Saturday, August 18, 2018

Direct Cremation, Direct Resurrection - Exploring the Intersection of Adventist Christianity and Cremation

Direct Cremation, Direct Resurrection
Exploring the Intersection of Adventist Christianity and Cremation

Chaplain O. Kris Widmer, MDiv
Ordained Minister, Seventh-day Adventist Church

Introduction

The occasion of the death of my father-in-law on August 14, 2018 and our diligence in following his chosen method for the “disposition” of his body has given me an opportunity to reflect on the intersection of cremation and Christianity.

I hesitate to write about this for it may be doing what Paul cautions Timothy against in 2 Timothy 2.  “…refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.” vs23.  “Remind them…and charge them…not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers.” vs 14.  Some believers hold very strong positions about this topic, and others haven’t even through about it.

In this brief paper, I wish to discuss the intersection of cremation and Adventist Christianity, and seek to answer the question many a minister has been asked: What about cremation?  Does God have a problem with it?  Is it O.K. for us to cremate Grandma, and still be confident in the “blessed hope” of her bodily resurrection “in that great gettin’ up mornin’.”

As expected, the possible answers to this question are (1) Yes, God has a problem with cremation.  (2) No, God doesn’t have a problem with cremation. And (3) God gave you a brain and free will and leaves it up to you to decide according to your time and place.  I tend to favor number three.  Let me share with you my thought process; before, during and after the recent death of my wife’s dear daddy.

My History

After I wrote a first draft of this reflection in the morning hours of August 17, I had the opportunity to comfort my weeping wife. She had learned that Friday, three days after his death, was the actual day of her Dad’s cremation.  Of course she knew it was going to happen…but she said it seemed easier and better not know the specific WHEN it was actually happening.   It was happening “over there”, outside of her mental awareness.  She lamented learning this detail during an incoming telephone call from the mortuary that morning, as they discussed other arrangements.  “Why did they have to tell me this?” she said.  It was just T.M.I. – Too Much Information.

Virtually all of my ancestors (and we’re talking 10 generations of known names that I can read about in my dad’s genealogical publications) have been buried. In the “old country”, a few were likely wrapped in blankets and buried the same day in a shallow grave out beside the sod house on a Ukrainian prairie. Later, others were embalmed, casketed and then buried as intact bodies in a church-yard cemetery. Being in church ministry, my parent’s generation (now nearly gone) is not to be found in a common family plot, but they are buried all around the United States, in Oregon, California, Texas, Colorado and Michigan just to name a few locations. (One uncle’s ashes are currently missing from his assumed burial spot in North Carolina and this is an unfolding story, one that should wait for another time.  We are still confident that God knows his actual whereabouts, but they have not yet divulged this information.)  Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins – most have been thus interred.  My relatives and I, the mourners, have stood weeping over what appeared to be the sleeping form a dead loved one.

Most of us, the grieving public, don’t know what exactly is standard procedure in a mortuary “preparation room” to achieve the expected appearance of a loved one at a viewing or wake.   I wrote a paper on the different burial methods years ago for a college English 101 class.  In my research, I learned some previously unknown truths about the goings on down at the local funeral chapel. (If you are queasy, please jump to the next paragraph.  Warning, you can’t unread it.  Last Chance! )   Jaws are wired shut, plastic cup discs get hooked under eyelids, formaldehyde is pumped into the circulatory system; not to mention pancake makeup, waxes and other industry tricks to make the dead look “lifelike” for our final views.  It takes quite a bit of creative cosmetology to make the dead to look as if they are “sleeping in repose.” So my simple answer to questions of the dignity and ressurectability (Yes, I coined that word) of cremated ashes to a bodily afterlife is this.  If God is unable to give eternal life and a new body of those cremated, it stands to reason that they are also unable to give eternal life to a body that once was filled with embalming fluid, had their teeth wired shut and were sealed in a cement vault six feet underground! If cremation is thought to be undignified treatment of our dead, then so is the modern funerary practices mentioned above.

I, and perhaps you too, (Welcome back, for those who skipped half of the above paragraph) have a hope that burns within our hearts that God will speak the names of our beloved dead on the resurrection morning…and any and all those afore mentioned mortician techniques and tricks will vanish and our beloved dead will come forth to life immortal. I believe this will all my heart.  I’ve preached this as God’s trumpet in death’s darkness many times at numerous funerals.

