Posted on 10/11/2020 7:15:52 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
I received a visit from the step daughter of a distant relative last week. My distant cousin died after a short bout with lung cancer in July. He became religious in the last five years of his life and had embarked on a quest to right the wrongs that he believed he had committed during his life. He made a list of those wrongs. This includes thing(s) he feels that he did that were damaging to other people as well as restitution for petty theft(s) he committed in his younger days.
It was a death bed request to the daughter that she find me and get me to complete his redemption list. His original list had about about 50 entries. 32 are crossed off so I assume that he made satisfactory(to him) contact or restitution to those already. The balance are people and companies that he couldn't find or that are gone/deceased. The package contains letters to people and money to make restitution for theft and a stipend for my expenses.
I want to honor his wishes but I am not sure how I "make it right" with the dead and companies that no longer exist.
FReeper wisdom would be appreciated.
Spiritual redemption comes from accepting Christ.
Completing his list would be a nice thing to do. That is it.
Maybe he thought you needed redemption too.
We Catholics pray for the dead to become redeemed and go to heaven. Carrying out someone’s wishes seems pretty simple.
To the ones that are dead, both people and organizations, a probably crazy idea would be to write about it so people can learn and appreciate all of it.
Leave the list for your next of kin to do. Hand it to them on your death bed with regrets that you didn’t accomplish it. In the meantime enjoy your life and serve the living.
Jesus told his disciples to let the dead bury the dead.
Maybe he chose you because he was a good judge of character and knew you would take this request seriously. Do not overburden yourself with doubt. Do the best you reasonably can. After that, dispose of any remaining funds in a manner consistent with the desires of your cousin or his intended beneficiaries, as best you can. Do not keep a penny or you will be plagued with guilt the rest of your life.
God bless you.
Can't find the lawyer, start with the first child listed in the obit, that's usually going to be the executor, and ask if any estate was opened (ie, a lawyer). No estate, talk to the heir directly.
Companies, even oob companies would still likely have a Registered Agent in their respective state database.
Or you could turn over the whole thing to an estate lawyer who has their head screwed on straight.
In Christ alone we are saved.
Sounds like your friends heart was full repentance and restitution. Christ like qualities.
If the opportunity for his direct blessings of folks in his past has passed, continue to focus us on those Christ like qualities when you decide on what to do with the money. Most importantly pray to God for wisdom in your decisions and to make those decisions clear for you.
One must accept Jesus Christ as their Lord & Savior, while alive. The Bible says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You cannot rectify this; all of us are called to surrender our walk to Jesus Christ Himself, individually, while alive.
That is not Biblical; I’m sorry.
That was his quest to fulfill, not yours. He committed the wrongs he was seeking to right, you didn’t. He did what he could do to make amends while alive, for the rest he must rely on God’s mercy.
This sounds like some kind of weird control-freak move by your cousin or whoever’s bringing you this list.
I’m just saying what we Catholics do. Do not need a theology lecture from a non credentialed source.
My advice? Select a few charities that would benefit people from similar backgrounds or those now in similar predicaments.
If there is a lot of money, establish a scholarship or a one time grant.
It's not necessary to redress every wrong committed. The sincere attempt is enough. It's not even necessary to remember all of them; sometimes we can't.
All one needs to do is to turn to Jesus Christ for redemption. He is there to receive and to redeem.
He knows--better than we do--what lurks in our hearts and minds, in the depths of the subconscious, including all our sins, our remorse, the sincerity of our desire for Him and His redemption.
All one needs to do is to come to Him for forgiveness and redemption. He already knows about it all, better than we do, and He will give us rest.
It's quite simple, really.
Bible clearly says , “It is appointed to every [person] to die once, and after that the judgement.”
No place such as “purgatory”, or a waiting room.
“ That is not Biblical; I’m sorry.”
Says who?
I’m responding to mad as he$$ not you
I know how trump feels always getting attacked for believing in his country in part because if I lend a success story on this forum related to my catholic faith that people can either take or leave I get slammed. My faith gets slammed. Invariably I can’t expect it
Let it go not anyone cares.
No one.
You voluntarily doing this work for him reflects well on both of you.
I do not believe your actions will help his salvation, but it will help those he wronged.
Even if accounts have been settled or the business owners do not know of the direct infractions, this may help positively restore some of their attitudes toward men.
Says God. It’s critical that people understand the truth of God’s word. I certainly don’t blame you but I do blame the Catholic Church for wicked teaching.
What does the Bible say about praying for the dead?
praying for the deadaudio
Question: “What does the Bible say about praying for the dead?”
Answer: Praying for the dead is not a biblical concept. Our prayers have no bearing on someone once he or she has died. The reality is that, at the point of death, one’s eternal destiny is confirmed. Either he is saved through faith in Christ and is in heaven where he is experiencing rest and joy in God’s presence, or he is in torment in hell. The story of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar provides us with a vivid illustration of this truth. Jesus plainly used this story to teach that after death the unrighteous are eternally separated from God, that they remember their rejection of the gospel, that they are in torment, and that their condition cannot be remedied (Luke 16:19-31).
Often, people who have lost a loved one are encouraged to pray for those who have passed away and for their families. Of course, we should pray for those grieving, but for the dead, no. No one should ever believe that someone may be able to pray for him, thereby effecting some kind of favorable outcome, after he has died. The Bible teaches that the eternal state of mankind is determined by our actions during our lives on earth. “The soul who sins is the one who will die. . . . The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him” (Ezekiel 18:20).
The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Here we understand that no change in one’s spiritual condition can be made following his death—either by himself or through the efforts of others. If it is useless to pray for the living, who are committing “a sin that leads to death” (1 John 5:16), i.e., continual sin without seeking God’s forgiveness, how could prayer for those who are already dead benefit them, since there is no post-mortem plan of salvation?
The point is that each of us has but one life, and we are responsible for how we live that life. Others may influence our choices, but ultimately we must give an account for the choices we make. Once life is over, there are no more choices to be made; we have no choice but to face judgment. The prayers of others may express their desires, but they won’t change the outcome. The time to pray for a person is while he or she lives and there is still the possibility of his or her heart, attitudes, and behavior being changed (Romans 2:3-9).
It is natural to have a desire to pray in times of pain, suffering, and loss of loved ones and friends, but we know the boundaries of valid prayer as revealed in the Bible. The Bible is the only official prayer manual, and it teaches that prayers for the dead are futile. Yet we find the practice of praying for the dead observed in certain areas of “Christendom.” Roman Catholic theology, for example, allows for prayers both to the dead and on behalf of them. But even Catholic authorities admit that there is no explicit authorization for prayers on behalf of the dead in the sixty-six books of canonical Scripture. Instead, they appeal to the Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 12:45), church tradition, the decree of the Council of Trent, etc., to defend the practice.
The Bible teaches that those who have yielded to the Savior’s will (Hebrews 5:8-9) enter directly and immediately into the presence of the Lord after death (Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:6, 8). What need, then, do they have for the prayers of people on the earth? While we sympathize with those who have lost dear ones, we must bear in mind that “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). While the context refers to the gospel age as a whole, the verse is fitting for any individual who is unprepared to face the inevitable—death and the judgment that follows (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:26; Hebrews 9:27). Death is final, and after that, no amount of praying will avail a person of the salvation he has rejected in life.
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