Misconceptions Clarified Episode XXII: Is Cremation Biblical?
Welcome to Misconceptions Clarified XXII where this episode will contend with the highly debated and sensitive topic of cremation versus burial. When it comes to the practice of cremation in western civilization in the twenty-first century, it has become the most preferred and the most affordable option, especially in comparison to how much the cost of burial has risen over the past decade or so. Even though many are choosing the option to cremate their loved ones due to their economic situation, this article is going to conduct a brief overview of cremation, investigate its origins, and consider if there is any biblical justification for the practice of cremation.
According to Cremation Association (links are at the bottom of this article), in the year 2023 alone, sixty percent of the deaths in the United States were cremated, which have almost doubled over the past fifteen years. Statistically speaking, cremation has become the popular option, and it is projected that by the year 2028, the statistics could climb up to seventy percent of Americans choosing cremation over burial, which begs the question, why are more Americans choosing cremation? Obviously, cremation has become the most affordable option in a day and age where the cost of inflation has risen substantially. It’s hard to blame anyone who desires to go the cheaper route of cremation considering the difference of price. Depending on the funeral package, a family can save a few thousand dollars by cremating their loved instead of burying them. However, little do people know that the practice of cremation has also risen more than twenty percent over the past several years and can cost as much as seven thousand dollars nowadays, whereas burial can range anywhere from eight to ten thousand dollars. Either way, regardless of whatever option a person ultimately decides, advanced planning is a must in order to cover the high cost of a funeral.
So, where does the practice of cremation originate from? Well, according to Britannica Encyclopedia, the practice of cremation was introduced to the western world by the Greeks around 1000 BC. Homer’s Iliad records that the Greek god Zeus “forced Achilles to surrender Hector’s body to his father so that he, King Priam of Troy, could have it cremated royally.” This is practically where cremation originated from which has transferred down to the Roman Empire, all the way to America approximately 3,000 years later where cremation has now become the preferred option. As the sources assert, cremation was rooted in Ancient Greek philosophy; a very pagan society. In fact, around 100 AD, cremations were halted in the Roman Empire possibly due to the spread of Christianity. Cremation “was not encouraged by them because of pagan associations and because of the concern that it might interfere with the promised resurrection of the body and its reunion with the soul.”
Now, this is an interesting fact about the early belief of the Christian church regarding cremation in the first century. Furthermore, the Orthodox Jewish religion forbids the practice of cremation until this day. So, how did a practice that was considered pagan by the Christian church in its early inception become widely popular and practiced? Did the early church or the Jewish view about cremation have it wrong? What changed? How did the church go from having a very strong stance against cremation for almost seventeen hundred years to becoming the most preferable option in the twenty-first century? It wasn’t until the year 1884 that the British government sanctioned cremation as a legal procedure and it wasn’t until 1876 where the first crematorium was built in America where only eight percent of Americans practiced cremation up until the 1970’s. And now fifty years later, the practice of cremation has ballooned to over 60 percent!
It’s not uncommon in the church today to have members desire cremation when they die, which begs the question, how are believers justifying a practice that was shunned by the ancient church? What was the difference between now and then? Well, as highlighted above, during the ancient times, there was a deep concern that cremation could interfere with the reunion of the resurrection of the body to the soul. The practice of burial has a steep tradition in Judaism that stretches all the way back to the time of Abraham in the Bible. In Genesis 23:3 Abraham said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” Not only did Israel believe that God could raise a person back from the dead to life, but that God would do so by resurrecting the very bones from their grave. Accounts such as the valley of dry bones according to the prophet Ezekiel, the long list of biblical ancestors that practiced burial, the tradition of the Jews who placed the bones of a person into an ossuary box, the fact that in each instance the practice of burning a body in the Bible was in a negative sense and condemned by God, and the mere fact that the greatest person to ever dawn on the flesh, Jesus Christ, was also buried in a tomb. All of these examples factor into the rationale of why cremation was not practiced by the early church nor by the Jews.