So, what about cremation? 

Bible Discussion

Christian objectors to cremation (My grieving sister-in-law was recently told by ill-meaning people that cremating her father was a sin.  Not appreciated!  They must be members in good standing in the “Association of Job’s Comforters.”) may point out that many of the Bible greats were buried:  Abraham, Isaac, Sarah and Rebekah.  Moses died on the mountain and was buried briefly by God himself…then bodily resurrected. (The proof is his resurrection is that he appeared to Jesus at the Transfiguration)  Lazarus, Ananias and Sapphira and even Jesus himself were also given “descent burials.”  There are no cremations mentioned in the New Testament.  Some segments of Christian faith hold strictly to the idea of “body into the grave” at death and “body out of the grave” at the second coming of Christ.  To them, burial is essential.  It is a view that has biblical precedent, church history and respect for the body temple on it’s side.

In further study, the Bible presents a variety of burial methods.  In a cave.  Under a pile of rocks.  In a tomb carved out of rock. Under an oak.  Some graves even got the occasional decorative coat of white wash, which made them look great, but still were filled with bones and decay. (Matthew 23:27)  There seems to be no “Thus says the Lord” on the specifics about where or how burials should be done.  The Near-East practice in the early church world seems to have been the placement of a body in a catacomb crypt for a while…and then later return to collect the remaining bones into an ossuary (bone box) for space saving purposes. Then, they would reuse the tomb for another occupant.  Joseph of Aramathea had a NEW tomb…and that made Jesus’ burial extra extravagant.

In the Bible times, it was important to have a person buried so they didn’t become food for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air.  This was thought to be a height of disgrace.  And example of this is David and Goliath’s shouting match about what would be eating whom by the end of the day (1 Samuel 17:44-47).  David was apparently truthful in his prediction.  There is also the wonderful motherly love expressed by Rizpah, who camped out by the bodies of her sons, shooing away any creature seeking to scavenge an easy meal.  (2 Samuel 21:1-11).  In Revelation 19:17-18, it is the corpses of the wicked that form the feast for the creatures called to “the great supper of God”, an expanding of the fate predicted for Egypt in Ezekiel 29:1-5.  In the Bible (and the wild west) to be eaten by buzzards is not good, so one takes the time for a “decent burial.”  But even with all that; today, we wouldn’t believe that a saint that is killed and eaten by any beast is beyond the resurrection power of Christ!  At least I wouldn’t.

My mind tells me Jesus is coming soon, but my heart knows it won’t be soon enough.  As believers, we hope in the reality of the resurrection promised many places in the Holy Bible.  For example, Job 19:25-27 – “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another…” KJV

Modern Money Matters

Today in the United States of America; the cost of traditional burial - with transport, refrigeration, casket, embalming, dressing, cosmetology, grave purchase, cemetery backhoe fees, headstone, memorial book and flyers, etc - has priced the lower and middle class out of the burial market.  Coming up with $8,000 to $15,000 for such services, at a time of emotional upheaval, and on the heels of expensive end of life care really strains a family’s budget.  There is no sliding scale for the fixed income widow or the minimum wage earner and mortuaries never put caskets on a clearance sale!  This makes “direct cremation” very attractive.  Industry statistics report that a USA cremation rate of 4% in 1960 has moved to a 50% rate in 2015.  Direct cremation, with no viewing or open casket funeral, is priced from $800 to $3,500, depending on the locale. Cremation can be as much as an 80% savings from traditional burial costs.  If a family member is willing to take possession of the “cremains” afterwards that is the total cost. (Some niches in cemeteries cost as much as a grassy ground grave.)

Reflecting the Recent Death of Dad.

My father-in-law’s death is my first experience with “direct cremation” as a member of the mourning family.  We were with Dad playing a card game Sunday night, we were by his side for his unresponsiveness on Monday, and Tuesday at 1018 hours, we were with him for his final breaths.  His skin quickly blanched white, as his blood stopped circulating.  His body cooled over the five hours he lay instate in the living room hospice bed.  We knew, without even a confirmation visit from outside medical staff, that he was dead.  After all, his two daughters are registered nurses and I’ve been around more than a few corpses in my work as a chaplain.

