Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Do You Think It Is Okay For Christians To Be Cremated?

The reason I ask is because years ago I heard Christians discussing it and condemning cremation. Their reason? Jesus would not be able to "rapture" you. Putting the unbiblical doctrine of the "Rapture" aside, there are several flaws with these people's thinking. How many Christians were burned alive for their beliefs? Are you honestly trying to tell me that these extremely devout Christians will not be in heaven simply because someone burned their bodies to nothing? How many Christians were blown to bits and pieces in modern wars? Are you honestly trying to tell me that these Christians will not be in heaven because their bodies were in pieces and much of them could not be found? What about Christians who lost limbs? Do you honestly think they will be resurrected and still be missing those limbs?

Clearly your biblical understanding is limited and extremely askew. Jesus created your body from the dust, and if to dust you returned (as the body does when it rots), He can certainly re-create your resurrected body (which He will have to do anyway since your body will not exist after decades and centuries).

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

Yes, our body is a temple, but I am afraid many Christians lack proper understanding of this verse and, like many others, rip it out of context to force it to mean whatever their wicked heart desires it to mean in the moment. If our body is a temple, what does that mean if a mortar shell explodes beside us and rips our body to shreds? Are we any less a temple of the Holy Spirit? "Oh no! Johnny got blown to bits and pieces by a nuke! Guess he's not indwelled by the Holy Spirit anymore. We won't be seeing him in Heaven."

Who says cremation is a "pagan" practice? Pagans buried bodies, too, especially certain types of burials that we seem to mimic. Maybe cremation was the new practice because they needed to preserve land since burial takes up so much space. If you take every graveyard across the world and put them together, how much space does that eat up? Maybe cremation was the new practice to thwart plagues and the like (especially when they did not bury them 6 ft deep). If Christians died from plagues, and their bodies had to be burned so that others would not get infected from it, does that mean that person is lost to history and will not be resurrected and in Heaven?

If from dust we came and to dust we will return, does it actually matter how we return to dust? Something to think about.