Cremation Vs. Burial

Dear Pastor Bob,
I recently had a conversation with a respected friend about the Christian view of cremation vs. burial. They believe cremation shouldn’t be practiced by Christians because it is scripturally wrong. Is this true?

Answer: Dear Reader,
This is an interesting subject especially since the historical position of both Christianity throughout her two thousand years and classical Judaism has been unambiguously committed to earth burial and against cremation. Only in recent times has there been a breakdown in this biblically based tradition. Here are a few commonly sited reasons for burial:

1. The body is constructed by God to: a) hold human life, b) to function as the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and c) to be resurrected unto eternal life. Therefore, intentionally destroying human remains by fire is disrespectful to God because bodies are containers of the very special life specifically created in God’s image (Genesis chapters one and two).
2. God’s people in the Bible were always buried. Abraham, Sarah, Rachel, Isaac, Rebecca, Leah, Jacob, Miriam, Aaron, Moses, Joshua, Joseph, Saul, Jonathon, David, Solomon and many others are sited as being buried. It is important to note that fire was certainly available to the ancients if they had decided to burn their remains but they universally site burial as the way they cared for their dead loved ones. There is no instance in the Bible of a righteous person having their body intentionally burned after death... always buried. The only righteous people burned are burned as martyrs. Only pagan religions burn their dead as a funeral practice.
3. The most important reason for burial is that Jesus was buried and He is our example in life and death. We believe that as Jesus was buried and raised from the dead, we are buried and wait to be raised in the resurrection. This is what baptism represents; burial and being raised from the dead. Burial and resurrection is a central theme of our faith. Earth burial is a way that we express our faith in the Savior.

The scripture says "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). It is ancient Jewish tradition and 2,000 years of Christian tradition that we are following when we are buried. It is a prophecy of our hope in Christ. It is only during the last century that liberal, pagan and atheist practices began eroding this traditional Christian thinking.

Blessings,
Pastor Bob