However with Dad this time, there was no prolonged goodbye to the body that had been him.  No picking out of burial clothes.  No “viewing” with the receiving of visitors.  No open casket service. No tucking in of letters or mementos before the lid is closed.  None of that. This was it.  Five hours…and he was gone from our sight.

My wife and her sister report to me that this was actually healing for them.  Instead of a farewell to his body stretched over a week and happening in 3-5 occasions; this was  a cherished, private, family time.  We said our goodbyes to him in the bed, then we walked him out as a family honor guard to the mortuary car – a white Honda Odyssey van (Dad would have liked that! He drove an Accord for years and his last vehicle was a CRV.  Perfect!) We held each other, weeping, as we watched him leave the house for the last time.

The abrupt finality of the departure of Dad’s body was certainly a different experience than other deaths I’ve experienced.  A traditional burial does afford a delayed finality.   But finality happens with certainty in both cases. There is no way around it. That final view, touch or kiss of a dead loved one is hard - no matter when it occurs.  I know, for I tucked in my father in his casket, along with his doctoral and master’s degree graduation hoods, 11 years ago last February.  I caressed my father-in-law’s forehead with a spoken promise to see him again “in the sweet bye and bye.”

And So…The Question:

As a minister, I’ve often been asked the cremation question.  “Pastor, it is O.K. with God to do this?”  My answer has developed over time and has included parts of what has been written above, as well as the following ideas: (In no particular order.)

