Is cremation okay for the Christian?

Lamb · Feb 12, 2019

Josiah · Feb 12, 2019

Yeah. If the person is dead.

Lamb · Feb 12, 2019

Josiah said:
Yeah. If the person is dead.

:drum:

Arsenios · Feb 12, 2019

Lämmchen said:
:drum:

My thoughts exactly...

All of them...

Arsenios

Arsenios · Feb 12, 2019

Lämmchen said:
Is cremation okay for the Christian?

We the Living bury our dead...

For the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit...

Which we will not destroy by fire...

Same reasons for cannibalism...

Same for suicide...

Your body is not yours to destroy IF you are a Christian...

It is the Abode of God...

We do not even embalm...

We refrigerate and bury the third day as a general rule...

In a wooden box...

In a hand dug hole in the ground...

After an all night vigil in the Church before the Altar reading the Psalter throughout the night...

And after theFuneral Service, the Sacrament of the Prayers of Forgiveness for the Reposed...

The body is returned to the earth...

At low cost, I should add - Normally...

Cremation is not canonical, and if one instructs it for one's self, the Church will not give the Sacrament of Forgiveness...

Death is not "natural"...

Life is...

Arsenios

Tigger · Feb 12, 2019

Josiah said:
Yeah. If the person is dead.

ound:

NewCreation435 · Feb 12, 2019

I heard one man say that they could just burn him up and use the ashes for the rose bushes, but then his wife said that might cause the rose bushes to die.
Lol

Lamb · Feb 13, 2019

Arsenios said:
We the Living bury our dead...

For the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit...

Which we will not destroy by fire...

Same reasons for cannibalism...

Same for suicide...

Your body is not yours to destroy IF you are a Christian...

It is the Abode of God...

We do not even embalm...

We refrigerate and bury the third day as a general rule...

In a wooden box...

In a hand dug hole in the ground...

After an all night vigil in the Church before the Altar reading the Psalter throughout the night...

And after theFuneral Service, the Sacrament of the Prayers of Forgiveness for the Reposed...

The body is returned to the earth...

At low cost, I should add - Normally...

Cremation is not canonical, and if one instructs it for one's self, the Church will not give the Sacrament of Forgiveness...

Death is not "natural"...

Life is...

Arsenios

A lot of what you have written is what I've been taught...except "Sacrament of Forgiveness"...what are the verses that back that up? Thanks

Josiah · Feb 13, 2019

Lamm,

We're not giving you a serious reply ....

I DO understand that until very recently (and I mean just a few decades ago), Christians generally were opposed to cremation. The RCC prohibited it until 1985. As I understand it, there were three reasons: 1) The OT seems to suggest burial and we know Jews never practice cremation, 2) It was a pagan practice (especially associated with Zoroastrianism) and 3) It suggest God is therefore unable to raise them from the dead and/or it is a denial of the resurrection.

MY response: To #1: Who cares? Even under the old ceremonial law, burial is not required #2 Irrelevant since hardly a soul today even knows this (or cares) #3 You've got to be kidding.

Lamb · Feb 13, 2019

I remember back in the 80s when my husband's (then boyfriend) family was arguing about cremation. The wives wanted it and the husbands didn't type of thing. It was the first time I'd even heard about cremation and I admit it terrified me!

tango · Feb 13, 2019

I first heard about it years ago, probably in my teens, when a cousin was talking about it as (in their opinion) a preferable option to burial. They didn't like the idea of sitting in the ground rotting. I've always figured that once I'm dead it matters little what happens to the body I won't be needing any more.

I gather some are opposed to physical destruction of the body because of a notion that it will somehow affect our resurrected body. That makes no sense in any scenario - if I lie in the ground decomposing for a century before I'm resurrected my physical body won't be in much of a state and even if you believe in resurrection right after death it doesn't help the people who die in fires, get mauled by wild animals, die in high speed car accidents and the like. Somehow I suspect the God who spoke the universe into being can put our physical bodies back in a state that suits him, when it suits him, whatever we might have done in the meantime.

Arsenios · Feb 13, 2019

tango said:
I first heard about it years ago, probably in my teens, when a cousin was talking about it as (in their opinion) a preferable option to burial.

Cremation is simpler and less expensive and more portable, no question...

They didn't like the idea of sitting in the ground rotting.

Especially if you wake up in there!

I've always figured that once I'm dead it matters little what happens to the body I won't be needing any more.

Personally I like the idea of re-joining the food-chain - Lay out the corpse for the birds and mice and rats to eat...

I gather some are opposed to physical destruction of the body because of a notion that it will somehow affect our resurrected body.

A silly notion - Many Saints were martyred by fire...

