Cremation forbidden or encouraged within our Chrisitan cirlce?

[Deborah13]

I doubt if there are precise verses on it; however, there are verses that clearly state how Burials were carried out among the People of God (other than the burning thing) - the principle, permit me to call it.

So there aren't any verses where God mentions heathens burning their dead. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Deborah13]

Scattering them in a designated place seems to have more meaning to me.

Or burying them somewhere.

There's a big difference between dust and ashes. No cremation is NOT JUST FINE for Christians. It is a pagan ritual with pagan connotations.

imo, Your statement is a perfect example of why men are not qualified to make laws that effect a whole people.

I told my son that he can just set me out for the trash man when I die. Even as cheap as they are, don't waste money on my cremation.

That's the way I feel too. So I asked my daughter, who owns this 40 acres, if I could be buried here, no embalming etc, that's just gross. She said that was fine with her. $20.00 pine box and a hole by the cedar trees.

 

[jasonc]

Or burying them somewhere.

imo, Your statement is a perfect example of why men are not qualified to make laws that effect a whole people.

That's the way I feel too. So I asked my daughter, who owns this 40 acres, if I could be buried here, no embalming etc, that's just gross. She said that was fine with her. $20.00 pine box and a hole by the cedar trees.

Is that legal? Shoot your body if buried here like that would be a skeleton within weeks.

 

[Malachi]

So when we creameated German pows we had government involved on a pagan practice?

What does the government care about spiritual matters? God did not tell Adam "Ash thou art, and unto ash thou shalt return". But almost all the pagans make ashes out of their dead. Yet Daniel said this (Dan 12:2): And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. There is a big difference between "the dust of the earth" and ashes.

Jews and Christians have always buried their dead, and throughout the Bible believers as well all Israelites and Jews held to this practice. It is only after the New Agers (promoting Eastern religions) came on the scene that Christians have been diverted from this.

 

[Deborah13]

Is that legal? Shoot your body if buried here like that would be a skeleton within weeks.

Well, yes it's legal or I wouldn't do it.
Bodies are buried in Jewish cemeteries that are not embalmed. It is less harmful to the environment, too. The human body isn't any different than an animal's in decomposition. Can you bury a dog on your property? In some places in CO you can't.

The law in CO has always allowed for private land burials. There have always been family cemeteries on private land. The idea has become more popular over the last few years, so some new laws have been written in individual counties giving guidelines for that county. Here's a fairly recent article....
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23841718/natural-burials-an-option-that-is-cheaper-and

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Well, yes it's legal or I wouldn't do it.
Bodies are buried in Jewish cemeteries that are not embalmed. It is less harmful to the environment, too. The human body isn't any different than an animal's in decomposition. Can you bury a dog on your property? In some places in CO you can't.

The law in CO has always allowed for private land burials. There have always been family cemeteries on private land. The idea has become more popular over the last few years, so some new laws have been written in individual counties giving guidelines for that county. Here's a fairly recent article....
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23841718/natural-burials-an-option-that-is-cheaper-and

Deborah, just make sure your daughter doesn't forget which patch of thick green grass is over you and which one is over the septic tank.

 

[Obadiah]

There's a big difference between dust and ashes. No cremation is NOT JUST FINE for Christians. It is a pagan ritual with pagan connotations.

Pretty bold statement there based on your use of bold font and caps. But it seems you haven't really looked into this that deeply. The original Hebrew word translated to "dust" in some translations also just as correctly means ashes. So in God's word there is no difference between the English words "dust" and "ashes".

There are also pagans who practice burial, so by your logic, burial has to also be a pagan ritual which we must avoid.

I believe you are mistaken on both of these points.

 

[Obadiah]

What does the government care about spiritual matters? God did not tell Adam "Ash thou art, and unto ash thou shalt return". But almost all the pagans make ashes out of their dead. Yet Daniel said this (Dan 12:2): And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. There is a big difference between "the dust of the earth" and ashes.

Jews and Christians have always buried their dead, and throughout the Bible believers as well all Israelites and Jews held to this practice. It is only after the New Agers (promoting Eastern religions) came on the scene that Christians have been diverted from this.

Once again, you are very incorrect. This is the same error you made with the Genesis verse in your other post. The word dust could be just as correctly translated to ashes.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

There are also pagans who practice burial, so by your logic, burial has to also be a pagan ritual which we must avoid.

Which I was going to point out in my post, but didn't. Apparently the embalming and burial Joseph received in Egypt in preparation for his resurrected life in the Promised Land was gleaned from the Egyptian tradition for burial and preparation for the next life.

"26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt." (Genesis 50:26 NASB)

The difference being Joseph and his brothers did it for a different reason than the Egyptians who had a different hope for the afterlife than the Israelites had.

 

[jasonc]

Well, yes it's legal or I wouldn't do it.
Bodies are buried in Jewish cemeteries that are not embalmed. It is less harmful to the environment, too. The human body isn't any different than an animal's in decomposition. Can you bury a dog on your property? In some places in CO you can't.

The law in CO has always allowed for private land burials. There have always been family cemeteries on private land. The idea has become more popular over the last few years, so some new laws have been written in individual counties giving guidelines for that county. Here's a fairly recent article....
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_23841718/natural-burials-an-option-that-is-cheaper-and

Florida doesn't allow for dog or pet burials.

 

[Obadiah]

Which I was going to point out in my post, but didn't. Apparently the embalming and burial Joseph received in Egypt in preparation for his resurrected life in the Promised Land was gleaned from the Egyptian tradition for burial and preparation for the next life.

"26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt." (Genesis 50:26 NASB)

The difference being Joseph and his brothers did it for a different reason than the Egyptians who had a different hope for the afterlife than the Israelites had.