1.     Burned at the Stake:  It had better be O.K. with God, for many faithful martyrs were burned at a Roman or a Papal stake. We are ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Paul mentions, in a neutral way, people delivering their bodies to be burned in 1 Corinthians 13:3 KJV. This is thought to be a reference to first century martyrdoms.
2.     Dust to Dust:  I say “Cremation does quickly what time does slowly.”  Both result in dust. Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 remind us that humans were made from dust…and will eventually return to dust – slowly or quickly.  Daniel 12:2 promises that those who “sleep in the dust” will awake at God’s life giving call.  So how quick we become dust really doesn’t matter.
3.     Living Dirt:  God doesn’t need what is left of this “dust” to make dad new again in the resurrection. (See the first E.G. White quotation later in this article.) We are God’s living ceramic project. Humanity is living soil – dirt in a shirt - and God can and will make us again out of any convenient clod of clay. 
4.     Burials at Sea:  Since the sea gives up the “lost” dead after the millennium, (Revelation 20:13 is the only aquatic resurrection mentioned in the Bible.) it stands to reason that it also gives up the “saved” dead before the millennium.  Apparently even those buried at sea, who become food for the scavengers of the deep, (Yes, that is what happens down there!) are not beyond the reach of God’s resurrection power.  When I see that special little cloud approach the earth, I’m heading to the beach!  Something wonderful will be happening there!
5.     The Fiery Furnace:  What if Daniel’s 3 friends (Daniel 3) had been burnt up in the fiery furnace?  Would God be less God?  Would they be beyond the reach of God’s resurrection?  No!  Such thoughts are too limiting of our infinite God.  I realize this is a hypothetical situation, but it is relevant to the question.
6.     John the Baptist:  We know his disciples came and buried his lifeless torso and limbs. (Mark 6:29)  But his head became the property of Salome.  But we believe God is more than able put him back together again, though parts were buried separately.  Yes, what about those that were sawn in two (Hebrews 11:37?)  They are part of the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) that says, do not fear those that can only destroy the body.  They cannot affect the eternal future of your soul!  (Joyfully, it is likely John the Baptist is already whole again and now immortal.  It is appropriate to deduce that John the Baptist was physically raised in that strange special resurrection found in Matthew 27:52, 53 and enhanced in Desire of Ages pg. 786.1-.3).  If God can fix beheadings, certainly they can also correct the conditions of cremains.
7.     Mummified Patriarchs:  If one must be buried intact, it would logically rule out an afterlife for both Jacob and Joseph.  Both were “embalmed”, which the Hebrews didn’t do either before or after their Egyptian slave period.  Both Jacob (Genesis 50:1-3) and Joseph (Genesis 50:26) were prepared for burial according to Egyptian practices:  mummified.  This was a long process (Again, skip to #8 if you don’t want to know any more details.)  It involved chemical dehydration of the body tissues, as well as removal of 4 vital organs (Intestines, Liver, Lungs, Stomach) into canopic jars, that were housed beside the body…but not with it.  When Joseph’s bones were taken from Egypt (Exodus 13:9) it is hoped they also took those jars.  His remains were mobile during the wilderness wanderings and he didn’t find a “final resting place” until he was buried near the grave of his mother at Shechem (Joshua 24:32)  I mention all this simply to make the point that people we know will be in the resurrected kingdom who were buried in pieces here and there…not necessarily as intact bodies with hands folded in repose upon their chests.
8.     Organ Donation:  If one must be buried intact, it would logically rule out organ donation at any time.  We are thankful for people who donate their own or a loved one’s usable parts to bless others. I know a man that is very grateful for his cadaver cornea, enabling him to see and lead an active life. Though a decedent’s corneas help one person see, their lungs help another breathe, their heart helps another have a pulse and their kidneys help 2 others pee – our Almighty God is more than able to sort it all out in the resurrection morning.  Since They (God in the trinity unity) know how many hairs are on our heads at any given time, this is not a problem for the almighty Them!  A burial only stance would logically require one to not donate blood, as all platelets, plasma and corpuscles must remain with the owner.
9.     Donations to Science:  If one’s body must be buried intact, it would rule out donating your body to science/medicine.  (I have friends whose husband/father taught music for his career, and then taught anatomy after he died in a medical school.)  We learned by reading the book Stiff, by Mary Roach, she tells how many bodies donated to science are parceled out as parts:  The Orthopedics (bone doctors) get the joints, the Podiatrists get the feet and the Plastic Surgeons get the heads to refine their techniques for face lifts and nose jobs.  This doesn’t happen to all of those donated, but it does happen. So the next time you have surgery…thank the kind persons whose corpses were in the lab.  Your doctors practiced on the dead them, so they could work on the living you.  And…most of the cadavers are cremated and either returned to the family or buried or scattered somewhere agreed upon prior to the donation.  I think all people that donate themselves to medical progress…are rewarded with eternal bliss…just for this act of selfless generosity alone!
10. Cremation of Royalty:  When King Saul and his 3 sons died on the hills of Gilboa, the Philistines desecrated their bodies.  Stripped of weapons (and clothing), posthumous beheadings, bodies hung on a city wall (for the beasts and birds).  It was the men of Jabesh-gilead that walked all night and came at night and removed their bodies out of respect.  The first thing they did was “they burned them there” in Jabesh.  They were left with bones, just having a wood source of fire, and so they then buried their bones.  You can read all about it in 1 Samuel 31:7-13. Now one may argue that Saul is lost for the other spiritual choices, but he is still resurrectable, albeit in the wrong resurrection.  But one would be hard pressed to find justification for condemning Jonathan and his other two brothers to the lake of fire, just because their bodies were cremated.  And it is notable that David blesses the Jabesh folk for their BURIAL of Saul and sons in 2 Samuel 2:5.  So the burning of their bodies (what we call cremation) was called burial by David.
11. From a Tent to a Building.   Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10 has a major section where he discusses life and death.  In chapter 4, he uses many phrases to describe our present body and our precarious state: “earthen vessel”, “constantly delivered over to death” “our mortal flesh” “outer man”, “momentary and light affliction” “the things that are seen are temporal”.  Finally, he describes our present body as a “tent” (5:1). (That’s a thoughtful metaphor for a tent maker, who likely had repaired many seams, door flaps and floor panels in his working days).  This “tent” will one day be replaced by a body that is “a building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”” (vs 1), “our dwelling from heaven” (vs 2), when a “mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (vs 4). In the same verses, Paul uses another metaphor.  He speaks of being “clothed”with attire that decays (this present existence) and we groan (vs 4) for we don’t want to become naked (vs 3) and unclothed (vs 4) (death). “Naked came in into the world, and naked will I leave” Job said.  Paul then implies at the resurrection we will be clothed with our permanent outfits, that will be forever, a theme he developed earlier in the “putting on immortality” in 1 Corinthians 15: 53-54.  We’ll all get a body just as God wishes in the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:38.  It sounds like Paul has no concern what happens to a body after death, for God has everything under control.
12. Man-made Tombs:  If God can’t raise your cremains (that is the mortuary word for human ashes) than perhaps they may not be able to get through the roof of the mausoleum or that layer of concrete poured over the family plot either!  What if God can’t figure out how to open the lid of that 20 gauge steel casket you purchased?   What if…?    NO!  Preposterous!  God the omnipotent is not hindered in anyway in his resurrection power.  Nothing is impossible for God, and we can quote Jesus on that. Matthew 19:26.
13. Final Thought:  As you can see…when one really delves into the Bible and any topic…it can get complicated pretty quickly.  I believe however a body is handled in death is not a problem to God as long as the person is remembered, the body is treated with dignity and the hope of a resurrection is expressed. This ends up being a cultural and financial issue – for me.  As long as the surviving family are not disrespectfully “thumbing their nose” at God, saying ‘There!  See if they can resurrect her now!’, I think it’s fine. Our belief is that our omnipotent God can and will give life to all in “the grave” in the first and second resurrections, no matter where that grave is or how long our loved one has moldered in it…or not moldered as the case may be.  Those buried in ground or water, those eaten by land, air or water creatures and those whose ashes have been scattered on land or sea or in a fire pit (like another dear friend of mine)… even those whose ashes sit on a revered bookshelf in the den.

