If Christians believe only in the spirit after death, why are they so concerned about the burial ritual?

Question

burial ritual being the whole process, and in particular the preparation (imbalming) of the body.

Answer 1

i've never known that and plan to arrange for my body to be uncerimoniously dumped into a puddle at central park after it rains.

Answer 2

It's part of the grieving process in letting loved ones say goodbye. In the olden days, embalming didn't exist and the body would start to smell relatively quickly. At first, people used oils and perfumes to hide the stench and eventually the science got better. By embalming, it allows for family and friends the time necessary to gather and say their last goodbyes from a physical perspective. Everything in religion is a ritual and has symbolic meaning. If you think about it, most things in life are ritualistic even if they are not religious based (for the coffee lovers, it's coffee in the morning).....so, the embalming process and ritual burials don't take away from the belief in spirit life after death. It enhances the experience, spiritually. I would even go as far as to say if we didn't believe in life after death, there would be no ritual burials at all.

Answer 3

Many Christians cremate nowadays. I've attended several church funerals where the departed was "cremains".

After imbalming, the process of decay start within 24 hours. The imbalming is done not as a "Christian ritual", but by the undertaker to preserve the body long enough for the funeral. Eventually it does completely decay after burial.

In other words, even Christians don't want to smell a decaying corpse during a funeral.

Christians...we're so silly, aren't we? I mean with our embalming our dead relatives all the time, and thinking we're too good to smell rotting flesh. We need to get over ourselves! LOL!

Answer 4

I don't know how concerned ANYBODY is with the burial ritual... For some, it's a way of closure for their relationship - a way to say, "goodbye for now..."
As for me, I prefer the memorial service - no casket/body - just people sharing their memories of the dearly departed...
And by the way, we Christians are promised a new body for our spirits after passing from this life to the next...

Answer 5

The preparation of the body is for sanitary purposes. The burial ritual isn't for the deceased, it's for the living who've been left behind, to help them cope with their loss. It's also to pay respects to the dead. I don't know anyone who is especially worried about how they'll be buried or the rituals involved.

Answer 6

The burial is for the family and loved ones left behind. And it's also the law. We don't have a choice. Personally, I would rather it was done the way it was years ago. We will have no more use for this body after we die.

Answer 7

It has it's roots in the Jewish and Egyptian burial practices and beleif that the body is needed in the next world.
On judgement day the spirit reenters the body and you enter heaven, or hell, intact.
No, it makes no sense, but it all tracks back to the Egyptians that beleived that the afterlife was just a continuation of life as they knew it, after they underwent "judgement". That is why they were buried with their slaves, food, soldiers, horses, jewelry, furniture, etc.

Answer 8

First of all, the Bible does not agree with embalming our bodies - burial would be the right thing to do. And I don't necessarily care about how I am buried. But as family and friends, I believe that if we truly care about our loved ones, we give them best funeral and casket - that sounds so morbid but it is true. We want to show to them how much we appreciate them so we go all out on burial things instead of lavishing our thanks and gifts to them while they are still alive.

Answer 9

Good point. I know for myself, it'll be cremation with none of the other BS. Who wants to look at a dead corpse ? If the spirit is supposedly gone from the human remains, why view the body ? I think it's all very useless. I realize some immediate family need to view a body for "closure", so I'd only allow my kids to see me that way. ~

Answer 10

Cultural conditioning. At least in the largest part of "American" culture, the tradition is to embalm the body, display it, and then bury it.

Psychologically, this is also important because it helps those left behind to process the death in their own minds. It assists in the grieving process. Helps to reconcile the thought of their own mortality, to those who have to face it in someone they loved.

Answer 11

Actually, you're right. I have heard that in the Kingdom of Heaven there will be no bodies, just spirits. However, I have also heard that when Jesus comes on Earth for the second time, our bodies will ressurect or something. Weird...