Is it pagan to cremate?

joshua28 said:

As I have opportunity, I will try to ask someone in the leadership of my church about uploading to YouTube. I have no doubts about our livestream being entirely child friendly.

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ViaCrucis said:

I believe burial is preferable, not as a command or requirement; but as a testimony of our belief in the resurrection. But unfortunately that isn't always possible, especially modern financial concerns and how terrible the death industry is.

So cremation isn't a problem. It's not like cremation is going to impede God's ability to take dust and ashes and restore a person to immortal and bodily life in the resurrection. But I do believe that burial is a powerful testimony of our belief in the resurrection of the body.

That's my position: burial is a testimony of our faith, something we are saying about the temporality of death because in Christ death is broken and death has died; and the importance and goodness of the body. But it's not required, and we should never permit people to have fear or doubt that, if a person is not buried, then the hope of the resurrection is in any way less. For God shall drag us up from dirt and sea and make us live forever in that glorious future Day He has purposed for all creation.

-CryptoLutheran

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joshua28 said:

Cremation most certainly is a problem for those who accept that the Bible is God's perfect Word that He has given to them to guide them for every good work. Not a single passage in Scripture supports cremation. Cremation is the exaltation of creaturely wisdom above divine revelation. It is an abomination that no believer should choose.

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ViaCrucis said:

If Scripture condemned cremation, this would be a valid argument. But Scripture is silent. I'm not about to condemn what God has not condemned. However I will still argue that burial is preferable because it is the historic practice of the Church, and because what burial says about our hope in the resurrection of the body.

-CryptoLutheran

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Amos 2:1-3 is direct divine speech that reveals fierce divine punishment on a pagan nation for burning the bones of a pagan king into lime:

Amos 2:1Thus 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: 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord.

God provided this revelation on purpose because He wanted to communicate truth not just about the sinful people involved–most importantly, He wanted to communicate truth about Himself and His mind.

To understand and profit fully from this revelation, we need to ponder the answers to two key questions:

What does this passage teach us about God?

Why does God want us to know this information?

If God judged the pagan Moabites for burning to powder a pagan king, what do the following verses imply about His mindset about those who burn the bodies of believers to powder?

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

We are a royal priesthood! We are kings unto our God and Father! We will reign on the earth!

Because God was intensely displeased when pagans burned the bones of a pagan king to powder, how much more intensely displeased is He when anyone burns the body of one of His royal saints to powder!

Our bodies belong to Him. We are not free to do whatever we want to them.

Through this revelation, He has made known that He does not want human bodies burned, etc. to powder (except when He may have specifically authorized it as a form of judgment). Burial—not cremation—is the mind of God for His own!

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