You may have other thoughts to add to this list.  I would love to hear from you.  I hope you have enjoyed this take on this subject, along with my sprinkling of humor, irony, sarcasm (and parenthetical thoughts)

Conclusion:

Years ago, I was in New Orleans for some meetings and my wife and I wandered through one of the many old, above ground cemeteries.  There is a high water table in Louisiana…so the graves there are not below ground.  Caskets would just float up through the high water table, and that’s not good thing.  Instead, they are above ground as individual crypts and concrete structures.  I happened to see one old grave that was actually cracked open.  Bravely, I peeked in.  There was no casket inside and no bones…just old casket handles could been seen in the shadowy darkness.  Time had done slowly, what cremation does quickly.

My soul is comforted and my perspective on cremation has been enhanced during our current grief by the following comments by Ellen G. White I found while reading silently beside my dying father-in-law. She never uses any form of the word “cremate” in all her writings; I checked by computer search.  Mrs. White was a religious visionary author my father-in-law read from frequently and voluminously.  She also remains an authoritative voice of truthful inspiration in the Adventist church. (The emphasis below is mine.)

“Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every man will have his own character. God in His own time will call forth the dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding the dry bones live. The same form will come forth, but it will be free from disease and every defect. It lives again bearing the same individuality of features, so that friend will recognize friend. There is no law of God in nature which shows that God gives back the same identical particles of matter which composed the body before death. God shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.

Paul illustrates this subject by the kernel of grain sown in the field. The planted kernel decays, but there comes forth a new kernel. The natural substance in the grain that decays is never raised as before, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him. A much finer material will compose the human body, for it is a new creation, a new birth. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
He [the believer] may die, as Christ died, but the life of the Saviour is in him. His life is hid with Christ in God. “I am come that they might have life,” Jesus said, “and that they might have it more abundantly.” He carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life, to be one with Him throughout all eternity....

At the last day He will raise them as a part of Himself.... Christ became one with us in order that we might become one with Him in divinity.   Maranatha, October 20, page 301.  Emphasis mine.

In the context of Aaron’s death being attended by just the two people who buried him, Ellen White comments in Signs of the Times, October 14, 1880, Paragraph 22 (This was modified later and published in 3 other places: EP 299.3; PaM 174.1, PP 427.2)  Emphasis Mine.

The watching, waiting people, at last see Moses and Eleazar slowly returning; but Aaron is not with them. Upon Eleazar are the sacerdotal garments, showing that he succeeds his father in the sacred office. With quivering lips, and sorrowful mien, Moses tells them that Aaron died in his arms upon Mount Hor, and they there buried him. The congregation break forth into expressions of genuine grief; for they all loved Aaron, although they had so often caused him sorrow. As a token of respect for his memory, thirty days were spent in services of mourning for their lost leader.

