Heather in VA Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Before I ask this... this is NOT an argumentative question. It's something I'd been wondering myself for a while and my daughter happened to ask me yesterday so I thought I'd ask since the topic had been broached. If you believe that cremation is wrong for religious reasons, how to you feel God views people who are mutilated during death (plane crash, bomb blast, etc). Is the problem with the voluntary cremation of the body rather than whether or not the body is intact? Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in Austin Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I'm going to tread carefully here because I am part of the same tradition as Melinda in VT's mom (that is, LDS) that opposes cremation but I, personally, am not all that opposed to it. In any case, the issue isn't God at all. Any LDS would say that God is perfectly capable of resurrecting anyone's body no matter what happened to it before or after death. The issue is whether our burial customs reflect respect for God's creation. The Church (and most of its members) feel that burning a body is disrespectful of God's creation. I'm pretty shrugful about it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Ahhh!!! That makes sense. That is certainly a reasonable feeling about it. Like you, I'm not sure it's disrespectful to cremate a body but I can respect that others believe they respect the body by keeping it whole. Thank you for making it more clear to me. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Gosh, I had never thought of it from a religious standpoint. Having not really read or thought much about it, and having considered cremation myself before, my initital thought is that I am okay with it. Religiously, that is. I don't believe that your body goes to heaven - only your soul. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord anyway. I never understood the part in the Bible that talks about the dead from the seas rising first and so forth. I always took that to mean that the body and soul are at rest until the second coming, but I will tell you right now that the book of Revelation has never seemed very revealing to me...at least not in ways that make any logical sense to man. That said, we have dealt with this lately. My son's great-grandmother was cremated last week and her ashes buried. *scratching head on that one* - anyway, the entire subject has my son so freaked out, he has asked my husband and I at least 3 million questions about it. Back to your original question - I absolutely do NOT believe it matter (as far as entering heaven) whether or not your body was mutilated in death (ESPECIALLY if it was not your choosing!). I would never buy that dying in a plane crash gets your name removed from the Lamb's book of life. My God just doesn't work that way. But, then again, I don't believe that the body is the same in death as it was in life - I think that it is sacred only when filled with the soul. Wow - deep stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Ok - before I get serious.. I have to laugh at being cremated and buring the ashes. That's an interesting choice :-). Of course I guess it's better than the time I went to visit my grandmother when I was 19 and stayed with some distant cousins who lived in the same town since my grandmother didn't have room. I didn't know them well so it was already weird. They showed me to the rec room where I was going to sleep. I saw this interesting vase on the mantle so I commented on it. She says 'oh that's Great Uncle Frank'. YIKES!! I didn't sleep much LOL. But on the deeper side, I've never believed that the condition of our body has any bearing on our entrance into heaven either. I've just wondered about those who do. I've met people who have very similar beliefs to mine in respect to the all-powerful nature of God as well as Jesus being the way to salvation, but then they believe we shouldn't cremate bodies. So I've wondered why they came to that conclusion. If it's a matter of repect for the body, I can see that. At that point it isn't really a theologial belief as much as a decision made because of beliefs. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawana Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I'm going to tread carefully here because I am part of the same tradition as Melinda in VT's mom (that is, LDS) that opposes cremation but I, personally, am not all that opposed to it. The LDS church can't be that theologically opposed to cremation as they paid for my cousin's cremation but would not pay for a burial. My cousin, a lifelong member, was being supported by the church at the time of his death. Lawana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKim Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I recently was reading something about this, and it said that most pagan or heathen (don't know which word they used specifically) cultures burned their dead, and that they thought Christians should therefore not do so. They talked a lot about how the Jewish culture revered the bodies, which is true. You can see it when you read through the OT. I have no opinion myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlockOfSillies Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 My son's great-grandmother was cremated last week and her ashes buried. *scratching head on that one* Well, you gotta put 'em somewhere. My mom finally buried my sister's ashes after having them in her closet for about 10 years. Now THAT makes me go :confused:. My BIL was cremated this year and MIL had him buried in a nearby Catholic cemetery near other family members. Neither my sister nor my bil left any kind of instructions for funeral or burial arrangements. It wouldn't surprise me if burying/interring ashes, not spreading them, were the norm. They take up less space than coffins do, that's for sure. Lots of survivors also want to be able to visit a gravesite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in VA Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 My stepfather was cremated and his ashes were placed in a small "plot" at his church. The "plots" are about 1 ft sq. My mom wants to be cremated and placed in the same "plot", I guess on top of him??? ;) As far as some churches feeling it's disrespectful to cremate a body, I wonder if they realize what is involved with the process of embalming. I'm not sure that's any more respectful than cremation. When my grandmother died last year, my brother made a comment about his plans to be cremated and my father told him not to mention it to my granny's preacher, or the preacher would tell him he was going to h*ll. :D A few years ago, I watched a documentary on PBS about people who were going back to the old ways of burial (keeping the body in the home, old pine box, etc.). It was very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadiegirl Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 My husband has a friend that just attended a memorial for a friend that died. He was cremated and then they spread the ashes for an open area near his deer stand. Then, those who attended the service, each hit a golf ball in his memory! Betcha can't guess his hobbies!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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