cremation vs. burial

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

The first thing that DOES come to mind however, was this statement you made;

" Through out the entirety of scipture fire has the idea of destruction and judgement while burial has the idea of hope."

That is not entirely true. The Bible also mentions fire as a refiner. You are familiar with this I am certain.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

"It's not about you, it's what testimony you leave for the living."

The testimony I leave has nothing to do with my death or how my body decays, but rather my life and how I lived it. 

[Omegaman 3.0]

I really don't see what difference it makes if you are cremated or buried.   I honestly will not care while I am in heaven praising the Lord.  It will make absolutely no difference to me.   I see no theological conundrum regarding the issue.

Me neither Shiloh, but there are always those who can find one. Let each be persuaded in his own mind, and stop judging each other on debatable matters.

Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. (Rom 14:4)

In Luke 19 (I think) there is a parable of the servant who were given talents by there master who went a way for a while. Some did well, one did not, and they got rewarded or criticised for what they did with what they were given. I suspect that it is the same for us. Our standing before God (pass/fail) is based on our relationship to Him through the work of His Son, while our rewards or lack there of, is based one what we do in life with what we are given. 

What I was given, was a life, a body, and knowledge of His will. I am accountable to Him for what I do in the life with all three. After I am dead, I am no longer responsible for how I use my life, God will judge my salvation based on Jesus, and judge my rewards on what I did in life, not based on whether my body had been convetred to ashes or worm poo. Ultimately I have no real control over my remains, that is always left in the hands of others. I could dictate in a will or verbal word on what I preferred to happen to my body, but I won't. If it mattered to me what happened to this old house when I am gone, I would contract that arrangement during my lifetime, and pay for it with my own money during my life, and leave as little as possible to my descendants to contend with.

Lord, my body, has been a good friend, but I won't need it, when I reach the end. Help me to use it to your glory, and thank you that I get a new and better one, in the resurrection.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken]

Thank you for editing your comment .

[Kan]

On 11/8/2015 at 6:48 AM, inchrist said:

While fire in some cases may be seen as good or serve as a symbol for the divine presence, it is wrong to apply your example to cremation. 

To connect the burning of a human body with fire brings up images of human sacrifices.

You should be careful not to communicate the idea that the only “real” you is the invisible part —this attitude is closer to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.

 

The Gnostics believed the spiritual is good and the physical is tainted.

 

Our bodies do not belong to us, they belong to God. You are not the owner of this body that you have.

 

They are His in origin and by design. This fact demands that we treat them with dignity, even to the final disposition of them.

 

We are guardians of this body, you have no  right to deface it in any way. The body must be "returned" in its entirety, just as it was given.

 

Cremation demonstrates a rejection of God's supreme "ownership" over all of Creation,

 

It violates the biblical prohibition of following heathen practices

 

Paul’s view of the physical resurrection teaches that there is a continuity from the body of this life, which will be transformed and glorified, to the new resurrection body.  Being a Israelite, Paul subscribed to burial than cremation,  and gave his teachings on burial and resurrection. 

 

There is significance in symbolism, and the symbolism of destroying a body that God created and that God will resurrect is the wrong message to send. 

 

Burial is an important practice and symbol in Scripture, cremation is a poor symbol of scriptural truth. 

 

Jude 9. 

 

"Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." (KJV)

 

From this portion of Holy Scripture, we can see that the deceased body is important to God. That’s why Michael the archangel was sent from God in the first place. But even more scary is the fact that the final disposition of the deceased body is also very important to the devil. 

Why??

Further a dead man was revived and jumped to his feet when his body touched the bones of Elisha, we can see from scripture the body still has value.

 

Interesting thoughts there... 

About Moses' body, the contention was about resurrecting Moses, the devil knew Christ had come to take Moses to heaven, and demanded that Moses belonged to him because he had failed with the incident of the water and the rock. It was not an argument over a cadaver, but about the rights to citizenship of heaven. 

Because Moses rested his life and heart in the Lord, he was covered by the grace of the promised One.

[enoob57]

I believe God's going for the cremation aspect
2Pe 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

KJV