Cremation or buried traditionally?

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blue_ladybug

Senior Member
Feb 21, 2014
70,920
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#21
Toi, think about this. What about all the murdered people who are dismembered or put through wood chippers or fed to/ devoured by animals? If God can put THEM back together, surely He can re-form cremated ashes. :)
 
Dec 12, 2013
46,515
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#23
You're gonna have to prove that, and prove why it matters to God whether we're buried or cremated.
Amen.....and really at the end of the day....JESUS said, "Let the dead bury the dead" <--only a few "funerals" he was concerned with and both resulted in a resurrection from the dead......
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
26,074
13,777
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#24
You're gonna have to prove that, and prove why it matters to God whether we're buried or cremated.
No. Actually you are going to have to prove to God why Christians should NOT be buried, since burial is the biblical mode, and even though Christ was entombed His entombment is called BURIAL.
 

shrume

Senior Member
Jun 26, 2017
2,193
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#25
No. Actually you are going to have to prove to God why Christians should NOT be buried, since burial is the biblical mode, and even though Christ was entombed His entombment is called BURIAL.
A Christian can be buried if he wants. And if he thought it mattered, a Christian could request his ashes from cremation be buried, and call it a burial. The end result is the same: returning to dust.

In your opinion, why is it bad for a person to be cremated? Do you think it will somehow affect his resurrection?
 
Dec 12, 2013
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#26
All those Christians burnt at the stake in the dark ages are bumming, as are those burned alive by ISIS....geesh.....talk about swallowing a camel and choking on a gnat....I am like 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 percent positive that God is not concerned with our dead body of sin and or if it gets cremated, buried, dropped in the ocean and or chunked out back on the ground....
 

Deade

Called of God
Dec 17, 2017
16,724
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Vinita, Oklahoma, USA
yeshuaofisrael.org
#27
Toi, think about this. What about all the murdered people who are dismembered or put through wood chippers or fed to/ devoured by animals? If God can put THEM back together, surely He can re-form cremated ashes. :)
Just think about what you are saying if you think God cannot anything. Gen. 18:14a "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?"

slap-face-smiley.gif
 
Feb 7, 2017
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#28
I want to be buried traditionally.
You do well. Cremation doesn't delight Jesus:

  • "Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: but I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: " (Amos 2.1,2).
 

OneFaith

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2016
2,270
369
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#29
I want to be buried traditionally. It feels unbiblical to be cremated. But it is just a feeling, and where do I go when I am not certain? The BDF! I know for sure you guys will give me the answer.
"If you surrender your body to flames (become a martyr for God) but have not love..." 1 Corinthians 13:3 Being buried and dying by fire has happened to Christians. It does not matter, either way 'ashes to ashes and dust turns back into dust' will happen.

But understand this, a saved person will not see decay. That means that they will not be in their body long enough to turn back into ashes. Remember the thief on the cross? Jesus said today you will be with Me in paradise. And Jesus was back three days later, so we know it is literal. Look again to Steven, he saw heaven open up before he was even completely dead. In speaking of Jesus God said "I will not let My holy one see decay. If we are in Christ, as Romans 6 states, we will also join Him in resurrection.

On the other hand, the unsaved will see decay. When Joseph's brothers betrayed him, and he was in Egyptian prison, one of the other prisoners had a dream about the future. He dreamt that birds were pecking at his eyes. He was experiencing decay, he felt every bit of it.

But for the genuine christian, it won't matter what happens to our bodies, because we won't be there.

Personally I want my body to be cremated. The thought of my flesh rotting bothers me, even though I won't be in it.
 

shrume

Senior Member
Jun 26, 2017
2,193
464
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#30
There is nothing wrong with cremation.

1 Sam 31:
11) And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;
12) All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.
13) And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

There are customs, but no commandment.

Also, consider what will happen to the unsaved after judgment. They will be thrown into the lake of fire, and destroyed.
 

mcubed

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2013
1,449
218
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#31
I want to be buried traditionally. It feels unbiblical to be cremated. But it is just a feeling, and where do I go when I am not certain? The BDF! I know for sure you guys will give me the answer.
The Biblical answer every dead in Messiah will rise... So get buried in your backyard without a casket, get thrown into the ocean like all the people who died at sea in a war or get an expensive casket... either way your body will be glorified, even if the fish have eaten you for hundreds of years.... You will either be in heaven with the Lord or cast into hell ... Beyond saved/not saved what does your corpse matter?... If you are Jewish jet tossed into a box without aboming fluid... We rot much faster!!!lol...
 

Tinkerbell725

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2014
4,216
1,179
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Philippines Age 40
#32
“In relation to the human body, fire is a dreadful thing.” john piper



The use of fire to consume the human body on earth was seen as a sign of contempt. It was not a glorious treatment of the body but a contemptuous one. This is the meaning of Achan’s cremation. He had betrayed Israel and so was not only stoned with his family, but deprived of an ordinary burial by being burned.

Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. (Joshua 7:25)​
To be sure, fire is a great gift from God. It warms, and brightens, and guides, and cooks, and refines. But in relation to the human body, it is a dreadful thing. It wounds and tortures and kills and destroys.

This is most prominent in relation to the body after death. As a Christian who believes in the judgment of God after death (Hebrews 9:27), the last symbol we want to use, in connection with death, is fire! Hell (gehenna) is a place of fire (Matthew 5:22; James 3:6). This fire is meant to be felt by the body.

“It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:30)
“Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
“Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” (Luke 16:24)​
In summary, then, the two biblical focuses that point away from burning to burying are 1) the preciousness of the human body as God’s purchase and possession, now and forever, and 2) the dreadfulness of fire as it relates to the human body, especially after death.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/should-christians-cremate-their-loved-ones
 

Deade

Called of God
Dec 17, 2017
16,724
10,531
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Vinita, Oklahoma, USA
yeshuaofisrael.org
#33
"If you surrender your body to flames (become a martyr for God) but have not love..." 1 Corinthians 13:3 Being buried and dying by fire has happened to Christians. It does not matter, either way 'ashes to ashes and dust turns back into dust' will happen.

But understand this, a saved person will not see decay. That means that they will not be in their body long enough to turn back into ashes. Remember the thief on the cross? Jesus said today you will be with Me in paradise. And Jesus was back three days later, so we know it is literal. Look again to Steven, he saw heaven open up before he was even completely dead. In speaking of Jesus God said "I will not let My holy one see decay. If we are in Christ, as Romans 6 states, we will also join Him in resurrection.

On the other hand, the unsaved will see decay. When Joseph's brothers betrayed him, and he was in Egyptian prison, one of the other prisoners had a dream about the future. He dreamt that birds were pecking at his eyes. He was experiencing decay, he felt every bit of it.

But for the genuine christian, it won't matter what happens to our bodies, because we won't be there.

Personally I want my body to be cremated. The thought of my flesh rotting bothers me, even though I won't be in it.
Where do you get all this stuff, nobody is resurrected yet. You say the saved person's body does not decay and turn right around and say you want to be burned so you won't rot. Steven just had a vision of heaven upon his death. Jesus wasn't taken into paradise that very day, His first ascension was on the wave sheaf day.

John 3:13
"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."
 

longtrekker

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
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#34
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Viking funeral 4 me.... i don't want to be dug up 20 years later and used as a Hollywod horror movie prop wearing an outta date suite a la movie 'Frighteners'
 

OstrichSmiling

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2018
1,027
418
83
#35
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Viking funeral 4 me.... i don't want to be dug up 20 years later and used as a Hollywod horror movie prop wearing an outta date suite a la movie 'Frighteners'
That would be great! A funeral pyre. Or like the native tribes in America did in days of old, a sun pyre. Give back to the earth what remains of that which was sustained by the earth.
 

mcubed

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2013
1,449
218
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#36
If city ordinances allow me, file the right paperwork, can I bury my family when they move home in my yard? Or ploop them into the sea whole as long as they are not burned and it is O.K.?

I hope the backyard.... I will be with them in heaven.... so it's just a body... good fertilizer... No money!!! Why should I pay people to bury a LIVING PERSON IN HEAVEN!?!
 

beta

Senior Member
Aug 8, 2016
2,782
333
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#37
True. I think the story is fascinating. Also the way He asked Martha to remove the stone. That puzzles me.
The reason you are puzzled is because Jesus did NOT ask Martha to remove the stone....it was a general request to those standing around/Men very likely. No (one) woman could have done so. (not sure this incident could be of any significance).
 
T

toinena

Guest
#38
Thank you all for great inputs.

Yes. Of course God can resurrect us how, from whatever and when He pleases. I don't question that. He is almighty.

If I get to decide I still want to be buried traditionally, with a flat stone. No embalming liquid and just a plain casket. No metal if possible. All compostable. Simple and modest in life to death.

I don't like celebrating death and I agree. Let the dead bury the dead. I will celebrate eternal life at my Father's house.

Care for the living while they are alive has been my motto. No point crying your heart out at the funeral if you didn't bother to care when the person was alive.
 

trofimus

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2015
10,684
794
113
#39
I would go for a traditional burial, but I do not think that cremation or anything else will stop God.

I would arrange the tomb to be simple and without a need to work on it continuously.
 
M

Miri

Guest
#40
Thank you all for great inputs.

Yes. Of course God can resurrect us how, from whatever and when He pleases. I don't question that. He is almighty.

If I get to decide I still want to be buried traditionally, with a flat stone. No embalming liquid and just a plain casket. No metal if possible. All compostable. Simple and modest in life to death.

I don't like celebrating death and I agree. Let the dead bury the dead. I will celebrate eternal life at my Father's house.

Care for the living while they are alive has been my motto. No point crying your heart out at the funeral if you didn't bother to care when the person was alive.

I’m certain you will have genuine people grieving for you when your
time comes. Hopefully that will be a long way off.