Burial or Cremation
Q:
A friend of mine who claims to be a Christian believes that it is better to be cremated than to be buried after death. What does the Bible teaches?
H.O.
A:
Dear saint, I am very thankful for your desire to seek what the Bible teaches. I believe the Bible teaches the following:
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God’s Order:
God has set the pattern of burial from the book of Genesis (book of beginnings) by telling Abraham, “thou shalt be buried in a good old age (Gn 15:15). Abraham understood God’s mind and was much occupied with buying a burial ground to bury his dead in chapter 23. It is interesting that the word bury, buried, etc… is mentioned about 11 times in the same chapter. Please note that all the heroes of faith were buried and in Moses’ case, Jehovah Himself buried him.
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God’s Son:
The Lord Jesus was buried and spoke about His burial (Matt. 26:12, Jn 12:7). His burial is essential to proclaiming the gospel (1Cor. 15:4). That which is offensive to God has to be removed. So then if we claim that cremation is better than burial, then we are taking away from the truth of the Gospel.
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God’s Spirit:
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19) and we are not our own: “For ye are bought with a price…(vv. 19-20). Therefore since our bodies are not ours, then it will be an act of disobedience to decide for ourselves to be cremated when we clearly know it is not God’s decision and pattern.
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God’s Purpose:
I mention the purpose, simply because God wants His children to be conformed and to bear the image of his Son in everything, even in His death (Phil 3:10). Therefore, if Christ was buried then we need to do the same.
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God’s Doctrine - Baptism
Cremation does not only disregard the truth of the Gospel (see above) but also denies the truth of Baptism (Rom. 6:4, Col. 2:20).
Much love in Christ,
J.A.P.
