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Is Cremation Christian?

Classik said:
And some preserve the soot
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I don't think we should be worshiping the dead. That much I believe.

Even after my parents died, I realized my thanks really belonged to God for the blessing they were to my life. It's only by the grace of God that anyone or anything in this life is a blessing worth remembering or cherishing. So I focus the thanks and gratitude to him.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
I despise this flesh body. I'm looking forward to my new body.

I do not owe this old one an honorable burial. I do not want to honor it in any way.
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Nooooooooooooooooooo! I remember 600yrs ago when I was a kid....and I didn't like those scenes where those bodies were burnt. It made me lose interest in those indian movies. Burning dead bodies like I have said before sounds kind of cruel to me
 
Jethro Bodine said:
Like food sacrificed to idols, it depends on what's going on inside of you yourself, not what other people say it means.
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A lot of people (probably most) totally misunderstand what Paul says about eating meat offered to idols. He never says that it's ok to eat meat that has been offered to idols if you want to. What he says is that if you don't know, then don't ask. Assume that it hasn't been sacrificed, give thanks to God and eat it. But if you learn that the meat has been sacrificed to idols, then don't eat it. Paul was present at the apostolic council in Acts 15. One of the commandments they gave the Gentiles was to abstain from eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Even Jesus spoke against eating such meat.

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants[a] to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. (Rev. 2:18-20 ESV)​

If Jesus says it's wrong, and Paul told the Gentiles in Acts 15 that it was wrong, why do people say that there's nothing wrong with it?

The TOG​
 
I know we are under grace... Being under Grace does not make the OT disapear.

Bones were very important....
Gen_50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
Exo_13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

I pretty much agree with the last paragraph of the Lewis' post...


From the Christian perspective, burial is the pattern used in Scripture and has been historically followed by the church. Of course, it should be pointed out that cremation is no hindrance to the act, or event, of the resurrection. God, in His omnipotence, is certainly able, if He so chooses, to collect every atom and molecule, no matter where it is found in the universe, and reconstruct our same bodies in a glorified state. It does not follow from this, however, that cremation is an acceptable general practice. Whereas burial is an important practice and symbol in Scripture, cremation is a poor symbol of scriptural truth. While cremation is not an intrinsic evil, it nonetheless symbolically vitiates some important biblical truths. In this sense, cremation is a hindrance to the promotion of resurrection truth and should not be a regular practice of Christians. We thus conclude that all Christians should practice Christian burial unless extraordinary circumstances do not permit it.
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reba said:
I know we are under grace... Being under Grace does not make the OT disapear.

Bones were very important....
Gen_50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
Exo_13:19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

I pretty much agree with the last paragraph of the Lewis' post...
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Send me your address and I'll make arrangements for you to take care of my dead corpse accordingly, lol.
 
TOG said:
A lot of people (probably most) totally misunderstand what Paul says about eating meat offered to idols. He never says that it's ok to eat meat that has been offered to idols if you want to. What he says is that if you don't know, then don't ask. Assume that it hasn't been sacrificed, give thanks to God and eat it. But if you learn that the meat has been sacrificed to idols, then don't eat it. Paul was present at the apostolic council in Acts 15. One of the commandments they gave the Gentiles was to abstain from eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Even Jesus spoke against eating such meat.

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants[a] to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. (Rev. 2:18-20 ESV)​

If Jesus says it's wrong, and Paul told the Gentiles in Acts 15 that it was wrong, why do people say that there's nothing wrong with it?

The TOG​
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No, Paul said it's okay to eat meat used in a pagan ceremony. The only prohibition being under circumstances where the consideration of another person's conscience comes into play. Which in this day and age, at least here in the West means pretty much it never being prohibited.

False gods are nothing. They have no power to make meat that goes in and then out of the body, and not into the heart where it matters, unclean.

What happened in Thyatira was Jezebel was doing exactly what Paul said not to do in regard to meats sacrificed to idols. She was causing them to violate their consciences about the matter. That's where the foul was, not in the eating of the meat itself.
 
Classik said:
Nooooooooooooooooooo! I remember 600yrs ago when I was a kid....and I didn't like those scenes where those bodies were burnt. It made me lose interest in those indian movies. Burning dead bodies like I have said before sounds kind of cruel to me
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Then start saving for your expensive and over-blown funeral service.

...and those of whom in your family that you will be expected to bury.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
No, Paul said it's okay to eat meat used in a pagan ceremony.
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I don't want to derail the thread, but if he said it's okay, then why did he agree to this?

Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20 ESV)

And in case there's any doubt about what "polluted by idols" means...

