Cremation or burial?

[Lamb]

Does God care if we are cremated as opposed to being buried? Do you have a preference of what you'd like to happen to your body once you die?

 

[Albion]

Although the Catholic Church no longer opposes cremation, and most Protestant churches never did, I still feel that cremation is inherently disrespectful to God's creation. If putting the remains into the ground was recommended by Christ for the sake of respect, then it seems to me that not completely obliterating the body would be similarly respectful.

 

[psalms 91]

I dont think it matters

 

[Arsenios]

Your body in Christ is the Temple of the Holy Spirit God...

The Orthodox do not burn the Temple of the Holy Spirit...

We reverently lay it to rest in the earth from which it came...

"He hath remembered that we are dust..."

And we remember those whose bodies are so returned to the earth...


Arsenios

PS - It is the Pagan Priesthood that likes to burn the bodies of the dead...

Hitler sure did, as do the Hindus...

Normally, the Orthodox will not do a funeral service for those voluntarily creamated...

Historically, we never have...

Creamation is uncanonical...

A.

 

[NewCreation435]

I wanted to be cremated when I die. It seems like it would be less burden on my family than spending thousands of dollars for a casket and burial. Your going to turn back to dust eventually anyway

 

[TangledWeb]

I do not want my body burned if I can help it and I don't have any biblical support for my feelings because it is simply my strong feeling that makes me not want it.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

I think the case against is arguing from silence. Where something is not supported, it must be prohibited. And that's poor logic.
As well as if something isn't done by tradition, it must not be canonical (apologies to Arsnios).

Having said that - personal preference would be (for me) to be buried. And there are some things that (for me) go along with that. Namely, that I don't want my organs harvested for donation. Is that selfish? Probably. But if the body is to be buried, then the whole body is to be buried. If part of the body is removed, then how is that better/worse/more/less noble than the one who wishes cremation?

Also, and here's where I can see an argument against cremation (although this is preference and not a biblical argument) - my parents will be cremated and their ashes kept in a Columbarium at their church. I have no understanding of the reasons for this, why they're doing it, or what can be gained from it, except for the safe-keeping of the ashes. But it's their decision, and as I said I see no biblical prohibitions.

I think this is quite the personal subject for many, and it has been for me for the reasons stated

 

[Albion]

I wanted to be cremated when I die. It seems like it would be less burden on my family than spending thousands of dollars for a casket and burial. Your going to turn back to dust eventually anyway

It would cost less, thats true, but are you expecting them to put the urn on the mantle? Cremains are normally buried in cemeteries, just like coffins. And the crematoria burn the body in a coffin-like vault anyway, meaning that your relatives, if they retain the urn as a keepsake, are given--in a baggie--a mixture of your body and the box that was burned along with it.

 

[Albion]

Also, and here's where I can see an argument against cremation (although this is preference and not a biblical argument) - my parents will be cremated and their ashes kept in a Columbarium at their church. I have no understanding of the reasons for this, why they're doing it, or what can be gained from it, except for the safe-keeping of the ashes. But it's their decision, and as I said I see no biblical prohibitions.

It probably is mainly about being at the church and the church being the worldly focus of devotion to God.

If we had, in this country, churchyards (cemeteries) adjoining the church building as can still be seen in England, I think many people would opt for burial there rather than in secular cemeteries that are now the norm.

 

[Josiah]

Does God care if we are cremated as opposed to being buried? Do you have a preference of what you'd like to happen to your body once you die?

I understand that Lutherans were strongly opposed to cremation until the 1960's. I have no idea as to why that stand was made or why it was abandoned. But today, it is not unusual for Lutheran churches to actually have "walls" were creamated remains can be placed (two such churches around where I live).

PERSONALLY, I view cremation has just speeded up oxidation.... same result, just using up less time. "Dust to dust" I think is how the Bible puts it?



.

 

[NewCreation435]

It would cost less, thats true, but are you expecting them to put the urn on the mantle? Cremains are normally buried in cemeteries, just like coffins. And the crematoria burn the body in a coffin-like vault anyway, meaning that your relatives, if they retain the urn as a keepsake, are given--in a baggie--a mixture of your body and the box that was burned along with it.

No, I wouldn't want to be on someone mantle. I would want my ashes scattered somewhere. I don't really have a preference where. Possibly the ocean

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

It probably is mainly about being at the church and the church being the worldly focus of devotion to God.

