Theological View Of Bringing Corpses Of Members Of Seventhday Adventist Church Into Church

Abstract

Bringing corpses of members of Seventh-day Adventist Church to church before funeral service has been a long discussion among members of Seventh-day Adventist Church itself particularly in Indonesia. Some agree but others not. Each group has its own argument. But, the group that agrees, unfortunately, is divided into two groups which are based on criteria that have been set up by each congregation. The main aim of this research was to find out whether there is a theological view in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy regarding bringing a corpse into the church. The other one is to give some guidelines for Seventh-day Adventist churches regarding this issue. The research itself used two methodologies. First, the writer did observations in some churches during his experience as a church pastor. The observation itself was related to the regulations that have been set up by each church. The other one is library research. Here, Old and New Testaments became the main sources as well as Spirit of Prophecy (The writings of Ellen G. White). The results of the study are: first, bringing corpses to church before the funeral service does not have a theological basis in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Moreover, the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy also do not provide provisions relating to it as well as its positive or negative impacts whether a corpse is brought or not into church. Second, the organization of Seventh-day Adventist Church should give a clear guidance about the criteria that will be implemented by all churches under it to occur alignment in addressing this issue. Third, if it turns out that decision being handed out to each congregation, then, let these three important things need to be considered, namely: (1) The person who died must be a faithful member of Seventh-day Adventist Church; (2) The person died in a reasonable state (not suicide, drug addicts, etc.); (3) It is not just limited to an ordained pastor or young pastor, church elders, church pioneers, old people, but to the younger age group the church should give the same opportunity.
1. Church. It is a building that has been dedicated to God and is used only for worship and religious activities.
2. Unclean. A term for a state in which the body or soul or one's life is not holy anymore.
3. Corpse. A term for the body of a dead person.