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. (Acts 15:28-29)​

Like I said, I don't want to derail the thread, but if this is being used to support a specific view on cremation, then it is relevant.

The TOG​
 
Jethro Bodine said:
When we had garbage pick up in Florida, I used to tell my family that when I die just set my corpse out for the garbage man.

I told my son, get me embalmed to satisfy the law, and just bury me out back. That may be even cheaper than cremation(?). I thought it would be cool to have a grave stone on your property anyway.
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I've only ever done that with pets. Although apparently it's illegal in some states....


When my cat from a long time ago died, we put her body in a suitcase, buried it, and then a day or two later a wood cross was placed on the grave site. The cross was eaten by termites, though, and gradually just disappeared.
 
I've only ever had one pet. It was a turtle, and when it died, I put it on the compost heap.

The TOG​
 
I've had some kind of pet for like 95% of my life. Fish and birds when I lived in an apartment, and dogs and cats otherwise.

Birds, when they died we always flushed them down the toilet. I think one we buried in the woods...and then a few days later this kid who was a friend of mine at the time comes to my door with a dead bird hanging off his hand--my bird. Apparently he dug him up somehow.
And I tried burying a fish once--as soon as I was done my dog dug him up and ate him. Guess she was thinking fresh sushi.
 
so lets see lets waste land here and in all 50 as once land is used for a cemetery that is all it is. I have been to an abandoned cemetery that just now got some work done to it. now then lets say im poor and im dying and I have no insurance, should I then ask for my kin to borrow 10k to bury me(what about placing them in debt?)or just save them some money buy borrowing less? yes we should plan I have life insurance
 
I've attended a funeral service where the body was buried in a copper vault. Very expensive. I can help but wonder, "What are they thinking???"

God, in His omnipotence, is certainly able, if He so chooses, to collect every atom and molecule, no matter where it is found in the universe, and reconstruct our same bodies in a glorified state.
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Do we really believe that God, in His omnipotence, must resort to finding each and every atom and molecule so that He might fit us back together like a picture puzzle???

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What is gross to me and dishonoring is the embalming process. Who came up with the idea of preserving the body in this way? Was it the Egyptians? That whole thing is just plan awful. Talk about destroying the body then pumping it full of poisons. http://www.jewish-funeral-guide.com/tradition/embalming.htm

If I remember correctly the Jews even today do not embalm their dead and funeral and burial are done very quickly. They have their own funeral people who do this and their own cemeteries. jasoncran would know for sure.
So if burial is to be done like the Bible it would be done like the Jews and Christians would not be buried in secular cemeteries. (that's why the RCC has their own).
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/510874/jewish/Why-Does-Jewish-Law-Forbid-Cremation.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/281548/jewish/Autopsy-and-Embalming.htm

Note - In this country it is not law that one must be embalmed. If one is to be buried whole then embalming can be a problem. The life is in the blood. Special arrangements need to be made for the collection of the drained blood and other fluids to be buried with the rest of the body. It may be difficult to find a mortuary that will do this, I don't know. In the chabad article it says that even the clothes that may have blood on them are buried with the body.

The Jews do not have viewing of dead bodies and I agree. One's last memory of the person can hopefully be in life not death.

It's also interesting in the OT that one had to be cleansed, spiritually as well as physically, after handling a dead body? The High Priest was not allowed to attend the funeral of a loved one?

So is Jewish tradition Biblical, I'd say pretty close to the OT. NT does not address any laws for burial.

So I'm with Jethro Bodine on this one. Pray, search your heart, follow what the Holy Spirit puts on your conscious.
 
People have talked a lot about the cost of burials as opposed to cremation, so I decided to see what info I could find on it. I found an online calculator, where you can make a comparison. Burying the body can cost from $6800 to over $13000, depending on what extras you want. Cremation can cost from $1700 TO $9800. A "fancy" cremation with all the extras can cost more than a simple burial. Least expensive of all is donating the body to medical science, which can cost as little as $300.

The TOG​
 
TOG said:
People have talked a lot about the cost of burials as opposed to cremation, so I decided to see what info I could find on it. I found an online calculator, where you can make a comparison. Burying the body can cost from $6800 to over $13000, depending on what extras you want. Cremation can cost from $1700 TO $9800. A "fancy" cremation with all the extras can cost more than a simple burial. Least expensive of all is donating the body to medical science, which can cost as little as $300.

The TOG​
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Some people are cremated in a fancy coffin rather than a cardboard box.

I actually thought about donating my body to a body farm. Seeing it was pumped full of chemo drugs it could definitely make a difference in decomposition and even what bugs would eat it. It could give scientists a better understand of what those drugs and chemicals actually do to the human body.
 
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