The burial of Aaron, conducted according to the express command of God, was in striking contrast to the customs of the present day. When a man in high position dies, his funeral services are attended with the greatest pomp and ceremony. When Aaron died, one of the most illustrious men that ever lived, there were only two of his nearest friends to witness his death, and to attend his burial. And that lonely grave upon Mount Hor was forever hidden from the sight of Israel. God is not glorified in the great display so often made over the dead, and the great outlay of means in returning their bodies to the dust. 

So Adventist funeral values include knowing (1) God doesn’t reuse our current particles and (2) we should do funerals as inexpensively as possible.  (Knowing Mrs. White, she would advise to give the money one saves to advance the Lord’s work in the world.)

My opinion is that it doesn’t matter what becomes of these particles of matter that make up us:   Food for bugs, birds or barracuda or fuel for burning.  It could be burial in the ground; entombment in a crypt, burial at sea, cremation with scattering, niching or shelving,  - none of this matters to an omnipotent God who is the resurrection and the life.

What should rule the day in our theology and church relationships on this and so many other matters is the principle of Pauline liberty.  “Let each person be fully convinced in their own mind.”  Romans 14:5.  He applies this to diet, and holy days, and it certainly applies to many other “disputable matters.” Romans 14:1.   It would seem that both cremation and burial are fine, if one has a clear conscience with God.  Paul’s liberty regarding giving a daughter in marriage or not doing so in 1 Corinthians 7:38 also seems to be an important principle.

What really matters is…are we saved souls or persons? Will we be one of the many that sleep in the dust…and arise to life immortal? (Daniel 12:1,2) What a day that will be when “the saved of earth shall gather to their home beyond the skies” and “the roll is called up yonder.” Then, each person will be composed of “a much finer material…a new creation, a new birth.”  “Hey, I know you!”  Glory! Yes, Job - in my new flesh, I’ll see God.”

Just as Dad’s departure from us was sudden and “direct”, so also will be his resurrection.  Sudden and “Direct”.  He gave us directions, like Joseph, concerning his body, his bones. (Hebrews 11:22) “Cremate me…and save the money.”  I’m so glad that many years ago, he also gave God directions concerning his soul.  “Have mercy on me, O God, for I am a sinner.  By your mercy and the evidence of Your love in the cross of Jesus… save me.”

I look forward to the day when I will see a much finer father-in-law (and my dad, and my grandparents and my aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and the vast host of God’s redeemed) praising God in Christ…the life giver.  Truly, this blessed hope is our ONLY hope.


*  All Bible verses quoted from the NASB, unless noted.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Direct Cremation, Direct Resurrection

Direct Cremation, Direct Resurrection
Exploring the Intersection of Adventist Christianity and Cremation

Chaplain O. Kris Widmer, MDiv
Ordained Minister, Seventh-day Adventist Church

Introduction

The occasion of the death of my father-in-law on August 14, 2018 and our diligence in following his chosen method for the “disposition” of his body has given me an opportunity to reflect on the intersection of cremation and Christianity.

I hesitate to write about this for it may be doing what Paul cautions Timothy against in 2 Timothy 2.  “…refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.” vs23.  “Remind them…and charge them…not to wrangle about words, which is useless, and leads to the ruin of the hearers.” vs 14.  Some believers hold very strong positions about this topic, and others haven’t even through about it.

In this brief paper, I wish to discuss the intersection of cremation and Adventist Christianity, and seek to answer the question many a minister has been asked: What about cremation?  Does God have a problem with it?  Is it O.K. for us to cremate Grandma, and still be confident in the “blessed hope” of her bodily resurrection “in that great gettin’ up mornin’.”

As expected, the possible answers to this question are (1) Yes, God has a problem with cremation.  (2) No, God doesn’t have a problem with cremation. And (3) God gave you a brain and free will and leaves it up to you to decide according to your time and place.  I tend to favor number three.  Let me share with you my thought process; before, during and after the recent death of my wife’s dear daddy.

My History

After I wrote a first draft of this reflection in the morning hours of August 17, I had the opportunity to comfort my weeping wife. She had learned that Friday, three days after his death, was the actual day of her Dad’s cremation.  Of course she knew it was going to happen…but she said it seemed easier and better not know the specific WHEN it was actually happening.   It was happening “over there”, outside of her mental awareness.  She lamented learning this detail during an incoming telephone call from the mortuary that morning, as they discussed other arrangements.  “Why did they have to tell me this?” she said.  It was just T.M.I. – Too Much Information.

