Is cremation wrong according to God?

[kshell]

I'm faced with having to decide about my sister who is right now in a morgue in a hospital in Florida. She hasn't had much contact with our family who now just consists of me and my mom. She was basically a street person who lived place to place and never accepted help from us very long before she went right back to that lifestyle. We found out through the grapevine so to speak that she died this past Thursday of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 38. The state was going to take control of her body Monday and do whatever they do with people who are unclaimed. I called yesterday and claimed her body and me and my mom decided to have her cremated and have her ashes sent to my mom. I don't know the state of her soul and I tried talking to her over the years about God, but she wouldn't listen. I pray she turned to Him in those last days or hours and I'm praying for her soul, although I know the decision has been made as to where she is now. I'm very heartbroken and she lived a very hard life and to think now she's also in hell is tearing me up. I also have guilt now about the cremation. Is it wrong? We don't have the money to bury her but I can pay for the cremation. My mom is more at peace about her being cremated and her ashes sent to her than to have the state bury her. I don't even know what they would do with her body. Anyway, I'm struggling and I've prayed about it, but we don't have much time for a decision. Actually the decision has been made and I just have to fax the paperwork back to the crematory so they can start the process. They called the hospital last night to tell them that family claimed her and the state would not be taking over. That makes me feel better some but the whole issue of cremation is really bothering me. I'm not a scholar of the bible and I don't know if He is against it or not.

Please help me. Thanks in advance.

Karen

[Gary]

Don't see why. My entire family wants to be cremated. I don't think there's anything scriptural against it.

[bopeep1909]

Those who are Christians who have been cremated,drowned and have never been found or have been destroyed in some way or another will be resurrected with their souls when Jesus comes back. It doesn't matter. Christ can do anything. Those who were not Christians and have been cremated, lost at sea or have been destroyed in some way or other will be resurrected as well and they will face the "Great White Throne Judgment". They will be judged in accordance to what they did on earth and will face different degrees of punishment in hell.<><

[Catwoman]

I think you are a very loving sister and God bless you and your mother in this time of grief. I have never heard or read anything that would suggest cremation is unbiblical.

[Singlesis]

Someone in the OT was condemned for buring someone else's bones... this is why some Christians say it's wrong to be cremated. I'm looking.... be back as soon as I find the verse...

[Singlesis]

Amos 2

Judgment on Israel
1 Thus says the LORD:

"For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime. 2But I will send a fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth;
Moab shall die with tumult,
With shouting and trumpet sound.

[Singlesis]

2 Kings 23

17Then he said, "What gravestone is this that I see?"
So the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel."
18And he said, "Let him alone; let no one move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
19Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD[6] to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. 20He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.


This sounds like a desecration, rather than an acceptable practice. But I can't find anywhere that it actually says we are not supposed to cremate. :confused

[Patty T]

:hug I'm very sorry to hear about your sister and I pray that God will give you and your mom strength and comfort during this time.

God told Adam in Genesis 3:19:

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.

The Hebrew word for "dust" is `aphar {aw-fawr'}, Strong's #6080, which is translated:

dry earth, dust, powder, ashes, earth, ground, mortar, rubbish


Since ashes are one of the words within this translation, I don't see any scriptural problem for creamation.

I'm sure it was a difficult decision and I'm very sorry you had to make it under those circumstances. I pray He will give you a peace about it as well :hug


Patty

[kerri]

I agree with Patty...

We all become dust/ashes again eventually, given enough time- creamation just speeds up that process- therefore, I cant see anything Biblically wrong with it.

So sorry for your loss, Karen :(: :hug

[kshell]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I did receive some comfort in that other christians agree that it's not something that God condemns.

Karen

[antitox]

My wife and I decided to be cremated when we die. That way no one is burdened with burial expenses, etc.

[mooseamerica]

My husband and I cremated our daughter when she died a year ago tomorrow. From all my studies, I can only see that God is concerned about the state of one's heart, not their dead body.

I hope you can go forward with your plans guilt free. :):

[kshell]

Thank you so much. I was going to take on full responsibility since I was paying for it, but I asked my mom yesterday to sign the papers authorizing it because I just couldn't. I'm not saying I think cremation is wrong, but I don't think I should bear the entire responsibility of it just because I'm paying for it and she does have a mother still alive. You have to understand, I have had to be the mother to my sister, dad, and mom because they have been incapable in their lives due to alcoholism to make choices and be adults. So my husband finally took a stand with me yesterday and told me I should at least have my mom sign the papers because I thought I was going to have a heart attack or stroke when I saw them. If I were the only one alive that my sister had, it would be different and I'd have to do it. But I think my mom should have to fill those papers out and take some responsibility for a change. Maybe when she sees them and have to fill them out, it'll do her some good with her alcoholism, especially to know it's what killed my sister at 38. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble and thanks for giving me advice. It has helped me more than you could ever know and I have more peace about it.

