We presently have a situation in the church here in Monrovia and need all the biblical help and advice we can get. Is it wrong or right biblically to put the dead body of a brother or sister in church for a funeral? Liberia has a tradition (like some parts of America) to lay out a body for a “last viewing” in church (a funeral service where a message can be preached) before taking it to the cemetery for burial. This is not a tradition in our supervising congregation and our new leaders are not keen on “placing a body in the Church.” Unfortunately, a very old disciple just died last week and disciples are very disgruntled about the whole thing. Last year we had a situation of a sister who left the church because of a similar situation. Please help. Your advice will highly be appreciated. -- Betty Flahn (Monrovia, Liberia)
Biblically it is neither right nor wrong, since this is not an issue the Bible addresses. As long as no biblical principle is violated, then this custom is okay.
I would say this is a local decision.
