Are Pastors Preaching Heresy At Funerals?

Q

In one of your questions the person makes a statement about people going to heaven when they die. Your reply does not seem to answer this point fully, to my mind. My question is, where do they get their info from? Where in the Word does it say that anyone goes to heaven when they die?

I have been to funerals where the minister says the deceased has gone to be with the Lord, when this person never even went to church.  It seems to me that the people who are supposed to know what the Bible states, don’t know and therefore preach heresies.

A

In the New Testament two passages tell us that the spirits of believers go to be with the Lord at the time of death. They are 2 Cor. 5:6-8 and Phil. 1:22-24. Furthermore, whether or not one is a believer is not determined by church attendance. It’s determined by having accepted the death of the Lord as payment for one’s sins.

Out of regard for the bereaved family and friends, most pastors will give the deceased the benefit of the doubt and say he or she has gone to be with the Lord. This seems preferable to the alternative. And truth be told, no one knows for sure what may have transpired between the deceased and the Lord in the last moments of life. If he or she made peace with the Lord with his or her dying breath it would be sufficient for salvation.