That makes no sense in any scenario -
if I lie in the ground decomposing for a century before I'm resurrected
my physical body won't be in much of a state and
even if you believe in resurrection right after death
it doesn't help the people who die in fires,
get mauled by wild animals, die in high speed car accidents and the like.

Somehow I suspect the God who spoke the universe into being
can put our physical bodies back in a state that suits him, when it suits him,
whatever we might have done in the meantime.

I join you in that suspicion...

It is not for the sake of physical benefits now or at the Second Coming that we bury our dead...
We simply are returned to the earth from whence we were created by God...
And we do not believe that God's creation of man is man's to destroy...
Man was created body and spirit...
From the earth we came...
And unto the earth shall we return...
We follow Christ, you see...

Arsenios

Arsenios · Feb 13, 2019

Lämmchen said:
A lot of what you have written is what I've been taught...except "Sacrament of Forgiveness"...what are the verses that back that up? Thanks

I mis-posted - I should have said the "Prayers of Forgiveness," which are included in the Funeral Service which is not given for those cremated...

For us, death is entry into eternal life, and that journey needs the prayers of the Church...

In it our souls will be tried, no longer having free will...

And the Prayers of Forgiveness for the Reposed are crucial, because by the Authority of God they loose and remit every sin committed by the deceased, whether in word or in deed, whether in knowledge or in ignorance, whether voluntary or involuntary... Death is a very serious matter for us - We do not "celebrate their lives"... We mourn their deaths...

It is the Church that has the power to bind and loose sins, you see...

And we pray for our loved ones: "Memory Eternal!"

The prayers of the living for the dead are a treasury for us...

Arsenios

Lucian Hodoboc · Feb 14, 2019

Arsenios said:
We the Living bury our dead...

For the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit...

Which we will not destroy by fire...

Same reasons for cannibalism...

Same for suicide...

Your body is not yours to destroy IF you are a Christian...

It is the Abode of God...

We do not even embalm...

We refrigerate and bury the third day as a general rule...

In a wooden box...

In a hand dug hole in the ground...

After an all night vigil in the Church before the Altar reading the Psalter throughout the night...

And after theFuneral Service, the Sacrament of the Prayers of Forgiveness for the Reposed...

The body is returned to the earth...

At low cost, I should add - Normally...

Cremation is not canonical, and if one instructs it for one's self, the Church will not give the Sacrament of Forgiveness...

Death is not "natural"...

Life is...

Arsenios

What about cryonics?

Andrew · Feb 14, 2019

Lucian Hodoboc said:
What about cryonics?

Transhumanism is a big cash cow for rich atheist, it's impossible and is pure sci fi but it's the dream they bought and it's very very sad, I imagine cremation to be cheaper.

Arsenios · Feb 14, 2019

Lucian Hodoboc said:
What about cryonics?

What Andrew said!

Arsenios

Lucian Hodoboc · Feb 15, 2019

Andrew said:
Transhumanism is a big cash cow for rich atheist, it's impossible and is pure sci fi but it's the dream they bought and it's very very sad, I imagine cremation to be cheaper.

You know what else was impossible and pure sci fi less than 50 years ago? The internet. But here we are discussing with its use, some of us holding it in our hands in a 5-inch screen format.

Andrew · Feb 15, 2019

Lucian Hodoboc said:
You know what else was impossible and pure sci fi less than 50 years ago? The internet. But here we are discussing with its use, some of us holding it in our hands in a 5-inch screen format.

Global networking is one thing, uploading souls to a robot host body is impossible, personality algorithms is not the same as a conscious being, it's a copy cat.
Only God can upload souls to a better body

Lucian Hodoboc · Feb 15, 2019

Andrew said:
Global networking is one thing

Why is global networking an exception? Are all the technological and medical discoveries and achievements exceptions?

Andrew said:
, uploading souls to a robot host body is impossible,

Weren't there people saying that about organ transplants about a century ago?

Andrew said:
personality algorithms is not the same as a conscious being, it's a copy cat.
Only God can upload souls to a better body

Who is to say that uploading souls to a host body is the only option? There could be various other means of improving the human body and extending its lifespan indefinitely (or just for a very long period of time), as well as for reviving dead organisms. Check this out: http://2045.com/

Andrew · Feb 15, 2019

Lucian Hodoboc said:
Why is global networking an exception? Are all the technological and medical discoveries and achievements exceptions?

Weren't there people saying that about organ transplants about a century ago?

Who is to say that uploading souls to a host body is the only option? There could be various other means of improving the human body and extending its lifespan indefinitely (or just for a very long period of time), as well as for reviving dead organisms. Check this out: http://2045.com/

I doubt indefinitely, and I doubt the revival of a frozen body... I have nothing against technology used for expanding life span or replacing body parts but the spirit and soul are not organic

Is cremation okay for the Christian?

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