SharonL said:
My friend says the Bible says cremation will send you straight to Hell.
He will not discuss it or tell me where the Bible says this.
Do any of you believe this and if so where do you find it in the Bible.
I have never seen this in the Bible and do not believe it.
Any comments
Roman Catholics believe it and no it's not in the bible, its in the law of the Roman Catholic church. (Read man made law).
The tradition throughout Israel was to wrap the dead in linen after annointing it with oil and perfume ..this gets gruesome...letting the flesh rot off the bones. Once it was just the bones left, they put the bones in a small box or suplecre and placed the box in a family tomb or cave. The box usually had a Hebrew inscription on it as to who's bones were inside. Because there wasnt enough space in Israel for cemetaries like we have in the US, they used this as a "space saver".
While the bible speaks of this tradition over and over when it speaks of death and burial, it does not condemn cremation specifically or the "non" use of the traditional burial rite.
Since what makes us, us, is our soul and not our flesh, when the resurrection comes, God will restore our body into its Glorified body from wherever and from whatever God needs. He created it all from dust (Adam), he can recreate it all if He needs to.
If He didnt want us to do it and it would have specifically doomed us to Hell for doing it, He would have specifically stated such in the Bible so that there wouldn't have been any misunderstandings about the law and its consequences. I believe that about ANYTHING that man says will send them to Hell. If it is either "interpreted" or "inferred" from the bible and it isnt mentioned specifically in the Bible as a law, then it wont.
The Bible actually does not give any specific teaching about cremation. Cremation was practiced in Biblical times, but it was not commonly practiced by the Hebrews or by New Testament believers. Some believers object to the practice of cremation on the basis that it does not recognize that one day God will resurrect our bodies and re-unite them with our soul and spirit (1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). However, the fact that a body has been cremated does not make it any more difficult for God to resurrect a body. The bodies of Christians who died a thousand years ago have completely turned into dust by now – and God will be able to raise their bodies. Cremation does nothing but “expedite” the process of turning a body into dust. God is equally able to raise a person’s remains that have been cremated as He is the remains of a person who was not cremated.