DO YOU BELIEVE CREMATION IS A VIABLE OPTION?

[Digital_Angel_316]

Please state your reasons by posting responses, thank you for participating.

WHY CREMATION?
There are numerous reasons why people choose cremation, and the decision is a very
personal one, whether for someone planning their own services in order to alleviate their
family from that burden, to family members choosing cremation as a loving and
respectful way to memorialize their loved one. Research has shown the following nine
factors as considerations in the cremation decision:

* People are dying older and choosing cremation for themselves.
* Migration to retirement locations is increasing.
* Cremation has become acceptable.
* Environmental considerations are becoming more important.
* Level of education is rising.
* Ties to tradition are becoming weaker.
* Regional differences are diminishing.
* Religious restrictions are diminishing.
* Greater flexibility in memorialization services.

REASONS FOR CREMATION
According to the funeral-industry sponsored Wirthlin Report from 2006, the five primary
reasons why cremation is chosen are as follows.

1. Saves Money (30%)
2. Saves Land (13%)
3. Simpler (8%)
4. Body Not in Earth (6%)
5. Personal Preference (6%)

TYPES OF SERVICES
The type of service you request will be the determining factor in what the cost will be.

* Cremation with visitations and embalming
* Cremation with visitation – ask about a Rental casket
* Memorial service – with the cremated remains or without
* Church service
* Direct cremation with no service.

Link -->> Cremation Association of North America (CANA)

 

[Kathleen]

I went with option 3, i dont think its biblical. All Christians morals and values and the way they live, should come from the Bbible, from parrables, laws or examples, set in the bible.

There is no better example of how our body should be after death, than that of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. As Christians, we should be trying to be as like him as possible. Burial, and not cremation, i belive, is the way God intended it.

God Bless

 

[IQ]

Personally. I don't see anything in the Bible about it one way or the other - so since it there is no other reasonable cause for burial, given the expense etc.. Why not?
If it is important according to the Bible... Not saying it is. Given the restrictions on asset ownership for the disabled, it would then be a responsibility of the church to ensure that a burial fund at perhaps some group rate, maybe church held burial plots etc... Would be provided for those who die with out the resources for a burial. A paupers field - like the old days.

 

[Megatron]

I went with option 3, i dont think its biblical. All Christians morals and values and the way they live, should come from the Bbible, from parrables, laws or examples, set in the bible.

There is no better example of how our body should be after death, than that of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. As Christians, we should be trying to be as like him as possible. Burial, and not cremation, i belive, is the way God intended it.

God Bless

Well judging by the fact that I probably won't be miraculously resurrected after three days of being dead..due to me not being the son o God and all...i think this might be the weakest argument. Especially since our bodies are just earthly vessels, i really dont think it matters what happens to them when we die. You could sell mine to science or feed it to a pack of rapid wolves for all im concerned

 

[Digital_Angel_316]

Well judging by the fact that I probably won't be miraculously resurrected after three days of being dead..due to me not being the son o God and all...i think this might be the weakest argument. Especially since our bodies are just earthly vessels, i really dont think it matters what happens to them when we die. You could sell mine to science or feed it to a pack of rapid wolves for all im concerned

Thank you for addressing or at least bringing up the Biblical aspects or concerns related to
Cremation. It should be considered what 'resurrection of the dead' and similar concepts
from scripture mean in practical application. I would like to see more discussion on this.

 

[Digital_Angel_316]

....................................................BURIAL ... CREMATION
Permitted in Islam: .................... Yes .......... No
Permitted in Christianity: ......... Yes .......... Yes
Permitted in Hinduism: ............. No ........... Yes
Permitted in Judaism: ............... Yes .......... No (except liberal Jews)
Permitted in the Bahá'í faith: ... Yes .......... No
Zoroastrianism: ........................... No ........... No

