Faith without good works is dead.

[MennoSota]

You're right - All ol' JTB did was Baptize Jesus Christ...

Which is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to Christian Baptism...

Correct
John's role was to declare the coming of Messiah. He fulfilled his role. His baptism did nothing to redeem the world.

All he did was tell us in the Bible that Christ was going to be the One doing REAL Baptizing...

Christ's baptism is with the Holy Spirit not water.

So was John the Baptist just telling lies to the Jews?

He told them Messiah was here on Earth. He did his job.

Or did Jesus just do a couple of baptisms in the Holy Spirit and Fire and then quit?

Jesus died to ransom the elect as a propitiation for their sins. The elect are given the Holy Spirit.

Did He designate His Baptizers to be acting in His Holy Name?

He commands all his elect to go, make disciples and baptize them in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Whom did Christ designate by commanding them to baptize all the nations, Menno?

All the elect, Arsenios.

 

[MoreCoffee]

You're right - All ol' JTB did was Baptize Jesus Christ...

Which is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to Christian Baptism...

Maybe we can just say the Bible is irrelevant to Christian Baptism...

All he did was tell us in the Bible that Christ was going to be the One doing REAL Baptizing...

So was John the Baptist just telling lies to the Jews?

Or did Jesus just do a couple of baptisms in the Holy Spirit and Fire and then quit?

Did He designate His Baptizers to be acting in His Holy Name?

Whom did Christ designate by commanding them to baptize all the nations, Menno?

Drive-bye pot shot theology is not a good thing...

Arsenios

It is possible that MennoSota intends to say that John the Baptist did not baptise with Christian baptism. If that was his intent then he is right. If he intended something else then …

 

[MoreCoffee]

1 Peter 1:22-25 22 In obeying the truth, you have gained interior purification, from which comes sincere mutual love. Love one another, then, with all your heart, 23 since you are born again, not from mortal parents, but with enduring life, through the word of God, who lives and remains forever. 24 It is written: All flesh is grass and its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. This word, is the gospel, which has been brought to you.

As saint James says faith without works is dead and saint Peter affirms the same thought by proclaiming that Christians gain purification by obeying the truth from sincere mutual love. It's a lesson to keep in mind and in the heart for every Christian.

 

[Arsenios]

It is possible that MennoSota intends to say that
John the Baptist did not baptise
with Christian baptism.

He sure seems to be saying that John spoke falsely when he spoke prophetically:

"There is one among you who will be baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire..."

If that was his intent then he is right.

Not so fast! Hold thet thar horse, Pard...

By his baptizing Christ in the Jordan John ESTABLISHED Christian Baptism...

That he did not baptize with Christian Baptism does not take from this ONE Baptism What he DID...

And we to this day do the Greater Blessing of the Waters each Liturgical Year...

If he intended something else then …

He seems to wish to deny the very Baptizer-to-come Whom John foretells as the Forerunner of Christ...

Thereby he denies both John and Christ, denying the Prophesy of John and the One he prophesied as Baptizer...

And as well to remove passage through water as the Baptism of the People of God...

Which passage through water is the essence of the Doctrine of Baptisms Heb 6:2 ...

eg Noah to Moses to Christ to us entering into Christ...

Not to mention the deep repentance of the Gift of Tears...


Arsenios

 

[MoreCoffee]

He sure seems to be saying that John spoke falsely when he spoke prophetically:

"There is one among you who will be baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire..."



Not so fast! Hold thet thar horse, Pard...

By his baptizing Christ in the Jordan John ESTABLISHED Christian Baptism...

That he did not baptize with Christian Baptism does not take from this ONE Baptism What he DID...

And we to this day do the Greater Blessing of the Waters each Liturgical Year...



He seems to wish to deny the very Baptizer-to-come Whom John foretells as the Forerunner of Christ...

Thereby he denies both John and Christ, denying the Prophesy of John and the One he prophesied as Baptizer...

And as well to remove passage through water as the Baptism of the People of God...

Which passage through water is the essence of the Doctrine of Baptisms Heb 6:2 ...

eg Noah to Moses to Christ to us entering into Christ...

Not to mention the deep repentance of the Gift of Tears...


Arsenios

The best I can make of MennoSota's theology of baptism is that water is not very important but submerging the candidate is important and there's something else that he calls baptism that has no water of any kind involved.

 

[Arsenios]

The best I can make of MennoSota's theology of baptism is that water is not very important but submerging the candidate is important and there's something else that he calls baptism that has no water of any kind involved.

