My 姑婆 passed away last month, aged 93, having been bed-ridden for the last three decades. Yes, thirty long years of disability, during which one of her 7 daughters faithfully took care of her.
I was awed by the 陪葬品 prepared for my great-aunt's funeral - heaps and heaps of 金纸,银纸 in big black garbage bags, a multi-storied paper house, a car, ...... and a pair of paper 金童玉女. "She asked for servants to be burned and sent to her. She had chabokan (servant girls) to serve her when she was young, you know," her daughter told us during the funeral wake. My great-aunt had bound feet and lived a pampered life in her younger days.
Would my deceased great-aunt receive all the goodies that she deemed necessary for an afterlife of ease and comfort? From my Christian perspective, I think not; whatever is burned would just be carbonised - ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
"Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. " (Psalm 49:16-17)
At one time, my late mother told us that she would go and squat at the 五脚基 (veranda) of my deceased father's house in 阴间. My father had passed away earlier and sent off under Taoist funeral rites.
By God's grace, my mom became a Christian before she died. As she laid on her deathbed, I assured her that Jesus Christ had already prepared a big house for her in heaven and we, her children, would join her there. She only needed to keep the house spick and span and wait for us there.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2-3)
We are aliens in this world (Leviticus 25:23, 1 Chronicles 29:15). Our eternal home is in heaven with Jesus and He has promised to come and take us to be with Him. What greater promise is there?
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