Karen

[Ciscokid]

My wife and I decided to be cremated when we die. That way no one is burdened with burial expenses, etc.


Likewise. I just can't see using up a small plot of land just to contain by bones....cremate me and save the land for kids to play on.

[cameron222]

It seems cremation would be an acceptable alternative to greedy price gouging funeral homes who catch people at a time of grief and suffering and take advantage of that weakness.

I think of the World Trade Center on 9/11 when the occupants in many cases disintegrated. Those who are christians are now with the Lord. And christians who have been eaten by sharks, burned to death in a home fire, burned at the stakes, etc., still abide in heaven awaiting their new glorified bodies at the resurrection/rapture of the church.

I am very careful with God's Word and really don't know for sure, but the verses singlesis posted could be more to do with the person being killed as opposed to the method by which they were killed. I really don't know.

The only restriction I would place on cremation would be if someone I knew did not want to be cremated. Then I would opt for an alternative.

But as a side bar, I think it is shameful what has happened to funeral costs. An average funeral can run several thousands of dollars and all the "add ons" are merchandising gimmicks thought up to make more money. Then there is the opening and closing of the grave, one cost after another. Its appalling and many people are choosing cremation over the traditional funerals. But watch what will happen. Now cremation costs will go up and the merchandising game with special urns, memorial plaques, etc, will dominate the scene and soon cremation will be expensive.

I saw recently where a company (online I believe it was) was offering coffins for sale at reduced prices. Bet the funeral home industry will try to squash that in a hurry.

[Hootmon]

I see no Scriptures saying that Cremation in itself is bad.

The few examples of 'burning bones' seem associated with desecration or disrespect of those doing the burning rather than any implication for those being burned.

[Patty T]

Thank you so much. I was going to take on full responsibility since I was paying for it, but I asked my mom yesterday to sign the papers authorizing it because I just couldn't. I'm not saying I think cremation is wrong, but I don't think I should bear the entire responsibility of it just because I'm paying for it and she does have a mother still alive. You have to understand, I have had to be the mother to my sister, dad, and mom because they have been incapable in their lives due to alcoholism to make choices and be adults. So my husband finally took a stand with me yesterday and told me I should at least have my mom sign the papers because I thought I was going to have a heart attack or stroke when I saw them. If I were the only one alive that my sister had, it would be different and I'd have to do it. But I think my mom should have to fill those papers out and take some responsibility for a change. Maybe when she sees them and have to fill them out, it'll do her some good with her alcoholism, especially to know it's what killed my sister at 38. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble and thanks for giving me advice. It has helped me more than you could ever know and I have more peace about it.

Karen


Karen :hug

May God continue to give you strength and guidance as you wear these many hats. God always seems to take one person out of a family (designate) to be the strong, spiritual leader. It seems He has certainly chosen you from among yours.

He will never let you down Karen. Keep looking to Him as you press forward on your journey. He is your fortress, your strong tower, your rear guard, and an ever present help in time of trouble. The righteous run to Him and are saved.

[StinkerBell]

I am truly sorry for your loss.

I too am careful (or try to be) with God's word. I know we get New bodies in Heaven, Adam came from dust and I also know that God has the power to restore this earthly body to me if he wants too..

So, with those thoughts I have no issue with cremation myself.

[bekali]

Karen, I have lost people and didn't really believe they accepted Jesus. However, we don't know what happens to a person at the moment of death. For example, my dad never wanted to hear about the Lord but he had been to enough funerals that I know he heard the salvation message many, many times. You can be comforted because you don't know for sure what happened in the final moments of your sister's life.

I am very sorry. I pray the Lord will give you peace and comfort that only He can.

[kshell]

I have gotten more comfort from reading the words of strangers here than from people I know. I'm getting the constant, "So when's the funeral....there's no funeral...you're going to cremate her? Are you going down to view the body first?" With all of those questions, it makes me feel guilty because I didn't want to go down and view the body and neither did my mom. I know she didn't look like the sister I remember and I wanted my memories to be of how she looked before she started living like she did. I saw a picture of her when she was 35 and she looked 70 then and I weeped for a long time for her, but nothing or no one could turn her around. Believe me, we tried. I can only imagine what she looked like at her time of death. The crematory is cremating her and sending the ashes to my mom. My mom feels no need for me to go down there to be with her, and it's just me and her. My father's family doesn't even know us and what's left of my mom's family, well they have nothing to do with my mom and are rather snooty. So between us, we've talked for hours multiple times a day to each other on the phone and that's how we're getting by. People sometimes make me feel like I'm just taking the easy way out and cremating her to save money as if she isn't worth the funeral. I don't know if they mean to make me feel that way, but that's how I feel anyway and all of those surprised looks on their faces when I tell them make me feel even more guilty.

