Burial vs Cremation

[Elisha1961]

Hi
I have been off the board for a while for a variety of reasons, but felt it was time to come back. It feels good to be back.

Not sure where this should go so I am placing it here.

A friend of mine is dying of cancer, slowly. He is ready to go Home. That is not even in question. But what we have been discussing is is it wrong to be cremated? There does not seem to be scripture either way that we have seen. I know it is not a matter of losing your salvation or anything, but just wondering what the general or specific beliefs are.

All views and opinions are welcome. Thank you!

Elisha

 

[DarcyWillow]

1s Corinthians 15:50 " I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable."

The body, once completely decomposed, will be as dust.

The Lord will raise us up, and give us a new body. So it doesn't matter what you do with your old one

 

[theVirginian]

The body, once completely decomposed, will be as dust.

Yep. Cremation just speeds the process up.


I can't find it now, but there is an OT verse where God tells the Israelites not to cremate their dead "as the pagans do". It was worded in a way that it seemed that God wasn't against cremation, He just didn't like the importance pagan religions put on it. I haven't studied it, but I assume the pagans thought that cremation was part of a cleansing process for the afterlife. So, as long as cremation is seen as just a way to dispose of the body, there isn't any conflict with the Bible.

 

[dead2self]

I think either way is fine. Cremation amongst the pagans was a religious thing so if Israel was told not to so as to distance themselves from the pagans. (I cannot offhand recall if the verse is specifically against cremation or human sacrifices in the fire).

Anyway, the other posters are right in that no matter what happens to our bodies, at the resurrection we will be raised with new immortal bodies.

 

[TheDag]

Hi
I have been off the board for a while for a variety of reasons, but felt it was time to come back. It feels good to be back.

Not sure where this should go so I am placing it here.

A friend of mine is dying of cancer, slowly. He is ready to go Home. That is not even in question. But what we have been discussing is is it wrong to be cremated? There does not seem to be scripture either way that we have seen. I know it is not a matter of losing your salvation or anything, but just wondering what the general or specific beliefs are.

All views and opinions are welcome. Thank you!

Elisha

I agree that the bible is silent on the topic therefore whatever is chosen is fine. However in making that choice i would bring a few factors into consideration. While a funeral home may try and tell you you need to put ashes or coffin in a plot in a cemetary you don't need to. They usually tell you this because they also own the cemetary and it will be extra money for them. A funeral director i met told me his philosophy was if you wearn't prepared to spend money on someone while they were alive why spend it on them when they are dead. So this means get a nice looking coffin but don't go all elaborate. Simple polished and coloured wood is all you need and maybe suggest to people to make donations to a charity instead of flowers. Maybe a cancer charity in this case. The two things that drives up prices as far as florisats are concerned are the words 'wedding' and 'funeral'. These are just a couple of suggestions to keep costs down. Naturally ask your friend what they want. I've told my wife that I want something simple and I want to be cremated and then the ashes can be put anywhere. (maybe thrown from a lookout in a favourite hiking area of mine) Then see if you can go and purchase a funeral plan now for what your friend wants so after they have been promoted to glory (salvation army terminology) and your grieving then you can't be emotionally blackmailed into getting expensive fancy stuff that they don't care about.

 

[Elisha1961]

Thanks for the replies. Have been through the funeral planning process and have tried to talk to her about songs scripture that she would like for the service but has not said a whole lot yet. We have talked about this over the years before the cancer. Have talked to my Folks about it to and they refuse to deal with it. Both my folks and my friend were raised to not deal with it.

Any way I noticed I am rambling...thanks for your replies I will share them with her.