Live Q&A Follow-up - Cremation

I am trying to answer a few more of the questions left over from the Live Question and Answer night on September 29. The question for this post is: Cremation – how should we view it – is it biblical? how should we discuss this option with others?

To answer the first part of the question in terms of whether or not cremation is biblical, two things should be noted. First, there are at least three examples in the Old Testament of a type of cremation – Achan in Joshua 7:25, Saul in 1 Samuel 31:12, and the King of Edom in Amos 2:1. Though cremation took place, each of those examples is tied in some way to God’s judgment and curse. Second, there is no direct command that I am aware of that prohibits cremation. So if we just give consideration to the biblical data, we can say on occasion cremation took place, but it is not something that was promoted and the more normal practice was burial. Why was that the case?

To answer the why question we should probably consider history and tradition for a moment. Cremation was a normal practice for Greeks and Romans, yet the catacombs in Rome suggest that the early Christians buried their dead. Christian grave sites, cemeteries, which comes from a word that means sleeping places, were understood o reflect a belief in the future resurrection.

Why did the early church adopt that view in a culture pro-cremation? It seems that early church believed that cremation was associated with pagan rituals and beliefs that were unbiblical. As such the most God-honoring way to handle the body of a Christ follower who died was to bury the body in anticipation of the future resurrection. As result for most of church history, burial was the common method.

Cremation entered into American culture on December 6, 1876 when Baron Joseph Henry Louis Charles De Palm was cremated in Washington, Pennsylvania. Baron De Palm was part of the Theosophical Society, a group that was influenced by many things other than God and the Bible. The cremation ceremony included readings from Charles Darwin and Hindu sacred writings.

So where does that leave us? Well, I cannot say that the practice of cremation is unbiblical, in that it is not directly prohibited in Scripture. But, cremation does have a tainted history and was not associated with God in a positive manner. Personally, I believe it might be wiser for a follower of the Lord Jesus to be buried rather than cremated.

To address the second part of the question in terms of how do you talk to others about cremation and burial, I would suggest you start with recognizing it is difficult to talk about things related to death. Then I would simply look at the history of cremation and its biblical connection.  Then I would probably ask the question:  Does my burial method communicate any message about the hope of the gospel? Should the resurrection have any impact on how I am buried? Please note, I am not saying that cremation prevents a person from being resurrected in any way. But I do see value in thinking about the how a burial may make a statement about the resurrection and not simply think about the economics of cremation versus a full casket burial.