Is Cremation Christian?

The Leader of the Christian Action League Of NC Says It Is Not

By: Rev. Mark Creech

Raleigh--- One of the great Bible doctrines which has almost been forgotten in recent years is the sanctity of the Christian’s body. The Scripture says, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” This passage and many other Bible statements clearly set forth the truth of the divine ownership and sanctity of the Christian’s body.

As investigators in Georgia widen their probe into a crematory that dumped bodies in the woods or stacked them in storage sheds, the NC Board of Mortuary Science says state laws guard against similar episodes in our state. But the question for North Carolina’s Christian community is not: Can it happen here? The question ought to be: Is cremation a Christian practice?

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary says, the word “cremation” is from the Latin word crematio, from cremo, which means “to burn – burning, particularly the burning of the dead according to the customs of many ancient nations.”

In our modern crematories, human bodies are reduced to ashes in a white heat of over 2,000 degrees in just a few hours. When cooled, the ashes are put into an urn. The remains of a body weighing 140 pounds is reduced to no more than three to four pounds of ash.

There are certain advantages to cremation. It can be less expensive than burial. If necessary, it’s much easier to transport the remains. Moreover, it can save cemetery space. But for those who believe the Bible to be authoritative in all matters of faith and conduct, the important consideration is whether the practice is approved of God.

Historical records reveal that the idea of reducing human bodies to ashes originated in heathen lands. Rome was among the first to practice this custom. Today, in India, this is a common practice among the Hindus.

Recently, I asked an Indian Pastor if the Christians of India cremated their dead. He replied, “Most definitely not! Cremation is not Christian. The Christians of India bury their dead, because burial is Christian. There is nothing Christian about cremation, it is an ancient practice of heathen origins.”

The Bible teaches it was a supreme dishonor and curse for a person to have no burial. Such a curse was pronounced by God on King Jehoikim of Jerusalem because of his pride and disobedience to God. The prophet Jeremiah declared of him, “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass” (Jr. 22:19); which meant, he would have no burial at all. Josephus, the Jewish historian, states that the king of Babylon cast out Jehoikim’s body, and it lay exposed and unburied not far from the gate of Jerusalem. Others in the Bible were similarly cursed for their ungodly ways: Achan (Jos. 7:15); Jezebel (2 K. 9:30-37); Ahab’s descendants (I K. 21:17-24); Sisera and Jabin (Ps. 83:9-10), to name a few.

In Amos 2:1 we have the record of Moab’s sin: “Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.” No other verse in all of Scripture so clearly delineates God’s disapproval of the burning of human bodies.

Some would argue that it doesn’t matter in what way the body is put away at death. Such a position betrays a poor knowledge of the letter and the spirit of the Word of God. Isn’t the whole of Genesis 23 devoted to recording the death and burial of Sarah, Abraham’s wife? Is it not true that one half of Genesis 50 records Jacob’s death and burial? Did not God bury Moses? He could have disposed of the great patriarch in other ways (De. 34:5-8). A large and important place is given in the Bible to the way the bodies of the faithful are to be disposed of in death.

In Old Testament times, the sanctity of the body was carefully taught. God’s people were not to copy the customs of heathen nations by cutting, marking, or tattooing their bodies (De.14:1-2). This teaching of the sacredness of the body is carried into the New Testament and is enjoined upon Christians in various passages that declare our bodies belong to the Lord (I Co. 6:9-20; Ro. 6:13; 12:1.) Christian redemption not only concerns the soul, but the body as well. Self-ownership is a pagan concept, and we are not free to do with our bodies as we please, if we would do the will of God.

Although cremation can in no way effect the outcome of our resurrection, the practice is clearly not Christian. Rather than consenting to destroy God’s property in the oven of a crematory, Christians should affectionately lay away their loved ones in the earth, like the body of our Savior. His body was tenderly and lovingly prepared for burial according to the customs of God’s people (Jn.19:38-42).

Divine precept and example tells us that there is but one Christian way to dispose of our dead. Bury them.

The Rev. Mark Creech is the executive director of the North Carolina Christian Action Council. If you have a reaction to this article, e-mail us at letters@thecharlotteworld.com
(3/13/2002)

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