Is Cremation a choice for the deceased Christians ?

Archivist

Senior Veteran
Supporter
Mar 5, 2004
17,332
6,425
Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
✟571,140.00
Country
United States
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Democrat
The end result is the same whether a body is buried or cremated. If you want to read about the process of decomposition check out "What Happens to a Body After death," available at http://www.memorialpages.co.uk/articles/decomposition.php. Please note that this is not for the squeamish.

My personal view is that it doesn't matter.
 
Upvote 0

Paul Yohannan

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2016
3,886
1,587
43
Old Route 66
✟34,744.00
Faith
Oriental Orthodox
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Republican
I hadn't heard that perspective before. Interesting.
As Paul also refers to the body as a tent, and a jar of clay, I suppose I've tended towards the view that it doesn't matter what happens to my body after I have no further use for it. Which includes taking whatever organs they like to help someone else.

There is no Orthodox Christian objection to organ donation btw, provided people aren't deemed "beating heart cadavers" and harvested for parts when there is a possibility of recovery. There have been disturbing reports of some abuses in the practices concerning the certification of brain death.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Strong in Him
Upvote 0

Paul Yohannan

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2016
3,886
1,587
43
Old Route 66
✟34,744.00
Faith
Oriental Orthodox
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Republican
LOL. You're right there! I'll just rest in the knowledge that being cremated ain't gonna send me to hell.

In Japan cremation is required by law, and there is a growing Orthodox Church there.

We merely do not do funerals for people who voluntarily elect to be cremated.
 
Upvote 0

John Hyperspace

UnKnown ReMember
Oct 3, 2016
2,385
1,272
53
Hyperspace
✟35,143.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Only one reaction can truly capture the essence of what I'm feeling:

00085fr6.gif~c200
 
Upvote 0

JackRT

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Oct 17, 2015
15,722
16,445
80
small town Ontario, Canada
✟767,295.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Unorthodox
Marital Status
Married
Upon death the remains should be treated with respect and that is just as possible with cremation as it is with embalming and traditional burial (which I regard with great distaste). Paul makes it quite clear that resurrection is spiritual not physical. I will be cremated and my ashes scattered on a wild river.
 
Upvote 0

Paul Yohannan

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2016
3,886
1,587
43
Old Route 66
✟34,744.00
Faith
Oriental Orthodox
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Republican
Paul makes it quite clear that resurrection is spiritual not physical.

This is of course inaccurate, as it is made clear our resurrection will follow that of our Lord which was physical. "We shall be changed" does not equate to eschatological docetism.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ViaCrucis
Upvote 0

Jacob Deng

Active Member
Dec 21, 2016
59
31
27
Melbourne
✟20,062.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Is cremation Biblical ?
How would God resurrect us if nothing is left of our body.


May Jesus bless you all HalleluYAH
I just hope you know that you are a spirit, the body is only needed to function in this world, also there's enough example of amazing things God has done in the bible to let you know that he can do... anything and everything really.
 
Upvote 0

Basil Isaacks

Active Member
Nov 2, 2016
48
35
73
Mesa, Arizona
✟11,048.00
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Private
Is cremation Biblical ?
How would God resurrect us if nothing is left of our body.


May Jesus bless you all HalleluYAH

How about those who have died in shipwrecks, such as the Titanic, where absolutely NOTHING is left. Cremation does NOT destroy corpses totally, Ashes and even bone fragments remain

There was a time when our physical bodies did not exist. The God allowed our bodies to come into existence by natural means He invented.

So God can easily call our physical bodies back into existence, even if no physical traces reman.

This, I realize, doest NOT answer the question about the propriety of cremations ini any form of Christianity. The Orthodox Church forbids it, unless one deceases as a result of a terrible infectuous and communicable disease.