Yet, fast forward to the twenty-first century, cremation has not only become widely accepted in the church, but widely practiced in the church. What could possibly influence a believer to risk their soul reuniting with their resurrected body during the second coming of Christ???? The justification primarily stems from the idea that God could gather a person’s ashes just like He can gather a person’s bones. The verse of Scripture many point to is Genesis 3:19, “from dust you come and from dust you shall return.” In other words, since God created man from the dust of the ground, from the dirt, God is able to resurrect a person’s ashes. However, let’s not forget that dirt and the ashes from a cremated human body are two different substances, and thus, Genesis 3:19 could not be used as biblical justification for cremation. Even when the body naturally deteriorates in a tomb, the decayed flesh doesn’t turn into the ashes that a cremated body produces. Although this article does not doubt that God is absolutely capable of bringing the ashes of a cremated body back together similar to how God made Adam from the dirt of the ground, can Genesis 3:19 be truly used to justify the act of cremation? Does God’s act of creating Adam from the dirt of the ground justify the unnatural and expedited process that takes place in burning a person’s body into ashes? Well, obviously the early church nor did the nation of Israel derive such a stance from scripture. Yet, why are believers convinced that God will bring a person’s ashes back to life with absolutely no scriptural support??? It’s one thing to say God is able to do it, but it’s another thing to speak for God himself and assert that He will reunite a person’s soul back to their ashes of their cremated bodies when God never said he would and when all of His chosen people chose the contrary in Scripture.
Another reason why the practice of cremation is common in the body of Christ is because of a very low regard of the human body itself, a decreased hope of the physical resurrection of the body, and a lack of fear of cremation interrupting the reunification of the soul back to the body. It’s almost as if people take for granted the physical resurrection of their bodies regardless of whatever they decide to do with their bodies at the end-of-life. Obviously, this lack of consideration stems from the diminished preaching of the hope of the physical resurrection of the body from the pulpit as part of the reason why believers are choosing the option of cremation without second guessing the practice. The church is practically silent on the issue. There is little to no warning on the possibility that the practice of cremation could interrupt the soul from reuniting with their physical resurrected bodies, which is why cremation has now become commonplace in the body of Christ. Little do people know that there is a reason why the biblical patriarchs and the Lord Jesus Christ practiced burial throughout Scripture. It’s not a coincidence that Abraham was led to purchase land to bury his loved ones, and hopefully, anyone who reads this article will ponder this for themselves.
Another layer to this conversation that many haven’t given significant consideration pertains to the spiritual battle at work. The people of God have a tendency to forget at times the multitude of ways Satan is trying to destroy and deceive them into thinking certain things are from God when they’re not. For the sake of argument, could the serpent who is at war with the saints slither his way into the mix by sowing seeds of doubt and possibly misleading people into thinking that God will reunite a person’s soul back to their ashes if they decide to choose cremation? Could the devil pose the same question he said to Adam in the Garden of Eden to us today, “Did God really say the only funeral practice allowable is burial?” Only the Lord knows. How unfortunate would it be if Satan knows that burning a body to ashes according to a pagan tradition could indeed prevent a person’s soul from participating in the physical resurrection? This is certainly not beyond the devil’s tactic to deceive people into thinking ideas originate from God that don’t. Some may question, “Is God not capable of rescuing those who have been killed in a fire tragically or burned at the stake?” Again, this article is not a matter of God’s capability, but a matter of justifying an intentional act of burning one’s body into ashes as the pagans did assuming that God will reunite those who have participated in such a practice He did not originally ordain.
