Here is a rather sobering measure of the Spiritual state of a country. It could also serve as a statistic for comparison after Revival.....according to Co-operative Funeralcare....survey of 242 funeral homes and 30,000 services showed 58% of people in [u]England and Wales[/u] chose pop music.[b]Frank Sinatra's My Way[/b] was most played song at funerals last year .... The Co-operative Funeralcare survey found that since its last study four years ago, the number of people in England and Wales choosing hymns to be played at funerals dropped by 6%, from 41% to 35%, while the number opting for pop music rose from 55% to 58%.In [u]Scotland[/u] the number of funerals accompanied by hymns rose from 54% to 56% and those with pop music fell from 37% to 36%. [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8000652.stm]BBC News 04/16/2009[/url]There are other reports of funeral trends that reflect spiritual darkness. I don't think such data is collected in America or Canada.
I am encouraged by the Scottish trend. Truth is, the spiritual state of all of those countries is dire. Yet what we found was a remarkable openness to the Gospel in Scotland. I think the trouble may lie with the churches. They have been under siege for so long that they have lost their "attack," mode and are, at best, in a defensive position. No ground was ever taken by defensive actions though. One of the nights of the outreach, Carter Conlon, effected by the reports of many suicides in the area of young people, cried out "Who will tell them," or words to that effect. He was amazed that you could gain entrance into public high schools and share the Gospel...........Frank
I am encouraged by the Scottish trend. Truth is, the spiritual state of all of those countries is dire. Yet what we found was a remarkable openness to the Gospel in Scotland. I think the trouble may lie with the churches. They have been under siege for so long that they have lost their "attack," mode and are, at best, in a defensive position. No ground was ever taken by defensive actions though. One of the nights of the outreach, Carter Conlon, effected by the reports of many suicides in the area of young people, cried out "Who will tell them," or words to that effect. He was amazed that you could gain entrance into public high schools and share the Gospel...........FrankI thought I'd play along.
Frank's disciples? :-(
My older brother worked for a funeral home once, and he sat in on the funeral of a guy who owned a bar. His bar buddies showed up, put liquor bottles in his casket, and they played "Highway to Hell" at his funeral. His obituary read, "He was loved by many women."
_________________Jimmy H
could be Leo, could be
Frank Sinatra's My Way was most played song at funerals last year ....
Hi FrankI think Meekflower might have been responding to the first line of your first post in this thread.
I am encouraged by the Scottish trend.
HI Deepthinker,Yeah, I agree it was a confusing statement :) What I was trying to say is that while it was encouraging that more Scottish people were having hymns played at their funerals, that ultimately, despite that small uptick, the overall state was dire. I know that we would all agree that just because someone has a hymn played at their funeral, instead of Sinatra, that this will not effect their eternal state.........Frank