Menno, I am satisfied, as a Protestant Christian, had a very Holy encounter with the Holy Spirit some years back, an encounter that turned his life utterly toward God, and he very reasonably understood that encounter to be his Salvation, and by extension his Baptism into Christ. That was his "moment of Salvation", and indeed it is, so long as he does not turn away from it and embrace evil... He will doubtless be way ahead of me in the line into heaven, if I make that line at all...

I approached this Faith by the same means of such a Holy encounter with God, except I was not a Christian, and was in the process of encountering the reality of spiritual life in all its manifestations, having been an atheist for 36 years... So I walked with God for 14 years knowing for a fact [wrongly] that God has nothing to do with Christians... So I did not have Menno's problem of thinking his Protestant life was validated by his Divine encounter - I KNEW my life up to that point was but straw and of no account...

So I know and respect his first hand experience of Encounter with God, which Orthodoxy disciples to all Her Faithful, that they be prepared when and if it happens...

Menno has great integrity and will never turn from what he knows by first hand experience...
And he correctly identifies the Bible as speaking directly to that knowledge...

I did too, once I finally started reading the Bible...
Menno is a stand-up person in God in my book...

Which does not make him right in his thoughts, mind you!

Arsenios

 

[MennoSota]

Menno, I am satisfied, as a Protestant Christian, had a very Holy encounter with the Holy Spirit some years back, an encounter that turned his life utterly toward God, and he very reasonably understood that encounter to be his Salvation, and by extension his Baptism into Christ. That was his "moment of Salvation", and indeed it is, so long as he does not turn away from it and embrace evil... He will doubtless be way ahead of me in the line into heaven, if I make that line at all...

I approached this Faith by the same means of such a Holy encounter with God, except I was not a Christian, and was in the process of encountering the reality of spiritual life in all its manifestations, having been an atheist for 36 years... So I walked with God for 14 years knowing for a fact [wrongly] that God has nothing to do with Christians... So I did not have Menno's problem of thinking his Protestant life was validated by his Divine encounter - I KNEW my life up to that point was but straw and of no account...

So I know and respect his first hand experience of Encounter with God, which Orthodoxy disciples to all Her Faithful, that they be prepared when and if it happens...

Menno has great integrity and will never turn from what he knows by first hand experience...
And he correctly identifies the Bible as speaking directly to that knowledge...

I did too, once I finally started reading the Bible...
Menno is a stand-up person in God in my book...

Which does not make him right in his thoughts, mind you!

Arsenios

Nice attempt to stroke my ego.
Now to grit of the matter.
I am, in my natural person, corrupted by sin. I will not be made entirely whole until I stand before God. When God judges me he will find nothing holy. I will stand condemned. Eternal damnation will be my lot. But, Jesus has ransomed me. He has taken God's wrath, which was meant for me. I cannot repay Jesus for something I am utterly incapable of ever doing. I accept that Jesus has performed an amazing act of grace on my behalf. Gratefulness is far understated, but it's the best word I can think of. How can I not love God with all my being? How can I not praise Him with every fiber of my being. If not for Jesus...I am damned.
My prayer is that all who read this can say the same thing about what Jesus has done for them. All praise, all glory, all honor be to my Redeemer, King.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Menno, I am satisfied, as a Protestant Christian, had a very Holy encounter with the Holy Spirit some years back, an encounter that turned his life utterly toward God, and he very reasonably understood that encounter to be his Salvation, and by extension his Baptism into Christ. That was his "moment of Salvation", and indeed it is, so long as he does not turn away from it and embrace evil... He will doubtless be way ahead of me in the line into heaven, if I make that line at all...

I approached this Faith by the same means of such a Holy encounter with God, except I was not a Christian, and was in the process of encountering the reality of spiritual life in all its manifestations, having been an atheist for 36 years... So I walked with God for 14 years knowing for a fact [wrongly] that God has nothing to do with Christians... So I did not have Menno's problem of thinking his Protestant life was validated by his Divine encounter - I KNEW my life up to that point was but straw and of no account...

So I know and respect his first hand experience of Encounter with God, which Orthodoxy disciples to all Her Faithful, that they be prepared when and if it happens...

Menno has great integrity and will never turn from what he knows by first hand experience...
And he correctly identifies the Bible as speaking directly to that knowledge...

I did too, once I finally started reading the Bible...
Menno is a stand-up person in God in my book...

Which does not make him right in his thoughts, mind you!