So, back to the question that remains to be answered, “Is the act of cremation justifiable according to Scripture?” The clear answer is no! Can God ultimately bring a person’s ashes back to life? Can God rescue a person’s body who may have been lost to the fire or drowned at sea not by their own intentions? Well, if anyone can do it, certainly the Almighty God can do it. However, this article is focused on the practice of cremation; an act people willingly select as a funeral practice at the end-of-life. The early church nor did the Jews believe in cremation because they had a very sincere fear that their soul could be interrupted by the act of cremation, and thus they stayed away from indulging in such a practice. If there is anything that can be justified according to the Word of God are saints who have been buried and resurrected back to life. In Scripture, God has revealed what He is willing to do, and restoring a person’s ashes that has been intentionally burned in the practice of cremation was not something He revealed in Scripture that He was willing to do. This is the truth of the matter!
In conclusion, considering the increased costs of both cremation and burial, it’s important to plan your own demise in advance. If you have a deep belief of the physical resurrection and you don’t want to jeopardize this great promise of the Lord, plan your burial in advance so you don’t have to worry about taking the cheaper route because you didn’t plan ahead for what the Bible says everyone will have to suffer, and that is death of the mortal body. This article cannot conclude one way or another the destination of a person’s soul, their salvific state, or whether their soul will be interrupted from reuniting in the physical resurrection of the body. This article is not saying that anyone who participated in the practice of cremation in the past is going to hell either. No! The intent of this article of Misconceptions Clarified XXII is to answer the question, is cremation biblical?.
Overall, the answer to this misconception is that cremation is not biblically justifiable. There is not one positive example in scripture anyone can point to that says God agrees with such a pagan practice. In fact, there is plenty of biblical justification that would caution any believer to avoid any practice that is rooted in pagan mythology. In Matthew 27:52-53, the account says that many bodies of the saints were raised out of the tombs at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If there is justification for any specific funeral practice that someone can point to, it’s burial, not cremation. Jesus Christ himself, the greatest example of all of human history practiced burial and was raised from the tomb as well, and this was during a period of time where cremation was alive and well. It’s difficult to comprehend why any believer would want to practice anything their Lord and Savior didn’t practice, especially when the Word of God admonishes His people in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of the world.” Unfortunately, cremation is a worldly practice. So, how can any believer justify practicing a non-biblical tradition that could possibly interrupt their very soul from reuniting and participating in the physical resurrection of Christ at the consummation of all things? Now this article sympathizes with those who lacked the knowledge of cremation’s paganistic roots. However, will they be excused at the resurrection for simply not knowing? Does the enemy not use the lack of knowledge to interfere with God’s creation?
Nonetheless, one thing is for certain, the physical resurrection of the body is one of the greatest promises in all scripture. Why jeopardize such a blessing on the whims of what God can do over what God has already proven He would do according to His own divine revelation that he preserved for the world to receive? If God already promised what He is going to do in His own Word that He validated through His own Son, how can a believer justify engaging in a practice God never spoke, decreed, or approved? Many just assume that because God is a loving God that He is automatically going to restore those who practiced cremation because they simply didn’t know any better. Again, this is just an assumption. The alternate hypothetical that this article is afraid many haven’t contemplated is that God could also say, they knew better but they didn’t choose better, and thus, now the penalty is…, their soul will remain bodiless forever….
Furthermore, Paul asserts that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which means that the body in which God created is precious to Him, and how are many treating this special gift of God…, by burning it in the fire? That doesn’t appear to be the manner in which one demonstrates their appreciation for the very body God created where His own Spirit dwelt inside of. Even after the spirit has departed the body at death, consider how the Jews treated the body post-death. Some will say that the body is just a shell of a person, but consider for a moment how the Jews treated Jesus’ mutilated body that was beyond recognition? They anointed the body with spices, perfumes, and clean linen because of their high view of the physical resurrection and because of their high view of God’s creation. Consider this, the body is so precious to God that He promises to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior a physical resurrection of their mortal body for all of eternity. He promises them that he will restore their body. Should we in turn treat our bodies in such contempt of God’s view of the human body by burning it in the fire intentionally as the pagans did? There’s no such biblical justification! Choose wisely!
#Misconceptions Clarified XXII
https://www.cremationassociation.org/industrystatistics.html