Cremation?

[JudgeNot]

I'm a REAL newbie here - I hope this hasn't been discussed anywhere - I did a search that came up empty - if it has been discussed you could direct me to the thread...

OK - here goes...

I know that many Christian churches consider cremation an abomination.  I can't find specific Bible verses to back up that consideration.  I would REALLY welcome your thoughts and advice on the subject!

Thanks in advance.  

[ollie]

I think I recall of some in the old testament being cremated, but cannot remember what it was called or enough info to search it.

However I find nothing about embalming or wakes etc., etc.. in the Bible. Much of the modern funeral practices seem almost pagan.

We are granted freedom in Christ to the point of things being ok if not sin or does not cause another to sin or stumble in the faith. If it is not of faith it is sin.

[serapha]

I'm a REAL newbie here - I hope this hasn't been discussed anywhere - I did a search that came up empty - if it has been discussed you could direct me to the thread...

OK - here goes...

I know that many Christian churches consider cremation an abomination.  I can't find specific Bible verses to back up that consideration.  I would REALLY welcome your thoughts and advice on the subject!

Thanks in advance.  

Hi there!

I'm a real newbie, too, so welcome!

The Bible doesn't make a specific statement against cremation, but it does imply certain thoughts that would discourage using cremation as a means of burial.   The body is the temple of the Lord, and even though, at death, it becomes a "dead" temple, it is still the place where where the Spirit of God lived.  We aren't to worship the temple, but to worship the God who lived there; however, traditionally cermation has been a pagan practice, and burial has remained a Christian and Judeaic preference to burial.  

The reasoning may relate to the the paganistic sacrificing to children, or it may be that it is considered a desecration to the body.  Certainly, God has the power to resurrect a cremated body at the resurrection as well as one perfectly preserved in burial.  This body is just the seed for a new, glorified body.  

For a scriptural reference, Amos 2:1 seems to make a statement against cremation, while 1 Corinthians 13:3 speaks of Paul presenting his body to be burned.  


~serapha~

[aw]

nt

[JudgeNot]

nt

[Sower]

I know that many Christian churches consider cremation an abomination.  I can't find specific Bible verses to back up that consideration.

The reasons why cremation is considered an abomination are:

1. God regards ALL heathen practices and beliefs as an ABOMINATION  [they stink in His nostrils]

2. Cremation is undoutbedly pagan and tied in very closely with the pagan beliefs regarding the soul and it's reincarnation. If you doubt this, visit India or Nepal.

3. Burial in tombs or in the ground was practised by Jews, even while the heathen around them practised cremation, since the teaching of the resurrection of the body is already established in the OT. This type of burial then became Christian burial, and the Bible teaches that all who trust the living God have been and will be buried.  God does not offer us another alternative [cremation].

4.  The LORD Himself died, was "buried", and rose again the third day, and in effect, EVERY BELIEVER DIED, WAS BURIED, AND ROSE AGAIN WITH HIM (Romans 6:1-13).  Therefore, believers must follow the pattern of their Lord [as they do in water baptism] and be "buried" in order to be "raised again" in reality.

5. The Lord has promised "the resurrection of the just" (or righteous), which includes all those who have "died in Christ". Believers bodies will be raised from the DUST not from ASHES.  There is a difference between dust and ashes (1 Cor. 15:35-50).

6. Paul teaches that Adam was "of the earth, earthy" and as we have borne the image of the "earthy" we will bear the image of the heavenly (1 Cor. 15:47-50).  Now Adam who was made in the "image and likeness of God" (Gen. 1:26-27) was also told after he sinned that he was dust and that he would return to dust (Gen. 3:19).  We, who are redeemed sinners made in the likeness of Christ must therefore follow Adam into dust, not into ashes, and then be raised again in the true likeness of Christ -- glorified bodies.

7. While there are no direct injuctions against "cremation" there are numeroous direct injunctions against following the practises of the heathen and of the world.  That should be enough. The economics of burial vs cremation is hardly an issue.

[Tibby]

1. God regards ALL heathen practices and beliefs as an ABOMINATION  [they stink in His nostrils]

Is that a fact? Well, what is the non-heathen way to take care of our dead? Toss them in a hole in the ground? Or, we can send them off on a flaming boat?  Are, as good little Gnostics, should we just not die?

[Sower]

1. God regards ALL heathen practices and beliefs as an ABOMINATION  [they stink in His nostrils]

Is that a fact? Well, what is the non-heathen way to take care of our dead? Toss them in a hole in the ground? Or, we can send them off on a flaming boat?  Are, as good little Gnostics, should we just not die?

 

[Psalm 119]

Sower,

You have made some excellent points on cremation.

I would like to expound further.....

Consider the Jews who were not embalmed, for this was the practice of the Egyptians.

Joseph bones lay in the ground for 400 years in Egypt and were brought and buried in his father's homeland.

The burning of the body was not done on righteous men and women, rather the wicked and disobedient. Remember the sin of Achan, and he and his family were stoned, then burned.

Burial in the ground has always been the primary choice for Christians....as they wait for the resurrection.

Pagan peoples such as Hindus, Buddhists, and the Native Indians, believed in cremation, and in reincarnation.

