation; to testify of the reality of the resurrection; to give comfort, solace, and counsel to the bereaved...
- Bruce R. McConkie
Three elements combine in a funeral as in no other meeting: the doctrines of the gospel, the spirit of inspiration, and families gathered in tender regard for one another. .... Many attend funerals who do not come to church regularly. They come subdued in spirit and are teachable. How sad when an opportunity for conversion is lost because a funeral is less than it might have been.
- Elder Boyd K. Packer
Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead. I will measure exactly the sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.
-William E. Gladstone / Benjamin Franklin
So, anyone have any ideas about this rather obvious absence from the LDS infrastructure?
Most every major religion has institutionalized the burial, memorial, and bereavement process in the public forum - yet not the LDS church. Apart from an abandoned asset from last century the church has all but left members to their own devices with regards to final earthly disposition. Not to mention the ignored opportunity for the church to utilize a cemetery to proselytize like the Catholics have...and even endorsed by GA:
Wherever I travel, I try to pay a visit to the town cemetery. It is a time of contemplation, of reflection on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death.
- President Thomas S. Monson
Funerals.... are designed for the comfort, blessing, and edification of the living. ...They are proper occasions on which to preach the truths of salvation; to testify of the reality of the resurrection; to give comfort, solace, and counsel to the bereaved...
- Bruce R. McConkie
Three elements combine in a funeral as in no other meeting: the doctrines of the gospel, the spirit of inspiration, and families gathered in tender regard for one another. .... Many attend funerals who do not come to church regularly. They come subdued in spirit and are teachable. How sad when an opportunity for conversion is lost because a funeral is less than it might have been.
- Elder Boyd K. Packer
Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead. I will measure exactly the sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.
-William E. Gladstone / Benjamin Franklin
So, anyone have any ideas about this rather obvious absence from the LDS infrastructure?
