Originally Posted by Calphool

This seems very wrong to me. Regardless of who this guy was, or how he lived his life, he was a man and he impacted the lives of his friends and family. A funeral is for the living, not the deceased -- it helps people remember their loved one, and to begin healing. This pastor must be utterly clueless, or the leadership within his church must be extremely closed minded (and questionable Christians). There is no point in hurting a family that has just lost their loved one, regardless of how he/she lived his life. Murderers have funerals in churches for crying out loud!

Rolling a body into a church, and saying some kind and calming words to a hurting family has nothing to do with "supporting a gay agenda". Let's say the church went ahead and let the family put photos of this guy and his partner. How exactly does that suggest that the church membership is supporting his lifestyle? Are they trying to suggest that in all their history of all their funerals they NEVER had a photo of someone committing a sin? If they did have any such photo, how could they argue that this one is any different? They weren't supporting those other sins.

These are the kinds of "Christians" that put stumbling blocks in the paths of their bretheren (1 Corinthians 8, Romans 14). These are the kinds of "Christians" who are more concerned with their own piety than reaching out to others in their time of need (Matthew 9:13). Woe to those who chose to do this... they will reap what they sow (Matthew 25:31-46).

Somehow homosexuality has become a new "unforgivable sin", but Jesus said that the only unforgivable sin was blaspheming the holy spirit. Even if that church somehow construed this guy's lifestyle into blaspheming the holy spirit, that has NOTHING TO DO WITH CONDUCTING HIS FUNERAL. Clueless clueless clueless...