* Eastern religions of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism mandate open air cremation.
* Islam forbids cremation and mandates burial.
* The Christian world, which for many years was opposed to cremation, has come to a
greater acceptance of cremation over the past century.
* The Bahai faith also forbids cremation.
* Zoroastrians believe that neither cremation nor burial is the right way to dispose of the
deceased. Their traditional method of corpse disposal is through ritual exposure in a
"Tower of Silence

A Brief History

Cremation has been practiced for millennia. Archaeologists believe it was invented during
the Stone Age, about 3000 B.C. It became the most common method of disposing of
bodies in ancient Greece and Rome, and was introduced to Western world by the Greeks
as early as 1000 B.C. Greeks had first used it as a way of providing burial for soldiers
—those slain in foreign lands were incinerated on the battlefield; their ashes were then
gathered and sent home for funerals attended by family and fellow citizens.

The early Christian church initially rejected the practice because of its association with
the Pagan societies of Greece and Rome. When Christianity became the official religion of
the Roman Empire, and the followers of other religions were exiled or exterminated,
burial became the only method of disposing of bodies throughout Europe. Christianity
didn’t expressly forbid cremation, but there was concern that cremation would prevent
resurrection of the body.

* Another worry was a shortage of wood—cremation, as done then, required a lot of
timber for pyres.

* Still, cremation found favor in emergencies. During an outbreak of Black Death in 1656,
60,000 bodies were burned in Naples in a single week!

* In 1886, the Roman Catholic Church officially banned cremation. As recently as World
War II, church members were excommunicated for arranging cremation.

* Although cremation has now been done in America for about 125 years, it didn’t really
take root here until about 25 years ago. Now about 1 in 4 Americans chooses cremation
over traditional burial. Cremation gains favor as society becomes more secular. The trend
is fueled by changes in not only religious thought, but also social values and even
scientific knowledge. The practice has become common in Europe and Asia faster than in
the U.S. It is now almost universal in Japan.

* The Roman Catholic Church has announced that cremation is not prohibited. The
Orthodox Jewish religion, however, continues to forbid it.

* Modern cremations do not use open fires or copious quantities of firewood.

* [Depending on various Federal and State and local laws] Remains can be scattered in a
place of significance, and those left behind can enjoy the peace of knowing their loved one
is spending eternity in a special place. Alternatively, remains can be buried in an urn in
the family plot; this option, however, significantly reduces the monetary savings.

* On a last note, cremation can be used to cover murder. A cremated body cannot be
exhumed and analyzed for evidence.


Effect on the environment

Although cremation was promoted after the Second World War as environmentally
preferable to burial, modern thinking is challenging this. Gas is consumed in the process
and harmful pollutants are released into the atmosphere. The major emissions from
crematories are: nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter,
mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), NMVOCs, and other heavy
metals, in addition to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP). According to the United Nations
Environment Programme report on POP Emission Inventory Guidebook, emissions from
crematoria contribute 0.2% of the global emission of dioxins and furans.

Natural decomposition after burial seems less harmful to the environment, especially
when a shroud rather than a coffin is used.

However, burial is also a known source of certain environmental contaminants.
Embalming fluids, for example, are known to contaminate groundwater with mercury,
arsenic and formaldehyde. The coffins themselves are another known source of
contamination. Another concern is contamination from radioisotopes that entered the
body before death or burial. One possible source of isotopes is radiation therapy, although
no accumulation of radiation occurs in the most common type of radiation therapy
involving high energy photons. However, cremation has no effect on radioisotopes other
than to return them to the environment more rapidly (beginning with some spread into
the air). Thus, cremation is of no overall help with pollution from this source.

According to the Federation of British Cremation Authorities, there were 424,956
cremations held in the UK in 2004. This figure represents 70.8% of all deaths. Consider
that a cremator needs to operate at 760-1150C for 75 minutes per cremation and it's
easy to see how much energy is required. In fact, a cremator uses about 285 kiloWatt
hours of gas and 15kWh of electricity on average per cremation - roughly the same
domestic energy demands as a single person for an entire month.