Virtually all of my ancestors (and we’re talking 10 generations of known names that I can read about in my dad’s genealogical publications) have been buried. In the “old country”, a few were likely wrapped in blankets and buried the same day in a shallow grave out beside the sod house on a Ukrainian prairie. Later, others were embalmed, casketed and then buried as intact bodies in a church-yard cemetery. Being in church ministry, my parent’s generation (now nearly gone) is not to be found in a common family plot, but they are buried all around the United States, in Oregon, California, Texas, Colorado and Michigan just to name a few locations. (One uncle’s ashes are currently missing from his assumed burial spot in North Carolina and this is an unfolding story, one that should wait for another time.  We are still confident that God knows his actual whereabouts, but they have not yet divulged this information.)  Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins – most have been thus interred.  My relatives and I, the mourners, have stood weeping over what appeared to be the sleeping form a dead loved one.

Most of us, the grieving public, don’t know what exactly is standard procedure in a mortuary “preparation room” to achieve the expected appearance of a loved one at a viewing or wake.   I wrote a paper on the different burial methods years ago for a college English 101 class.  In my research, I learned some previously unknown truths about the goings on down at the local funeral chapel. (If you are queasy, please jump to the next paragraph.  Warning, you can’t unread it.  Last Chance! )   Jaws are wired shut, plastic cup discs get hooked under eyelids, formaldehyde is pumped into the circulatory system; not to mention pancake makeup, waxes and other industry tricks to make the dead look “lifelike” for our final views.  It takes quite a bit of creative cosmetology to make the dead to look as if they are “sleeping in repose.” So my simple answer to questions of the dignity and ressurectability (Yes, I coined that word) of cremated ashes to a bodily afterlife is this.  If God is unable to give eternal life and a new body of those cremated, it stands to reason that they are also unable to give eternal life to a body that once was filled with embalming fluid, had their teeth wired shut and were sealed in a cement vault six feet underground! If cremation is thought to be undignified treatment of our dead, then so is the modern funerary practices mentioned above.

I, and perhaps you too, (Welcome back, for those who skipped half of the above paragraph) have a hope that burns within our hearts that God will speak the names of our beloved dead on the resurrection morning…and any and all those afore mentioned mortician techniques and tricks will vanish and our beloved dead will come forth to life immortal. I believe this will all my heart.  I’ve preached this as God’s trumpet in death’s darkness many times at numerous funerals.

So, what about cremation? 

Bible Discussion

Christian objectors to cremation (My grieving sister-in-law was recently told by ill-meaning people that cremating her father was a sin.  Not appreciated!  They must be members in good standing in the “Association of Job’s Comforters.”) may point out that many of the Bible greats were buried:  Abraham, Isaac, Sarah and Rebekah.  Moses died on the mountain and was buried briefly by God himself…then bodily resurrected. (The proof is his resurrection is that he appeared to Jesus at the Transfiguration)  Lazarus, Ananias and Sapphira and even Jesus himself were also given “descent burials.”  There are no cremations mentioned in the New Testament.  Some segments of Christian faith hold strictly to the idea of “body into the grave” at death and “body out of the grave” at the second coming of Christ.  To them, burial is essential.  It is a view that has biblical precedent, church history and respect for the body temple on it’s side.

In further study, the Bible presents a variety of burial methods.  In a cave.  Under a pile of rocks.  In a tomb carved out of rock. Under an oak.  Some graves even got the occasional decorative coat of white wash, which made them look great, but still were filled with bones and decay. (Matthew 23:27)  There seems to be no “Thus says the Lord” on the specifics about where or how burials should be done.  The Near-East practice in the early church world seems to have been the placement of a body in a catacomb crypt for a while…and then later return to collect the remaining bones into an ossuary (bone box) for space saving purposes. Then, they would reuse the tomb for another occupant.  Joseph of Aramathea had a NEW tomb…and that made Jesus’ burial extra extravagant.