Christ is baptized! In the Jordan!
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Paul Yohannan
Upvote 0

BeachBabe87

Active Member
Jan 5, 2017
45
18
37
Sisters, OR
✟18,899.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Engaged
Absolutely is an option. From dust we come and dust we shall return. We are also not under law. There's nothing about burial that has any eternal consequence on us. Do funeral pyres in India mean people don't go to heaven? Or what about the Sky Burial in Tibet where the dead bodies are cut up and fed to vultures. What about people who die out in the wilderness and are eaten by a bear, does that matter? Or how about the one who dies in the ocean and their body never recovered? Or the one who dies in a fiery car crash. Come on really is cremation even a question that needs asking? It's just another form of returning to dust. God created us, he doesn't need a physical body to resurrect us when Christ returns and we meet up with Him in the air.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Monk Brendan

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Jul 21, 2016
4,636
2,875
72
Phoenix, Arizona
Visit site
✟294,430.00
Country
United States
Faith
Melkite Catholic
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Others
Is cremation Biblical ?
How would God resurrect us if nothing is left of our body.

I am against cremation. With that said, I have to rely of the Church and the state to take care of my remains after I have died.

However, if God can collect all of your tears and place them in a bottle (Psalm 56:8 KJV) “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” Can He also not find the component atoms and molecules and bring them back together to form your body?

I think He can, and I am trusting Him to do so.
 
Upvote 0

JackRT

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Oct 17, 2015
15,722
16,445
80
small town Ontario, Canada
✟767,295.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Unorthodox
Marital Status
Married
I am reminded of the poem "Horatius at the Bridge". One stanza reads:

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?"
 
Upvote 0

prodromos

Senior Veteran
Supporter
Nov 28, 2003
21,434
11,980
58
Sydney, Straya
✟1,167,694.00
Country
Australia
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Upon death the remains should be treated with respect and that is just as possible with cremation as it is with embalming and traditional burial
The bones remain after cremation and have to be crushed into powder. Not unlike having your body passed through a grinder. Do you find that to be "respectful treatment" of the body?
 
Upvote 0

Goodbook

Reading the Bible
Jan 22, 2011
22,090
5,106
New Zealand
Visit site
✟78,865.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
In Relationship
Cremation of Gods image ie His creation is abomination to God.

Read your bible.

Further scripture.. Deuteronomy 12:28-32

Especially verse 31

It is CLEARLY commanded in Gods word that his chosen do NOT follow pagan practices and other gods.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Paul Yohannan
Upvote 0

Goodbook

Reading the Bible
Jan 22, 2011
22,090
5,106
New Zealand
Visit site
✟78,865.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
In Relationship
When God destroyed Sodom and Gommorah, it was by fire and brimstone and turned to ash. Lots wife was NOT saved, nor will she be resurrected.

Read the whole of 2 Peter...for those that insist on false doctrine in the end will be destroyed by their own words.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Archivist

Senior Veteran
Supporter
Mar 5, 2004
17,332
6,425
Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
✟571,140.00
Country
United States
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Democrat
The bones remain after cremation and have to be crushed into powder. Not unlike having your body passed through a grinder. Do you find that to be "respectful treatment" of the body?
Is that really any different than what nature does go a dead body after it is buried?
 
Upvote 0

prodromos

Senior Veteran
Supporter
Nov 28, 2003
21,434
11,980
58
Sydney, Straya
✟1,167,694.00
Country
Australia
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Is that really any different than what nature does go a dead body after it is buried?
Nature respects the holy. Many have been revealed as Saints by the fact that their relics have remained incorrupt. Instead of crumbling into dust their bones remain whole and often smell of myrrh, some even exuding myrrh for centuries as is the case with St Dimitrios of Thessaloniki. Many other miracles surround the relics of the Saints, just like the man who was brought back to life after touching the bones of Elisha.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Paul Yohannan
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Strong in Him

Great is thy faithfulness
Supporter
Mar 4, 2005
27,773
7,919
NW England
✟1,041,799.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Cremation of Gods image ie His creation is abomination to God.

Read your bible.

I have, and it doesn't say that.
Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, but it was not until he put his breath, or Spirit, into them that they lived - see also valley of dry bones.
When a person dies, they stop breathing, and their spirit leaves them.
Paul calls the body a tent, and also a jar of clay. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit while we are alive, but is also something which is temporal. I'm not aware of any Scripture which says that God continues to live in a dead body.

It is CLEARLY commanded in Gods word that his chosen do NOT follow pagan practices and other gods.

Cremating a dead body is not worshipping, or following, another god.
 
Upvote 0