Ancestor Worship
Ancestor Worship
Definition: The practice of honoring and venerating dead ancestors (ceremonially or otherwise) in the belief that they are conscious in an invisible realm and can help or bring harm to the living and are therefore to be appeased. Not a Bible teaching.
Are dead ancestors aware of what the living do and are these ancestors able to help living persons?
Eccl. 9:5: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.”
Job 14:10, 21: “An earthling man expires, and where is he? His sons get honored, but he does not know it.”
Ps. 49:10, 17-19: “Even the wise ones die, together the stupid one and the unreasoning one perish, and they must leave to others their means of maintenance. . . . At his death he cannot take along anything at all; his glory will not go down along with him himself. . . . His soul finally comes only as far as the generation of his forefathers. Nevermore will they see the light.”
Is it not true that food placed on an altar or a grave remains untouched? Does not this indicate that the dead are unable to benefit from it?
See also the main heading “Spiritism.”
Is there reason to fear that our dead ancestors will harm us?
Eccl. 9:5, 6: “As for the dead, . . . their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.”
Is there a spiritual part of a person that survives the death of the body?
Ezek. 18:4: “Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Also verse 20)
Ps. 146:3, 4: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man . . . His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”
Scientists and surgeons have found no evidence of any conscious, living part of humans that survives when the body dies.
See also pages 100-102, under the heading “Death.”
Would you prefer that your children and grandchildren show respect and love for you while you are alive or that they perform rituals at your grave after you are dead?
Eph. 6:2, 3: “‘Honor your father and your mother’; which is the first command with a promise: ‘That it may go well with you and you may endure a long time on the earth.’” (Children trained in Bible principles show such honor that brings joy to the hearts of their parents while they are alive.)
Prov. 23:22: “Listen to your father who caused your birth, and do not despise your mother just because she has grown old.”
1 Tim. 5:4: “If any widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to practice godly devotion in their own household and to keep paying a due compensation to their parents and grandparents, for this is acceptable in God’s sight.”
When spirit mediums claim to deliver messages from the dead, from where do these actually come?
Isa. 8:19: “In case they should say to you people: ‘Apply to the spiritistic mediums or to those having a spirit of prediction who are chirping and making utterances in low tones,’ is it not to its God that any people should apply? Should there be application to dead persons in behalf of living persons?” (Would God warn us against such a practice if it truly put us in touch with our loved ones?)
Acts 16:16: “As we were going to the place of prayer, a certain servant girl with a spirit, a demon of divination, met us. She used to furnish her masters with much gain by practicing the art of prediction.”
See also pages 384-386, under “Spiritism.”
To whom should our worship be directed?
Luke 4:8: “Jesus said to him: ‘It is written, “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.”’”
John 4:23, 24: “The hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”
What hope is there for a future uniting of family members, including those who have died?
John 5:28, 29: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”