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NASB | 2 Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 5:8 we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. |
Bible Question:
I read all the replys on the topic of "cremation" and observed that almost all find no scriptural support to declare that cremation is unBibical. Most people cited the case of King Saul, and how his body was burned. However I cannot find one instance of any godly person in Scripture who chose for himself cremation. Now I too believe that God can ressurect the body whether it is burned or buried. I realize that many godly men and women were burned at the stake. However they did not choose to be burned. So my question is, should a believer who has the option of burial or cremation, choose cremation or Christian burial. And I even recognize that the term "Christian burial" has no Scriptural support. Anyone have any thoughts on this? |
Bible Answer: I asked the same question many years ago. When I was a teenager I attended a funeral service of a neighbors father. The man had lived and died in another state and was cremated. His daughter wanted to have a funeral in our state and bury him close to her. At the service his ashes stayed in the hearse because the Catholic church wouldn't allow them into the church building. Of course I found that very bazzar the guy wasn't allowed at his own funeral? What I was told was that in historical times when a person was considered evil possibly a prisoner, or leper, or what may have been the dredges of society at death their bodies were disposed of with the trash and burned. That was as if saying their lives had no value and considered disrespectful toward the person. As the catholics developed the church they adopted the tradition that only unclean, or unsaved were cremated and it seems to have spread like wild fire. I've never found a scripture that supports or denies any form of burial. I can not see how the God who is called Love in the books of John would refuse a person who loves Him entrance to heaven because their corpse wasn't taken care of in a paticular way. Otherwise there would be hundreds of thousands lost because of traditions and Jesus said Your traditions make your faith of no effect. Nothing is impossible to God so it is no problem for him to restore health to a living body being destroyed by disease or life to flesh thats been lifeless. |