Arsenios

Your post offers high praise for MennoSota. It interests me to know what response will be given. The holy scriptures tell us that no good work goes unrewarded but the worldly adage says no good work goes unpunished.

Nevertheless the fundamental proposition of this thread is that faith without good works is dead.

The discussion about baptism in relation to salvation is interesting from a certain point of view.

Baptism is most assuredly related to salvation and I do not doubt that to baptise those who seek baptism is a good work.

It is like burying the dead which was accounted a good work among the people of Israel.

 

[Arsenios]

Nice attempt to stroke my ego.

I was not trying to stroke you - I was simply assessing your presence here...

No great Prophetic insight, but just what seems to have happened...

Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

Your post offers high praise for MennoSota.

That was not my intention... Different people have different presences... But if someone is a practicing Baptist and encounters God, one might then think that being a Baptist is why God encountered that person... Same with many other Christian denom's...

Padre Pio was one of the great Saints produced by the Latin Church in the US... He had prophetic insight, could see into your soul, fix it, and advise you specifically how to amend your life... He also had the Stigmata... So one can conclude from this that the Stigmata are a valid presence in Sainthood... The Orthodox would say no, but that God will provide them for awhile at least for those doing the Latin Discipleship... eg Imagining one is cosuffering with/as Christ at each of the Stations of the Cross, intensely and for many years... The Orthodox have no such stigmata in their Saints, and the praxis of imaginatively praying the Stations of the Cross is not a part of our Tradition...

I am personally satisfied that my path involved direct Revelation from God simply because of my hard-headed hard-heartedness, designed to support a weak and faithless person - me...

Gotta run...


Arsenios

 

[Arsenios]

Your post offers high praise for MennoSota. It interests me to know what response will be given.

Well, he appropriately blew off the praise, and re-affirmed his position...

The holy scriptures tell us that no good work goes unrewarded but the worldly adage says no good work goes unpunished.

Well, no good DEED goes unpunished, but neither does any good deed go unrewarded...

But there are two kinds of rewards - Worldly and heavenly...

Discipleship seeks to establish in one's soul the consecration of effort that desires the Good no matter what the worldly rewards or punishments might turn out to be... It is a martyric discipleship... Embracing worldly tribulations in order that heavenly Joy might be born by God's Grace...

Worldly rewards are a blessing that is a heavenly curse for us...
Heavenly rewards are a blessing seen as a worldly curse...

Nevertheless the fundamental proposition of this thread is that faith without good works is dead.

Well, just as worldly rewards are visible to material senses, so heavenly rewards are visible to spiritual senses... And Scripture records that the heaven-ward ascent is from Glory to Glory... Indeed God is Glorified in His Saints, which Glorification comes AFTER Justification... But the DOING of good works, of good deeds, is voluntary on the part of the person doing them... And as James records, this doing of the works of the Faith itself perfects the faith of the one doing them... So that there is a sense in which we are in charge of our own Salvation, insofar as Christ desires all to be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth... So God rewards us according to what we ourselves actually do... Beginning with the Call of God to Repentance, which Repentance is unto Baptism into Christ, establishing us in Justification by Christ Who Baptizes us into His Own Body, and gives us purity of soul - Holiness - and in this as a child in the Faith of Christ, that we should grow unto maturity and perfection... In which perfecting God Glorifies the one's being perfected... And all of this according to what we do with the Grace we have so far...

Baptism is most assuredly related to salvation and I do not doubt that to baptise those who seek baptism is a good work.

Baptism is God's Work done by His Servants acting as His hands... It IS Salvation, but not yet maturity in the Faith into which we are entered in it... Man does not baptize himself - Christ baptizes man...

It is like burying the dead which was accounted a good work among the people of Israel.

And among the faithful in Christ's Church to this day...

We bury our dead within three days without embalming them...

Your Church is slipping a bit, giving its blessing to cremation, a pagan practice...


Arsenios

 

[MoreCoffee]

It is excellent to see the thread firmly on track and on topic.

 

[FredVB]

Worldly rewards are a blessing that is a heavenly curse for us...
Heavenly rewards are a blessing seen as a worldly curse...

With real faith that is essential with which there is salvation from God's provision will have works that may be seen resulting. We are told from the Bible there are blessings from this resulting work, we need this, as being told that is encouragement to us, for more godly work from us that there should be. Repentant faith for coming to Christ for salvation is for changing us, for sins to stop and godly work to come from us. The godly works are not necessarily the things we would think right off as work, it is action of godly people though.

