Does the bible say anything against...

[Jon Clement]

Being creamated?

[Uriah]

Uh.. I don't... think so?

[ZiP]

No that i know of. considering alternatives to being buried?

i know a couple of christians who plan on creamation. i think it's ok. don't take me as an expert though.

[Arnobius]

Early Christians did because Creamation was a common pagan practice and was also seen as a rejection of the resurection of the body. Jews also opposed the practice because of the pagan symbolism. Nowadays with the pagan conotations no longer relevant, I think most Christian denominations are ok with it so long as it is not done for the wrong reasons. The preference is still for burial though.

[Jon Clement]

Early Christians did because Creamation was a common pagan practice and was also seen as a rejection of the resurection of the body. Jews also opposed the practice because of the pagan symbolism. Nowadays with the pagan conotations no longer relevant, I think most Christian denominations are ok with it so long as it is not done for the wrong reasons. The preference is still for burial though.

Really? I find beiong ashes in an urn for the remainder of the age more hopeful of a resurection... Seems much better than lying in the cold ground...

[Arnobius]

Really? I find beiong ashes in an urn for the remainder of the age more hopeful of a resurection... Seems much better than lying in the cold ground...

Well back then it was considered the destruction of the body and a rejection. Some people still do it for the reasons Christians can't accept like "Let me be one with the Earth for all eternity..." and that Christians dissaprove of.

[Jon Clement]

This may sound weird or unchristian, but I kind of have a desire to have any future wife of mine cremated when she dies and then when I die, have our ashes mixed together...

[Doubleshadow]

This may sound weird or unchristian, but I kind of have a desire to have any future wife of mine cremated when she dies and then when I die, have our ashes mixed together...

Doesn't sound weird or unchristian to me. My Dad wants to be cremated, and he and Mom had an arguement about it since she wants him to be buried in the graveyard with the rest of us (yes, I know where I will be buried one day). Anyway, Dad insisted that he wanted to be cremated, so Mom finally said, complete with dramatic hand gestures for demonstration, "Fine! Then take your ashes, dig a hole, and pour you in there."

[Jon Clement]

Doesn't sound weird or unchristian to me. My Dad wants to be cremated, and he and Mom had an arguement about it since she wants him to be buried in the graveyard with the rest of us (yes, I know where I will be buried one day). Anyway, Dad insisted that he wanted to be cremated, so Mom finally said, complete with dramatic hand gestures for demonstration, "Fine! Then take your ashes, dig a hole, and pour you in there."

lol! He should get her creamated anyway: She won't know!

[Arnobius]

Personally it doesn't bother me if my family decided to go that route after I was gone. Whatever would be better for them in the grieving process.

[Bobtheduck]

I've never been one for caring about what happens to my body, or anyone in my family for that matter... The whole idea is a bit rediculous to me. It's a shell, not me... I'm getting a new body eventually, so whatever happens to this one doesn't matter. It's not like I'm really gonna be able to enjoy that view on the hillside or being cast over the ocean... Nope... I'm gonna have my body donated to a medical university as a cadaver for students to disect.

[ShiroiHikari]

The body's just a body. So long as they don't mutilate it in disrespectful ways, I don't care. Cremation to me sounds like a less expensive alternative to burial. I mean, that big wooden box they put you in before you go into the ground has got to cost a ton of money.

[Jon Clement]

Frankly, being barried is just somehow very depressing... Sort of feels like everyone wants to forget you...

[Steeltemplar]

Frankly, being barried is just somehow very depressing... Sort of feels like everyone wants to forget you...

I do not see why that would be the case. They place a large tombstone over your body with an inscription. I think in terms of rememberance, it is the equal at least of cremation.

Really, people will remember you based upon their feelings about you, not upon where or how you are layed to rest.

[Jon Clement]

I do not see why that would be the case. They place a large tombstone over your body with an inscription. I think in terms of rememberance, it is the equal at least of cremation.

Really, people will remember you based upon their feelings about you, not upon where or how you are layed to rest.

Even so, I just don't like the idea of being barried under the ground... I have claustaphobia. I HATE low ceilings and the idea of being barried alive (Yes, I know your dead, but still) make me want to scream...

Being in a urn, you feel like someone could at least let you out, and you'd be above ground... Presumably in a comfortable house... but underground in a coffin, you'd feel trapped...

[Sakaki Onsei]

When my body is done, and until it is resurrected, let the body be fertilizer.

The best way to remember me is by eating the carrot that is grown where my ashes are spread.

[Arnobius]

When my body is done, and until it is resurrected, let the body be fertilizer.

The best way to remember me is by eating the carrot that is grown where my ashes are spread.

Hmm, that reminds me of this old Cowboy poem: Reincarnation by Wallace McRae: http://www.cowboypoetry.com/mcrae.htm#Rein

[Slater]

I don't like the ideas associated with cremation, but there have recently been a lot of bad ideas floating around about regular burrial as well (ie, taking your stuff with you to the grave symbolic of having it in afterlife).

I believe that it is our duty, while we are alive, to keep our bodies in good condition since they are the temple of the Holy Ghost, but after we die there is little we can do to stop our bodies from becoming "dust" again. If burried, you'll be eaten by worms, which is a fate not too much worse than burning... so I don't think that there's anything wrong with cremation itself... It's ideas like "oh if I'm cremated, God won't be able to find me on the day of Judgement" that are bad.