Aside from the considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions this creates, cremation
is also responsible for 16% of the UK's mercury pollution (via our dental fillings),
according to the Environment Agency. The industry has been told that all 650 crematoria
must halve mercury emissions by 2012, but, ironically, one way to do this is to cremate at
a higher temperature, thereby leading to more emissions.

Then there are the materials used to make a coffin. Wooden coffins are either made from
solid oak or pine, or more likely (89%, in fact) from veneered chipboard, which is bonded
with a formaldehyde resin. All of which, of course, will end up being burnt and entering the
atmosphere.

But these materials also enter the ground if burial is the preferred option, as do
embalming chemicals - also formaldehyde-based - which can, over time, enter the
watercourse. So even in death we're not let off the hook when it comes to considering our
environmental impact.

For example, each year, 22,500 cemeteries across the United States bury approximately
827,060 gallons of embalming fluid which includes formaldehyde and other hazardous
chemicals. Buried caskets contain 90,272 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze
and 30-plus million board feet of hardwoods. Cremation and burial vaults contain
1,636,000 tons of reinforced concrete and 14,000 tons of steel. These statistics were
complied from some very reliable sources which include: Casket and Funeral Association
of America, Cremation Association of North America, Doric Inc., The Rainforest Action
Network, and Mary Woodsen, Pre-Posthumous Society.

In addition, Casket manufacturers are listed on the EPA’s top 50 hazardous waste
generators list due to chemicals such as methyl and xylene used in the protective finish
sprayed on the caskets exterior.

On the surface cremation seems like a more friendly and convenient way to deal with the
bodily remains of a loved one. But, let’s consider the impact of this truly industrial
process. Like most modern, natural-gas devices, the technology is becoming more
efficient and clean burning; however the amount of non-renewable fossil fuel needed to
cremate bodies in North America is equivalent to a car making 84 trips to the Moon and
back… each year.

solar-powered crematoria have been proposed to help save the millions of tonnes of
wood burnt each year cremating India's dead.

Space / Land Use

Yet another environmental concern, of sorts, is that traditional burial takes up a great
deal of space. In a traditional burial the body is buried in a casket made from a variety of
materials. In America the casket is often placed inside a concrete vault or liner before
burial in the ground. While individually this may not take much room, combined with other
burials it can over time cause serious space concerns. Many cemeteries, particularly in
Japan and Europe as well as those in larger cities, have run out, or are starting to run out,
of permanent space. In Tokyo, for example, traditional burial plots are extremely scarce
and expensive, and in London, a space crisis led Harriet Harman to propose re-opening old
graves for "double-decker" burials.

One of the reasons cremation superseded burials in the UK was because available space
had greatly diminished over the decades. After all, the post-war drive to get more people
to consider cremation included the slogan "Save the land for the living". Recognising the
continuing pressure for space, a House of Commons select committee inquiry into
cemeteries in 2001 urged for multi-burials to take place in the same site. It seems this
taboo will have to be broken before a truly sustainable burial option is found in this
country.

Cost

In general, a cremation is cheaper than a burial. According to the BBC, grave digging can
cost upwards of £600 whereas a cremation costs around £200 to £300 in the UK.
Generally speaking Cremation can cost anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 as much as Burial,
depending on options and amenities (i.e. Burial can cost up to 2 to 4 times as much as
Cremation).

Trivia

* Cremation is chosen by more than 70 per cent of the population in Britain. But as
recently as 1940, a mere nine per cent of funerals ended in cremation.
* Cremation was illegal in Britain before 1884. From then on, the concept was promoted
by intellectuals of the day, surgeons, writers and artists.
* In [2000] 26.93% of the dead bodies in the United States were cremated.


Conclusions

* The trend toward cremation may be progress of the wrong type. Given the air pollution
it produces, the ecological argument doesn’t hold up well.

* From a pollution and energy savings perspective, other reduction, conservation and
alternatives need to be combined such as reducing and eliminating school buses and
trucking.

* From a Land Use perspective, population control and family planning can play a part.