If we had, in this country, churchyards (cemeteries) adjoining the church building as can still be seen in England, I think many people would opt for burial there rather than in secular cemeteries that are now the norm.

Probably so. I think the up-side, as they see it, is that there is guaranteed upkeep of the Columbarium and care for the remains. They're kept in airtight 'vaults' as well. Everything was covered in the cost, so it made sense for them and helped with planning. It's done very respectfully, and the area itself is quite nice.

 

[psalms 91]

Maybe if funeral homes didnt have such outragious prices maybe then cremation wouldnt appeal so much

 

[JRT]

My wife and I both find present day burial practices inherently very problematic. Attempting to preserve the body by embalming followed by placing it in an expensive casket for burial in a concrete vault. Cremation avoids almost all of that and returns the body to the earth or water at far less cost to the survivors and to the environment. I believe that it also shows the body much greater respect:

"Then up spake brave Horatius, the captain of the gate
To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late
And how could man die better than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods."

 

[Ruth]

Just put me in an extra large Hefty and throw me on the curb Fri. morning.

 

[Arsenios]

Maybe if funeral homes didnt have such outragious prices maybe then cremation wouldnt appeal so much

The Orthodox do not even embalm - Nail a pine box together with a lid and a cross on it, refrigerate the body after the cleansing, do the service and put it in the ground in 3 days from repose. Quick and cheap...

Arsenios

 

[Josiah]

The Orthodox do not even embalm - Nail a pine box together with a lid and a cross on it, refrigerate the body after the cleansing, do the service and put it in the ground in 3 days from repose. Quick and cheap...

This is how all Christians did this - until embalming was invented in the USA during our Civil War and cremation became accepted in the 20th Century.... It has much to say for it....

BUT it still has the problem of cemeteries. They take up FAR too much room in urban areas and there is the problem of how long do they need to be maintained. IF we could put 'em in the ground way out in the desert but people want to have cemeteries near them. Throwing the box in the ocean would work for some but most don't live within a few miles of the ocean and then loved ones can't "visit" the grave. Of course, increasingly "cemeteries" are actually buildings (which can be multi storied) and there's no "ground" involved at all but just a niche. But again, maintanance is an issue: how long does this building need to be there?




.

 

[NewCreation435]

The Orthodox do not even embalm - Nail a pine box together with a lid and a cross on it, refrigerate the body after the cleansing, do the service and put it in the ground in 3 days from repose. Quick and cheap...

Arsenios

Back in 2003 I knew a man in Texas who was a carpenter who built his own casket when he found out he had a terminal illness. I'm sure it was much better made than the ones at the funeral home

 

[Arsenios]

This is how all Christians did this - until embalming was invented in the USA during our Civil War and cremation became accepted in the 20th Century.... It has much to say for it....

BUT it still has the problem of cemeteries. They take up FAR too much room in urban areas and there is the problem of how long do they need to be maintained. IF we could put 'em in the ground way out in the desert but people want to have cemeteries near them. Throwing the box in the ocean would work for some but most don't live within a few miles of the ocean and then loved ones can't "visit" the grave. Of course, increasingly "cemeteries" are actually buildings (which can be multi storied) and there's no "ground" involved at all but just a niche. But again, maintanance is an issue: how long does this building need to be there?
.

The same can be said for Churches - Why waste the real-estate on non-secular enterprises...

Mount Athos has tons of dead monks there - They bury them for three years, dig them out, and place the worm-cleaned bones in the ossuary building with a monk in charge of it who describes them as his "future room-mates"... The American practice is soo unnecessary... $20,000 coffins in cement boxes undereground with a big marker on it for all comers is crackers...

We do, on occassion, make long-term and expensive places of repose for some of the Saints... Whole body relics lie in repose is Churches on occassion, or in cemetaries, and Pilgrims come there to pray and seek answers and helps... But for the most part, we get buried in the ground where our families can remember us...

Honorable burial is a good thing...

Here are two Biblical alternatives:

Jer 22:19
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
drawn and cast forth
beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Mat_26:12
For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body,
she did it for my burial.

Christ was not creamated, nor was even one bone of His broken...

A pine box is a good thing...

Burial in a cemetary in a Monastery is a good thing, for those buried there are remembered daily...

Arsenios

 

[Lamb]

I think to solve the real estate problems that cemeteries need to start digging deeper and do a stack method instead of side by side.