It is preferable to work in ways for which we would see blessings in heaven. But no blessing from God is a curse. There is no curse in heaven. And I don't see or ever hear that blessings in heaven are considered a curse in or of the as world. It just would be that we will see blessings in heaven for things for which we saw no blessing while in this world.

 

[Lamb]

It is preferable to work in ways for which we would see blessings in heaven.

You've described works righteousness instead of salvation by grace through faith.

 

[pinacled]

Well, he appropriately blew off the praise, and re-affirmed his position...



Well, no good DEED goes unpunished, but neither does any good deed go unrewarded...

But there are two kinds of rewards - Worldly and heavenly...

Discipleship seeks to establish in one's soul the consecration of effort that desires the Good no matter what the worldly rewards or punishments might turn out to be... It is a martyric discipleship... Embracing worldly tribulations in order that heavenly Joy might be born by God's Grace...

Worldly rewards are a blessing that is a heavenly curse for us...
Heavenly rewards are a blessing seen as a worldly curse...



Well, just as worldly rewards are visible to material senses, so heavenly rewards are visible to spiritual senses... And Scripture records that the heaven-ward ascent is from Glory to Glory... Indeed God is Glorified in His Saints, which Glorification comes AFTER Justification... But the DOING of good works, of good deeds, is voluntary on the part of the person doing them... And as James records, this doing of the works of the Faith itself perfects the faith of the one doing them... So that there is a sense in which we are in charge of our own Salvation, insofar as Christ desires all to be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth... So God rewards us according to what we ourselves actually do... Beginning with the Call of God to Repentance, which Repentance is unto Baptism into Christ, establishing us in Justification by Christ Who Baptizes us into His Own Body, and gives us purity of soul - Holiness - and in this as a child in the Faith of Christ, that we should grow unto maturity and perfection... In which perfecting God Glorifies the one's being perfected... And all of this according to what we do with the Grace we have so far...



Baptism is God's Work done by His Servants acting as His hands... It IS Salvation, but not yet maturity in the Faith into which we are entered in it... Man does not baptize himself - Christ baptizes man...



And among the faithful in Christ's Church to this day...

We bury our dead within three days without embalming them...

Your Church is slipping a bit, giving its blessing to cremation, a pagan practice...


Arsenios

First I've heard of cremation being a pagan practice.

Especially when scripture plainly states a person returns to dust.

 

[pinacled]

Well, he appropriately blew off the praise, and re-affirmed his position...



Well, no good DEED goes unpunished, but neither does any good deed go unrewarded...

But there are two kinds of rewards - Worldly and heavenly...

Discipleship seeks to establish in one's soul the consecration of effort that desires the Good no matter what the worldly rewards or punishments might turn out to be... It is a martyric discipleship... Embracing worldly tribulations in order that heavenly Joy might be born by God's Grace...

Worldly rewards are a blessing that is a heavenly curse for us...
Heavenly rewards are a blessing seen as a worldly curse...



Well, just as worldly rewards are visible to material senses, so heavenly rewards are visible to spiritual senses... And Scripture records that the heaven-ward ascent is from Glory to Glory... Indeed God is Glorified in His Saints, which Glorification comes AFTER Justification... But the DOING of good works, of good deeds, is voluntary on the part of the person doing them... And as James records, this doing of the works of the Faith itself perfects the faith of the one doing them... So that there is a sense in which we are in charge of our own Salvation, insofar as Christ desires all to be Saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth... So God rewards us according to what we ourselves actually do... Beginning with the Call of God to Repentance, which Repentance is unto Baptism into Christ, establishing us in Justification by Christ Who Baptizes us into His Own Body, and gives us purity of soul - Holiness - and in this as a child in the Faith of Christ, that we should grow unto maturity and perfection... In which perfecting God Glorifies the one's being perfected... And all of this according to what we do with the Grace we have so far...



Baptism is God's Work done by His Servants acting as His hands... It IS Salvation, but not yet maturity in the Faith into which we are entered in it... Man does not baptize himself - Christ baptizes man...



And among the faithful in Christ's Church to this day...

We bury our dead within three days without embalming them...

Your Church is slipping a bit, giving its blessing to cremation, a pagan practice...


