Question to my Christian FRIENDS.....what are your thoughts on cremation.....is it ok to burn?

Question

your body after death,......What are your thoughts......is there scripture that says different?

A friend asked me this question at work this morning.

I have my own personal beliefs......but i could be wrong considering i haven't studied the subject in the word.

Can you help me with this one friends! Thanks Pete

I do know that all the saint's were never burned ( cremated).....but that doesn't mean it is wrong.

Larry, i was meaning that none of the biblical Saints were never burned by there loved ones......Sorry if i wasn't clear enough. Thanks for the response

Answer 1

Many excellent answers here so far. I agree with about 80% of them which all show that cremation is fine -- no real problems.

Fire purifies, and that is better than having a rotting body full of germs here for maybe 200 or more years. The extra costs of caskets and fancy burial vaults are wasteful. Sadly, many funeral homes still promote the more costly burial plans.

Which way helps the planet and mankind better? Could you use the money, saved by cremation over complex burial boxes, to better serve our Brothers and Sisters here in the Family of God ? Would tossing the ashes at sea or in a flower garden be better for the earth and mankind ? Use no wasteful cemetery land and tombstones, but have long-term website memorials with multimedia ?

Our Father God (Christ before Incarnation here as Jesus) appeared to Moses as Light (burning fire) and Life (a living green bush) to Moses. Our loving Father God appears in all religions to many spiritual visionaries as Divine Fire Presence (no suntan problems in Pure Father-Son-Spirt Light of Life here !) See Blaise Pascal's, Charles Finney's or many other's, including my earlier brief statements on this sacred Vision of God here, also John 16:7-16 Rev 21:37
This Divine Fire is not to be feared. John the Baptist said that he merely baptized with water, but Jesus Christ will Fire Baptize you in the Holy Spirit of God !" True !

The next higher Heaven is a super-physical, invisible to our telescopes, Mansion World (very large sphere) expecially made by our Universe Creator Father-Son of God Jesus Christ for our continuing ascending perfection as beloved sons of God. Up there (soon !) we will be then given super-physical NEW bodies that would be to our first little human body down here probably as a large, new HD color TV would be to a six year old child's 4" pencil-drawing of a plain black and white TV set with a crude human stick-figure drawn in the crude rectangle for a TV screen.

Try to now imagine the much greater mind and even greater soul advances that we will achieve up there in seeking and doing God's will ! and then we ascend into the many ever higher Heavens into infinite, Eternal Paradise and God the Father-Infinite I AM ...

Our bodies up there? Our Spirit Luminosity (Light) pattern-forms up there will always be as God wills for us, and may also change according to the current spiritual Mission we are doing. Personality and spirit-mind relationships are both TRANSMISSIBLE and can be instantly projected --no mere speed of light limitations up on all Heavens higher than our "kindergarten heaven" earth.

Peace and progress,
Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian Truthist
http://www.PureChristians.org/ Gospel enlarging website,
proclaiming worldwide the True Religion
OF JESUS and ABOUT JESUS and IN JESUS
Come and share !

Answer 2

The Bible is silent on cremation.

I think people hesitate because the body is made in the image of God and because of the biblical resurrection of the body. How do you possibly put it all back together?

Well, that's a little ridiculous - but I do think that was, at one time, the thought process.

I personally wouldn't want to be cremated - but I don't think you can make a biblical case against it. I do think the Catholic church wants the ashed buried or at least kept in an urn.

Answer 3

God does not say anything about that. You are going back to dust anyway the cremation just makes it faster. So i would not see what would be wrong with it. The soul went on to wherever heaven or hell anyway so it is no longer with the body so i would not see what difference it makes weather one gets buried or cremated. IF they are a christian and ask you i guess really just pray about if that person gets uneasy feeling about i guess do not do it but it is really not against GOD so i would not really see why God would have problem with it.

Answer 4

I believe the Catholic Church prohibits or @ least discourages cremation. I have not personally seen anything in the Bible prohibiting it. The only scripture that comes to mind is 1Crinthians 13:3--"......though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity (love), it profits me nothing." based on this I would say it's a matter of personal choice. Perhaps someone who has studied the Bible more deeply than I could give a better answer.

Answer 5

I think it's perfectly ok to be cremated. I know many Christians who have been/plan to be; My mom, who was a true Christian woman, was cremated, and my dad already pre-paid to be, and my husband & I plan to be cremated. Since there is nothing in the Bible against it, I think it makes the most sense.

Answer 6

I read the answers so far. Most think it's a personal choice.
I'm glad because some people die in fires and explosions and are cremated by accident.
(I'm not a Christian, and won't be getting best answer, but I don't use QA for points.)

Answer 7

Hi Pete

Both my parents were cremated. I plan on it.

I see no issue with it. If God wants to restore my body he can do it with whatever raw materials he chooses.

Until (if/when) that happens, I won't be needing a body, so, in my view, cremation is fine

Regards

Answer 8

There's nothing in the Bible that specifically prohibits it. There are some references in the Old Testament to burning bodies: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%207:25;%201%20Samuel%2031:12;%202%20Kings%2023:20;%20Amos%202:1;6:10

In 1963, the Catholic Church lifted its prohibition forbidding Catholics to choose cremation. Canon 1176 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states, "The Church earnestly recommends the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed, it does not however, forbid cremation unless it has been chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching."

It was originally prohibited because it was seen as a pagan practice and contrary to the Christian idea that the body was sacred before and after death.

Some Christians object to cremation on the grounds that to be risen from the dead at judgment day, we must have a corporeal body.

1 Corinthians 15:35-55
It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

…Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (Excerpt Verses 42-44; 54-55 NLT)

1 Thessalonians 4:16
"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." (NIV)

• Most of the key people in the Old Testament were buried. In fact, it was considered a dishonor to the people of Israel not to receive a proper burial.

• Most of the people who were burned to death in the Bible were receiving a punishment.

Answer 9

I am not sure about scriptures talking about this subject. I know it is customary for Jews to not be cremated. I personally want to be cremated because I do not want to be buried alive. I know this sounds strange in today's society but that's just my personal opinion.

Answer 10

You were right, God's people in the Bible were buried when they die, but it doesn't mean cremation is wrong, or it is against the will of God. At the resurrection day we will all rise with a new body regardless of where we are and how we are buried.

What is more important is how we use our body while they are still intact and alive.