References

* BBC - Health: Bereavement
* Cremation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
* http://www.cremationinfo.com/cremationinfo/PDF/Web01Confirmed.pdf
* Internet Radio | Create an Online Radio Show | Blog Talk Radio
Cremation or Burial – Carbon Emissions and the Environment, by CemeterySpot, - Wed, Apr 1 2009
* ArticleCity.com - Free Articles for Reprint. Free Articles for your web site and newsletters. Submit Your Articles to Our Articles Directory.
Cremation vs. Traditional Burial—Which Is Better?, by: Lisa J. Lehr, November 07, 2005
* Burial vs Cremation - Difference and Comparison | Diffen

 

[Nalu]

Its a personal decision. People will do what they choose to do.

As for me, I am Native Hawaiian and will be cremated, my ashes will be scattered in the ocean.

Like my Dad, my Grandpa and my people before them. My Portuguese Grandfather was buried, that was his request.

This flesh body is a temporary shell, we will not live in this flesh body forever.

 

[jonathanbchristian]

My wife told me she didn't ever want to be cremated unless she backslid becaues she would burn in Hell anyway if she backslid.

 

[Digital_Angel_316]

My wife told me she didn't ever want to be
cremated unless she backslid because she would burn in Hell anyway
if she backslid.

Does that mean that you or she (or some in society or religion in general) believe that
Cremation is a Punishment?

In a study of "Gehenna" one might consider being tossed into the trash dump and burned as
such a punishment. But Cremation, at least today in the US, is more of an awareness and
choice issue, not a societal judgment.

Are there certain biblical principals or practices or beliefs or doctrines that might guide one's
decision that you or she or any others might care to share for the discussion?

 

[distinctiveministry]

Well judging by the fact that I probably won't be miraculously resurrected after three days of being dead..due to me not being the son o God and all...i think this might be the weakest argument. Especially since our bodies are just earthly vessels, i really dont think it matters what happens to them when we die. You could sell mine to science or feed it to a pack of rapid wolves for all im concerned

Are slow wolves a problem for you?

 

[rainacorn]

I went with option 3, i dont think its biblical. All Christians morals and values and the way they live, should come from the Bbible, from parrables, laws or examples, set in the bible.

There is no better example of how our body should be after death, than that of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. As Christians, we should be trying to be as like him as possible. Burial, and not cremation, i belive, is the way God intended it.

God Bless

So you want your body laying on a slab in a tomb covered by a huge rock?

I'm thankful not everyone does that. This planet would be like 50% tombs.

 

[rainacorn]

Also, I am not my body. You can blow it up into a million pieces after I'm dead for all I care. I'll be with my Lord.

 

[Kathleen]

So you want your body laying on a slab in a tomb covered by a huge rock?

I'm thankful not everyone does that. This planet would be like 50% tombs.

No, now you are just being technical. And thats stupid.

Which, out of the two options...burial or cremation, would be closer to how Jesus had his body after death? Exactly! Burial.

Cost, at least in the UK, for funerals, is very low. You can get a cardboard coffin for less than £50. Its not that big a price. You dont NEED to have flowers, or a big minsty - which a church would do for free here.
Cremation, i belive, is unbiblical.

 

[rainacorn]

No, now you are just being technical. And thats stupid.

Which, out of the two options...burial or cremation, would be closer to how Jesus had his body after death? Exactly! Burial.

Cost, at least in the UK, for funerals, is very low. You can get a cardboard coffin for less than £50. Its not that big a price. You dont NEED to have flowers, or a big minsty - which a church would do for free here.
Cremation, i belive, is unbiblical.

If we need to do what Jesus did, I don't see how it's stupid to think that means being placed in a tomb.

Where did you come up with burial and cardboard coffins?

Also, if a burial service is what you believe to be right with God, then why pinch pennies?

 

[Dude653]

REALLY???? Gravestone worship? that's rediculous. Since when is it ''worship'' to pay respects to my deceased loved ones??

 

[Kathleen]

If we need to do what Jesus did, I don't see how it's stupid to think that means being placed in a tomb.

