Norway: Priests Omit John 3:16 from Funeral Services Because It’s Triggering or Whatever

The issue here is that John 3:16 is exclusionary or “noninclusive.”

You can’t say homos and Hindus can only have eternal life if they believe in Jesus.

You’re also probably not allowed to say “him,” “he,” or “son” anymore in Norway.

Nordic Times:

Bishops in Norway believe that a verse from the New Testament “communicates poorly” and have started to exclude it from funeral services. This has attracted strong criticism in Christian circles in Norway, where it is believed that priests have become increasingly restrained in their faith.

John 3:16 is a mandatory Bible verse at funeral services in Norway, but many priests often choose to omit it. For this reason, the Norwegian bishops have asked the National Board for Worship Life (NFG) to consider whether the Bible verse should be an optional part of the services.

This in turn has drawn strong criticism from Christian Norway, with Vebjørn Selbekk, editor of the Christian newspaper Dagen, among others, pointing out that John 3:16 is “the most central passage in the entire Bible”.

The Christian daily Vårt Land has also criticized the bishops’ proposal.

In the Church of Norway, funeral services begin with the Bible verse, while the Church of Sweden has replaced it with a milder formulation:

“Let us hear the words of the Bible about finding security in God in life and death”.

Former bishop Tor Berger Jørgensen believes that Norway should follow Sweden’s example and avoid anything that could be associated with the doctrine of damnation.

The Church of Sweden is definitely what you’d want to emulate…