I'm thinking of getting cremated when I die simply because that's ok with me and my loved one. People invest such high dollars for their funerals because they don't want to be forgotten when they're gone... but that's not a Christian line of thought (we were created for a much greater purpose than to just be remembered on earth). I'd rather not have my family spend thousands of dollars just to have a white stone with my name on it placed along countless others where nobody walks anyhow.

[Yeshua-Knight]

as i recall from what i know of scripture and biblical history, there is nowhere in scripture that speaks against cremation in any form, as i recall the practice of the Hebrews concerning the dead dealt with preparing the body in such a way so that it would decompose quickly so that once there was nothing left but the bones, the bones would then be stored in a special box called an ossuary, proof of this can be seen in the ossuary found that had "james, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" in hebrew on the side of it

so really, it's not that different from cremation, just no fire involved

[glitch1501]

i kind of like the idea of returning to dust...

[Jon Clement]

I want to have my ashes mixed my wifes...

[Bobtheduck]

Well, John, this connects with other convos we've had... You gotta remember, you're thinking of life after death like it's just like life here... It's not. You won't care what happens to your body when you're dead. You won't be in a coffin or in an urn. The body is nothing, and you won't care if someone completely desecrates your grave... And you won't care if your ashes are put with your wife's either... You won't be married in heaven. There won't be sexual desire in the way we have it, and we will all be the bride of Christ, so these sort of attatchments won't exist... You're thinking that everything is going to somehow be the same, but that's really not a biblically based line of thinking... Really, it's best to just know that God has the best for us, and it won't look the way things look here...

Now... I'm not gonna stomp on people's desires for burial or cremation, as some have said it's often more for the people left behind (but for me, I'd rather the people left behind realize my body is trash after I'm dead) For me, I see it as an unnecissary cost, and giving my body to a medical school just solves so many problems all at once... In any case... It is completely up to the person dying, really. I just wish people wouldn't think of the body after they were dead as if it were them...

[Jon Clement]

Well, John, this connects with other convos we've had... You gotta remember, you're thinking of life after death like it's just like life here... It's not. You won't care what happens to your body when you're dead. You won't be in a coffin or in an urn. The body is nothing, and you won't care if someone completely desecrates your grave... And you won't care if your ashes are put with your wife's either... You won't be married in heaven. There won't be sexual desire in the way we have it, and we will all be the bride of Christ, so these sort of attatchments won't exist... You're thinking that everything is going to somehow be the same, but that's really not a biblically based line of thinking... Really, it's best to just know that God has the best for us, and it won't look the way things look here...

Now... I'm not gonna stomp on people's desires for burial or cremation, as some have said it's often more for the people left behind (but for me, I'd rather the people left behind realize my body is trash after I'm dead) For me, I see it as an unnecissary cost, and giving my body to a medical school just solves so many problems all at once... In any case... It is completely up to the person dying, really. I just wish people wouldn't think of the body after they were dead as if it were them...

Okay, if you believe that, I respect that... Though, I do have to say that I think I've found a few loophopes... But I'm not going to post them to avoid contraversy...

I've found that it's not your believes that get me upset, but rather, my own self letting them get to me... Infact, a lack of sunlight God me depressed... I'm just so completly understimulated...

[Bobtheduck]

Loopholes? *raises eybrow*

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Okay, if you believe that, I respect that... Though, I do have to say that I think I've found a few loophopes... But I'm not going to post them to avoid contraversy...

Loopholes eh? The question is: How accurate are your loopholes? I won't believe anything about loopholes till you give me some good, irrefutable evidence.

I'm not going to ask you to post them. But PM em to me or IM me. Let's talk about it

[Mangafanatic]

I believe a lot of people are against cremation, because most of the people whose bodies were burned in the Old Testament where bad people. Also, there's the issues of the ressurrection, and many people think they have to, somehow, maintain the integrity of their bodies. I don't buy that, but that's what some say.

Whatever you have done with your body, just make sure your family agrees with the decision. When my grandfather died, he wanted to be creamated. However, my aunt and uncle did not want him to. It caused a lot of heartache in our family.

I too would be interested in hearing the "loop holes", if you wouldn't mind PMing me them.

[ZiP]

Okay, if you believe that, I respect that... Though, I do have to say that I think I've found a few loophopes... But I'm not going to post them to avoid contraversy...

I've found that it's not your believes that get me upset, but rather, my own self letting them get to me... Infact, a lack of sunlight God me depressed... I'm just so completly understimulated...

You can almost always find a loophole in something if you look hard enough. Believe me. Just remember, we don't live by loop holes.

[Steeltemplar]

Okay, if you believe that, I respect that... Though, I do have to say that I think I've found a few loophopes... But I'm not going to post them to avoid contraversy...

I've found that it's not your believes that get me upset, but rather, my own self letting them get to me... Infact, a lack of sunlight God me depressed... I'm just so completly understimulated...

There are no loopholes with God. He is bound by no limitation. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. This being the case, we may be assured that whatever He decrees shall come to pass and there is no technicality which may be used to avoid His will.

And, indeed, we should not want to defy His will if we understand properly His nature and what He wishes for us. I think that the key that you should be looking at here is not what you want but what God's will is. If you follow Him, you will find more satisfaction in doing so then you ever would have trying to fulfill just your own mortal desires.

[GrubbTheFragger]

i don't think it says anything against it but i have not read the bible fully thought i have read most of it.

[Tarnish]

I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I, however, want to be buried. Or stuffed.
Whatever's cheaper.