Because you clearly took that to the far extreme. You were fully aware we were talking about basic burials and cremations. All i was hilighting was that we would following a more biblical route, if it was a burial, oppsoed to cremation.


Where did you come up with burial and cardboard coffins?

Also, if a burial service is what you believe to be right with God, then why pinch pennies?

The cost thing wasnt directed at you. I am saying however, that if people are cremating because it is more cost effective, then there are very cheap ways to have a normal burial. I know this applies in Britian anyway, i dont know about abroad.
Sometimes people have to pinch pennies. If my granny dies and my parents struggle to put food on the table, is the their money better spent feeding the 6 children. Or making sure the dead shell that is my grandmother, has a satin interior to her coffin? I think option 1. Giving people a satin coffin interior wont make it more comfortable, or help her. Her fate is sealed. However, feeding us would be more benifical.

 

[Digital_Angel_316]

REALLY???? Gravestone worship? that's ridiculous.
Since when is it ''worship'' to pay respects to my deceased loved
ones??

* Why not do so in spirit?
* Why does one need a stone or other marker?
* Why does one need a particular day?
* Why not take the spirit of those who influenced us positively in this life and live out that
spirit in tribute to their faith and walk?
* Why not spread ashes in a favorite field or forest or body of water, so that every time
you go by a field or forest or body of water you honor your loved ones by preservation
and care of this fragile planet that you depend upon for life?
* Why place your spirit in a stone or a box?

 

[Digital_Angel_316]

The cost thing wasn't directed at you. I am saying however, that if people are
cremating because it is more cost effective, then there are very cheap ways to have a normal burial. I
know this applies in Britain anyway, i don't know about abroad.

Sometimes people have to pinch pennies. If my granny dies and my parents struggle to put food on the
table, is the their money better spent feeding the 6 children. Or making sure the dead shell that is my
grandmother, has a satin interior to her coffin? I think option 1. Giving people a satin coffin interior wont
make it more comfortable, or help her. Her fate is sealed. However, feeding us would be more beneficial

That is sort of the point though isn't it Kathleen? (Giving people a satin coffin interior wont
make it more comfortable and etc.)

The discussion could center around:

* Cost (kathleen made a valid point at least for her locale perhaps), but what about the other issues?)
* Environment - Energy, Pollution, resource uses of metals and wood and embalming fluids etc.
* Land Use
* Religious Issues

* But our human nature tends to cling to tradition and feelings. We can do better.

* Did anyone read the article excerpts I posted and have comments about them?

* Does anyone know anyone who has been through this decision process before? Care to share?

 

[dmdave17]

It seems to me that the underlying implication of this question is "What happens if there is no body to resurrect?" I think that Jesus, Himself, and the Apostle, Paul both addressed this issue. The religious leaders of the time asked Jesus a complicated question about marriage and resurrection, hoping, no doubt, to trip him up on some fine point of Jewish law.

"Jesus replied, 'The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.'" (Luke 20:34-36, emphasis added)

And Paul said, "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. (1 Corinthians:42-47)

I believe that these passages are pretty conclusive evidence that the body which is raised on Resurrection Day will not be the same body that was buried in the ground when the person died. Therefore, cremation or burial does not seem to make a whole lot of difference to God.

 

[loveschild]

People are doing more cremation because of the money thing. I think that's sad to not be able to pick what you would really want. I think we worship dead people too much. I think it's all about us more than the dead person. I don't think God cares all that much. This world is for people who are alive and then the after in heaven hopefully. My dad had always said he wanted to be cremated. That bothered us and we asked him if he would not want that any more. He agreed. I think it's a mind thing. Just in the coffin which how I seen as growing up and lots of flowers. When I grew up there lots of flowers at a funeral. Where I live now people are more poor and there's not hardly any flowers. My dad is heading to heaven pretty quick the DR said and one thing I know is I'm ordering all kinds of flowers. They also throw dirt on the coffins over here. I'm not used to that but oh well.