Thank you all again. I really love this place. You couldn't find a better group of people here.

Karen

[cameron222]

May God bless you Karen and give you comfort during this time of your loss.

Yes people can be cruel, not knowing they are being cruel, by asking the kinds of questions you received. I don't know where the "funeral" thing got started, but today it has become an industry that's in it for the money with all of the casket upgrades and special services and limos and doormen, etc.
People have certain "expectations", and the ones that can't understand alternate means of burial usually don't come to your aid and offer to pay for the "proper" funeral.....(sighs)

When I was a child and a person died, their body was sent to the funeral home to be embalmned and then sent back to the person's house for a viewing. The men in the family would then go to the cemetery and dig the grave and close the grave after the service. I can remember the outrage when people began using the funeral homes for the viewings. People criticized that procedure, but a few years later the "home viewings" were a thing of the past.

Cremation seems to be gaining in popularity and perhaps one day the "funeral home" model of today will also be a part of the past.

[Shieldbearer]

Kshell- I pray that God would comfort you in these times, and I also want to say your loving service to your family is a witness to them and everyone around them of the love of Christ.

This thread has really made me think. I was always taught that cremation was wrong, because it destroyed the body. But you know, there is no verses in the Bible that I can think of that says this. And, like has already been pointed out, eventually everyone turns back to dust anyway, and cremation just speeds up the process.

I'm now rethinking and praying about this, although I hope I don't have to make a decision about this anytime soon. Actually, I hope we won't even be here much longer and I'll never have to decide on this :): .

[holyspiritvesse]

1Cor 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed {the poor,} and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Don't forget this one from I Cor. It always made me think cremation was noble.

I have a similar story about my sister that died a street person 5 years ago next week.

We didn't have the money, no one did, but my mom cries at the thought of cremation, she thinks it is so evil.

So, it was up to my husband and me to pay for her meager $4000 funeral. That's as low as we could get it, and it took us two years of payments to pay for it.

Two Christmases ago, the family went in on a tombstone for her.. so she was over 3 years in the grave with only the paper marker from the burial.

We had engraved what I hope is a testimony for anyone that goes through reading headstones, to make them think about how they are living:

Jer 31:19 'For after I turned back, I repented; And after I was instructed, I was ashamed and also humiliated Because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

SHe DID get truly saved 3 weeks before she died. IT was SO unreal! She died 5 states away alone though and we don't know why. No autopsy was done.

[SAHM]

Kshell,

I'm truely sorry for what you are having to go through. I fear someday I will have to go through the same thing with my brother. He is not homeless and has a job, but he lives a careless life of drugs and alcohal and I am really starting to see that it is taking its toll on him, he lives in another state as well. But I still pray for him that the Lord will change him.

I was raised to believe that cremation was wrong (from my mom) also. But now I dont believe that to be the truth. I think that God knows our hearts and he wouldnt expect us to pay the exhorbant cost for a "traditional" funeral. I certainly dont want to put any of my family through that kind of hardship when I die.

I also understand your not wanting to view her body before the cremation process. When my mother died several years ago we had the "traditional" funeral service for her and only the emmediate family (us,me) got to veiw her body. I wish that I hadnt. I wish that my last memory of her could have been a better one, one where she was alive and looked herself, but now I have the memory of her (not as herself) forever engrained in my memory.

I also remember the financial hardship that it was for my father and the emotional hardship it was for all of us sitting in the funeral home emmidiately after she died trying to decide what we could afford and the little tinge of guilt that if you didnt buy at least the second best of everything that you thought less of the person you were burying.

Anyway, I guess what I am saying is that you shouldnt feel guilty for anything and you shouldnt let anyone make you feel guilty either for the decisions you have made. They were hard decisions and you made them out of love and honor for your sister. I think people say things (like they have to you) out of ignorance, because they either have never had to deal with the death of someone that close to them or they have never had to go through the WHOLE process personaly themselves. I tell ya, you can never truely appriciate something untill you have experienced it yourself, as you know.

Hang in there
SAhm

[shiplover]

Pryaing for you and your mom Karen. {{{{{hugs}}}} in your time of sorrow.

[Keifer]

Blessings during this time of trial Karen...

"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all." ( 2 Thessalonians 3:16 KJV )

...I'm praying for her soul...

"Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah." ( Psalms 88:10 KJV )

I also have guilt now about the cremation. Is it wrong?

"And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:" ( Genesis 18:27 KJV )

"And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 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 Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days." ( 1 Samuel 31:11-13 KJV )