Exactly. In fact, if I remember correctly, the pagan Egyptian custom of embalming and burial with an afterlife involved was the origin of this practice as far as historians can figure out. And it was definitely pagan and idolatrous because it was done as part of their religion of worshiping the sun. So we can't condemn cremation because that's what some pagan religions practiced unless we also condemn burial because that was also practiced by pagan religions. In fact, by this kind of logic, we have to say Israel itself was guilty of paganism because they took the concept of burial from pagan religions that existed before them, such as the Egyptians sun worshiping.

It's really not the act or the process that matters to God. It's the reasons we do the things we do that matters.

 

[jasonc]

What does the government care about spiritual matters? God did not tell Adam "Ash thou art, and unto ash thou shalt return". But almost all the pagans make ashes out of their dead. Yet Daniel said this (Dan 12:2): And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. There is a big difference between "the dust of the earth" and ashes.

Jews and Christians have always buried their dead, and throughout the Bible believers as well all Israelites and Jews held to this practice. It is only after the New Agers (promoting Eastern religions) came on the scene that Christians have been diverted from this.

Oh pows.I might have the duty of that pagan ceremony.we did that at blanding.two of those
one of those still stands.so when the body is ashes.or fossilized as it has happened god can't raise the dead?ashes.that is what happens naturally.

 

[Deborah13]

It is only after the New Agers (promoting Eastern religions) came on the scene that Christians have been diverted from this.

You are not serious about the NEW AGERS thing are you? Here is what I see is different between pagan rituals and cremation.
"Protestant Churches approved cremation gradually after the First World War and the Spanish Flu. During the time between the world wars, the development of modern crematoriums also helped to differentiate Christian cremations from Pagan rites of burning the body on pyre. The first crematorium in Stockholm, Sweden, was built 1874. In Finland, the Helsinki Lutheran Parish Union built its first modern crematorium in 1926 which is still in use."

Pagan rites were about idolatry, not about caring for a dead body. Their rituals were all about worshiping false gods.

What you are saying is exacting what Paul said isn't true about clean and unclean foods, clothes, and other ritual purity laws.
It's not about what you eat or how you care for your dead, it's about which god you worship, a false god, or the true God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_in_the_Christian_World#Protestant_Churches

Deborah, just make sure your daughter doesn't forget which patch of thick green grass is over you and which one is over the septic tank.

The spot I have chosen is far away from the house and all water supplies on the property. It's the same place that my 1250 lb, horse is buried. My grave won't take a 10th of the size of his. It borders public land, so won't be affecting a neighbor's property either. Even if the land were sold, no one could build a home, drill for a well, or put in a septic system there, because it is too close to the property line.

 

[jasonc]

The buzzards shall eat me.lol

 

[Obadiah]

The buzzards shall eat me.lol

That's very environmentally friendly of you. Recycling yourself like that.

 

[jasonc]

That's very environmentally friendly of you. Recycling yourself like that.

Got to be a good steward.

 

[Malachi]

Protestant Churches approved cremation gradually after the First World War and the Spanish Flu.

What you forget to mention is that mainline Protestant denominations by that time had already succumbed to Theological Liberalism, so the Bible was irrelevant to what they did or taught. And note the word "gradually". Deep down they knew that they were violating the scriptural teaching regarding the disposal of dead bodies. And it is definitely New Age influence that has led to Christians accepting cremation as an alternative to burial.

"Crematorium" does not make cremation any different other than sanitizing it. The real issue is that Adam was not told that he was ash and would return to ash, and from the very beginning GOD'S PEOPLE ALWAYS BURIED THEIR DEAD. The word "buried" is a part of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:1-4). Every word in Scripture is significant, and for Christians it is the example of Christ which counts in all things.

While the Bible nowhere explicitly condemns cremation, most of the Biblical examples of burning people alive or dead involved dishonor or God’s punishment.

The Jews were burning their sons and daughters as an offering to pagan gods, so don't kid yourself that this was not a pagan practice. Visit India to find out what pagan cremation is all about.

 

[jasonc]

What you forget to mention is that mainline Protestant denominations by that time had already succumbed to Theological Liberalism, so the Bible was irrelevant to what they did or taught. And note the word "gradually". Deep down they knew that they were violating the scriptural teaching regarding the disposal of dead bodies. And it is definitely New Age influence that has led to Christians accepting cremation as an alternative to burial.

"Crematorium" does not make cremation any different other than sanitizing it. The real issue is that Adam was not told that he was ash and would return to ash, and from the very beginning GOD'S PEOPLE ALWAYS BURIED THEIR DEAD. The word "buried" is a part of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:1-4). Every word in Scripture is significant, and for Christians it is the example of Christ which counts in all things.
The Jews were burning their sons and daughters as an offering to pagan gods, so don't kid yourself that this was not a pagan practice. Visit India to find out what pagan cremation is all about.

I know Christians who have been creameated.they had a homecoming service. Talked about the pagan rapture.pagan ressurection.thanked Jesus for the redemption. Viewing up the body then creameation after the homecoming.so how on earth do you get that is pagan when Jesus was praised and honor and nothing about any false gods?

 

[jasonc]

well classic we could creameate you and place the remains in some soccer ball and donate it to Barcelona's team.

 

[Deborah13]

The Jews were burning their sons and daughters as an offering to pagan gods, so don't kid yourself that this was not a pagan practice. Visit India to find out what pagan cremation is all about.

They were offered to OTHER gODS. As OFFERINGS to please OTHER gODS. Not to mention these children offered had not died a natural death, they were put to death as offerings.

So are you saying that when we bury our dead we are offering our dead to God, so it must be done in a Christian way rather than a pagan way?