Arsenios

עַד אֲשֶׁר לֹא-ירחק (יֵרָתֵק) חֶבֶל הַכֶּסֶף, וְתָרוּץ גֻּלַּת הַזָּהָב; וְתִשָּׁבֶר כַּד עַל-הַמַּבּוּעַ, וְנָרֹץ הַגַּלְגַּל אֶל-הַבּוֹר.	6 Before the silver cord is snapped asunder, and the golden bowl is shattered, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel falleth shattered, into the pit;
ז וְיָשֹׁב הֶעָפָר עַל-הָאָרֶץ, כְּשֶׁהָיָה; וְהָרוּחַ תָּשׁוּב, אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נְתָנָהּ.	7 And the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.

 

[FredVB]

You've described works righteousness instead of salvation by grace through faith.

No I have not. There is no basis for that allegation. I clearly say in my communication of the gospel that we are saved by Jesus Christ in what he accomplished, from God's grace to us, we respond hearing the word of God to us, for that. We are saved from cursed sinful life, the new life in Christ would show works of our spiritual living, with growth of the spiritual fruit that should show in believers' lives. Yahweh shows us in the relationship we have what are sins for us to turn from, whether we thought or knew of those as being ungodly or not.

 

[atpollard]

First I've heard of cremation being a pagan practice.

Especially when scripture plainly states a person returns to dust.

Scripture speaks of burial. (קָבַר)

• [Gen 23:4 NASB] 4 "I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
• [Gen 47:30 NASB] 30 but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place." And he said, "I will do as you have said."
• [Gen 49:29 NASB] 29 Then he charged them and said to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
• [Gen 50:5 NASB] 5 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"
• [Deu 21:23 NASB] 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.
• [1Ki 2:31 NASB] 31 The king said to him, "Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, that you may remove from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without cause.
• [1Ki 11:15 NASB] 15 For it came about, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck down every male in Edom
• [1Ki 13:29 NASB] 29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
• [2Ki 9:34 NASB] 34 When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."
• [Psa 79:3 NASB] 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them.
• [Jer 7:32 NASB] 32 "Therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no [other] place.
• [Jer 14:16 NASB] 16 "The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them--[neither] them, [nor] their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters--for I will pour out their [own] wickedness on them.
• [Jer 19:11 NASB] 11 and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no [other] place for burial.
• [Eze 39:11 NASB] 11 "On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call [it] the valley of Hamon-gog.
• [Hos 9:6 NASB] 6 For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns [will be] in their tents.
• [Mat 8:21 NASB] 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."
• [Luk 9:60 NASB] 60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."

 

[pinacled]

Scripture speaks of burial. (קָבַר)

• [Gen 23:4 NASB] 4 "I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
• [Gen 47:30 NASB] 30 but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place." And he said, "I will do as you have said."
• [Gen 49:29 NASB] 29 Then he charged them and said to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
• [Gen 50:5 NASB] 5 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"
• [Deu 21:23 NASB] 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.
• [1Ki 2:31 NASB] 31 The king said to him, "Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, that you may remove from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without cause.
• [1Ki 11:15 NASB] 15 For it came about, when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, and had struck down every male in Edom
• [1Ki 13:29 NASB] 29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
• [2Ki 9:34 NASB] 34 When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."
• [Psa 79:3 NASB] 3 They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem; And there was no one to bury them.
• [Jer 7:32 NASB] 32 "Therefore, behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no [other] place.
• [Jer 14:16 NASB] 16 "The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them--[neither] them, [nor] their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters--for I will pour out their [own] wickedness on them.
• [Jer 19:11 NASB] 11 and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no [other] place for burial.
• [Eze 39:11 NASB] 11 "On that day I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by east of the sea, and it will block off those who would pass by. So they will bury Gog there with all his horde, and they will call [it] the valley of Hamon-gog.
• [Hos 9:6 NASB] 6 For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; Thorns [will be] in their tents.
• [Mat 8:21 NASB] 21 Another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."
• [Luk 9:60 NASB] 60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God."

True,
Burial is mentioned.
But nothing of the bodies condition is spoken of except in a few instances.

There is dust, sand, and starlight to consider when burial is involved.
And also the number of days to mourn is significant.

Blessings Always

 

[FredVB]

First I've heard of cremation being a pagan practice.

Especially when scripture plainly states a person returns to dust. Scripture speaks of burial. (קָבַר)

Truly in the Bible there is burial of the dead mentioned, and not cremation, that is unless Judges 9:49 is considered. Yet none from all those who died will be condemned for their remains being cremated by others. How their remains are disposed of, whether to be consumed by worms or by fire, will not have any consequence to the salvation or rewards of any of them, of those who with repentance are among God's people, through Christ, and it still will not make a difference to those who are otherwise.