Burials are not cheap, cremations are very economical. I guess if someone was hell bound it may not make a difference, but for a believer in Christ Jesus he should not do as the heathen do.

Psalm 119

[Sower]

Sower,
You have made some excellent points on cremation.
I would like to expound further.....
Psalm 119

Psalm 119:

Thanks, Bro. for providing solid additonal Bible evidence to support burial against cremation.  I trust it will bear fruit.

Sower

[Tibby]

You stated the first reason why Cremation is wrong is that it is heathen practice. But heathens bury there dead as well. If there is a way to dispose of a body, heathens have praticed it.

What would you say it a Godly way to be rid of a dead body? Just leave them where they lie, and let the dead bury themselves?

[Quartus]

Having spent some time in the funeral business, I've given a lot of thought to this matter, and searched it out in Scripture.  While there is no specific prohibition against cremation, I think there is reason to believe that a Christian should not choose it.  

If you search The Book for stories that involve the disposition of a body, you will find many.  In every case where the method is mentioned, the method of choice for God's people is burial.  There are many cases where a body is treated disrespectfully, and this is clearly significant in each case.  (Jezebel, for example.)   Also, any method other than burial seems to be seen as disrespectful.  I recall only one case where burning of the body is specifically condemned, and that is NOT the same as the modern practice of cremation.  

Amos 2:1
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

The reason I say this was different from our modern cremation is this:  Modern cremation burns away the flesh, leaving the bones only.  The bones are then ground up until they have the consistency of very coarse sand.  All flesh is long gone before you get to that point.  Even the ashes are mostly consumed. The bones are somewhat charred in places, but the "sand" is mostly white.  The reason for this is that it takes a LOT of energy to burn those bones to lime.  (Energy = $$) THIS is what is returned to the family - not ASHES at all, though that is the term that is used.  And no wonder - how would the industry sell people on the idea if they knew the truth?  

In this one case of a body being burned, it is VERY clear that it was done as an insult, and it is VERY clear that the Lord does NOT approve.

Now, it may be argued that the INSULT is what the Lord is rebuking, but it still remains that the burning of the bones to lime IS an insult.

Also, throughout the history of Israel, many times in a revival the idolatrous priests were burned on their own altars.  I think the context makes clear that this was the ultimate rejection of the persons and practices of the idolators.

As I said, this does not add up to a specific prohibition, but it is at least a strong hint!


Also, in the 9 months or so I was in the business, I did "pre-need" sales.  You have to understand that such "sales" are not like other sales.  People are uncomfortable, and they talk, even when no questions are asked.  They spill their guts, frankly.  Not always, but ususally.  When cremation was chosen, the motives were USUALLY given as money.  But I think that was mostly smokescreen.  Sometimes the motive seemed to be a sort of "chip on the shoulder".   "I'm proving that I'm not superstitious about a dead body!  It's just a piece of meat!  Mostly, though, I think the real reason was to try to prevent God from raising that person.  A few came right out and said that.  Most hinted at it.


On the positive side, I think the idea that the body is just meat and doesn't matter after death is anything BUT a Christian idea.  Clearly the early church, both in NT times and during the first century or so afterward, didn't act that way.  Bodies were treated with loving respect, and always buried.  The "meat" idea  is really a bastard offspring of Gnosticsm, I think.

Believers bodies will be raised from the DUST not from ASHES.  There is a difference between dust and ashes (1 Cor. 15:35-50).

So, sower, are you saying that God CANNOT raise people unless they are dust?  Or that He WILL NOT?   What then does He do about believers who go down in a shipwreck?  They certainly aren't dust.  Especially those who died centuries ago.  The atoms that made up those bodies are all over the world by now, in the ocean, in the air, in fishes bodies, maybe in YOUR body!
 

I think God can take care of the raising, no matter what we do with the body.  But I do think we are the losers if we treat the highest of God's creation with anything other than great care.

[hilkiah]

I'm pretty much neutral on the topic, but I think Quartus made great points.

After re-reading, I can't seem to correlate the topical differences of dust and ashes in 1 Cor. 15:35-50. There, I get the strong sense that He is quite capable of resurrecting us from whatever state our bodies are in. Emphasis is placed on the various differences of flesh, i.e. of human, beasts, fish, etc. This says to me that He, being the creator, is able to keep what we have committed to Him.

[Sower]

So, sower, are you saying that God CANNOT raise people unless they are dust?  Or that He WILL NOT?  

I am not suggesting that God cannot or will not raise people unless they are dust. What I am saying is that, God regards the human body as "grain" which is sown into the groundand that the harvest of resurrected saints corresponds to and fulfills the Feasts of the Lord and how they relate to Christ and His saints. Therefore ashes violate this symbolism and are unacceptable:

"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?  Thou fool, THAT WHICH THOU SOWEST IS NOT QUICKENED [MADE ALIVE] EXCEPT IT DIE: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body... IT IS SOWN A NATURAL BODY; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a NATURAL BODY, and there is a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:35-38; 44).

A body that has been cremated is an "UNNATURAL BODY", therefore violates the spiritual significance of death, burial and resurrection.

[Tibby]

So, we are to bury the bodys, then?