Should a Christian be Buried or Cremated? (1)
I have pondered this for sometime no one have given me a direct answer, accept my best friend Pastor Doris who passed away last year, this is my point of view.
Cremation
There are several common alternatives to burial. In cremation the body of the deceased is burned in a special oven. Most of the body is burnt during the cremation process, leaving only a few pounds of bone fragments. Bodies of small children and infants often produce very little in the way of "ashes", as ashes are composed of bone, and young people have softer bones, largely cartilage. Often these fragments are processed (ground) into a fine powder, which has led to cremated remains being called ashes. In recent times, cremation has become a popular option in the western world.
Marking the location of the burial
The earliest undisputed human burial dates back 130,000 years. Human skeletal remains stained with red ochre were discovered in the Skhul cave at Qafzeh, Israel. A variety of grave goods were present at the site.
Most modern cultures mark the location of the body with a headstone. This serves two purposes. First, the grave will not accidentally be exhumed. Second, headstones often contain information or tributes to deceased. This is a form of remembrance for loved ones; it can also be viewed as a form of immortality, especially in cases of famous people's graves. Such monumental inscriptions may subsequently be useful to genealogists and family historians.
Christian Burials
Historically, Christian burials were made supine east-west, with the head at the western end of the grave. This mirrors the layout of Christian churches, and for much the same reason; to view the coming of Christ on Judgment day. In many Christian traditions, ordained clergy are traditionally buried in the opposite orientation, and their coffins carried likewise, so that at the General Resurrection they may rise facing, and ready to minister to, their people.
What has the Bible say?
Arguments Against Cremation
My arguments are based on the biblical concept that one day the bodies of those who have died in Christ, will be resurrected and reunited with their souls and spirits. This teaching assumes that if a body has been destroyed by fire, it is impossible for it to be resurrected later and reunited to the soul and spirit.
· 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.
· Unless the cremated remains are interred in a perpetual care cemetery, there will be no permanent marker or place to honor and memorialize the life and death of the deceased for generations to come
· Just because a body has been destroyed by fire, doesn't mean God can't one day resurrect it in newness of life, to reunite it with the soul and spirit of the believer. If God could not do this, then all believers who have died in a fire are without hope of receiving their heavenly bodies.
· All flesh and blood bodies eventually decay and become like dust in the earth. Cremation simply speeds the process along. God is certainly able to provide a resurrected body for those who have been cremated. The heavenly body is a new, spiritual body, and not the old body of flesh and blood.