In the Bible times, it was important to have a person buried so they didn’t become food for the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air.  This was thought to be a height of disgrace.  And example of this is David and Goliath’s shouting match about what would be eating whom by the end of the day (1 Samuel 17:44-47).  David was apparently truthful in his prediction.  There is also the wonderful motherly love expressed by Rizpah, who camped out by the bodies of her sons, shooing away any creature seeking to scavenge an easy meal.  (2 Samuel 21:1-11).  In Revelation 19:17-18, it is the corpses of the wicked that form the feast for the creatures called to “the great supper of God”, an expanding of the fate predicted for Egypt in Ezekiel 29:1-5.  In the Bible (and the wild west) to be eaten by buzzards is not good, so one takes the time for a “decent burial.”  But even with all that; today, we wouldn’t believe that a saint that is killed and eaten by any beast is beyond the resurrection power of Christ!  At least I wouldn’t.

My mind tells me Jesus is coming soon, but my heart knows it won’t be soon enough.  As believers, we hope in the reality of the resurrection promised many places in the Holy Bible.  For example, Job 19:25-27 – “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another…” KJV

Modern Money Matters

Today in the United States of America; the cost of traditional burial - with transport, refrigeration, casket, embalming, dressing, cosmetology, grave purchase, cemetery backhoe fees, headstone, memorial book and flyers, etc - has priced the lower and middle class out of the burial market.  Coming up with $8,000 to $15,000 for such services, at a time of emotional upheaval, and on the heels of expensive end of life care really strains a family’s budget.  There is no sliding scale for the fixed income widow or the minimum wage earner and mortuaries never put caskets on a clearance sale!  This makes “direct cremation” very attractive.  Industry statistics report that a USA cremation rate of 4% in 1960 has moved to a 50% rate in 2015.  Direct cremation, with no viewing or open casket funeral, is priced from $800 to $3,500, depending on the locale. Cremation can be as much as an 80% savings from traditional burial costs.  If a family member is willing to take possession of the “cremains” afterwards that is the total cost. (Some niches in cemeteries cost as much as a grassy ground grave.)

Reflecting the Recent Death of Dad.

My father-in-law’s death is my first experience with “direct cremation” as a member of the mourning family.  We were with Dad playing a card game Sunday night, we were by his side for his unresponsiveness on Monday, and Tuesday at 1018 hours, we were with him for his final breaths.  His skin quickly blanched white, as his blood stopped circulating.  His body cooled over the five hours he lay instate in the living room hospice bed.  We knew, without even a confirmation visit from outside medical staff, that he was dead.  After all, his two daughters are registered nurses and I’ve been around more than a few corpses in my work as a chaplain.

However with Dad this time, there was no prolonged goodbye to the body that had been him.  No picking out of burial clothes.  No “viewing” with the receiving of visitors.  No open casket service. No tucking in of letters or mementos before the lid is closed.  None of that. This was it.  Five hours…and he was gone from our sight.

My wife and her sister report to me that this was actually healing for them.  Instead of a farewell to his body stretched over a week and happening in 3-5 occasions; this was  a cherished, private, family time.  We said our goodbyes to him in the bed, then we walked him out as a family honor guard to the mortuary car – a white Honda Odyssey van (Dad would have liked that! He drove an Accord for years and his last vehicle was a CRV.  Perfect!) We held each other, weeping, as we watched him leave the house for the last time.

The abrupt finality of the departure of Dad’s body was certainly a different experience than other deaths I’ve experienced.  A traditional burial does afford a delayed finality.   But finality happens with certainty in both cases. There is no way around it. That final view, touch or kiss of a dead loved one is hard - no matter when it occurs.  I know, for I tucked in my father in his casket, along with his doctoral and master’s degree graduation hoods, 11 years ago last February.  I caressed my father-in-law’s forehead with a spoken promise to see him again “in the sweet bye and bye.”

And So…The Question:

As a minister, I’ve often been asked the cremation question.  “Pastor, it is O.K. with God to do this?”  My answer has developed over time and has included parts of what has been written above, as well as the following ideas: (In no particular order.)

1.     Burned at the Stake:  It had better be O.K. with God, for many faithful martyrs were burned at a Roman or a Papal stake. We are ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Paul mentions, in a neutral way, people delivering their bodies to be burned in 1 Corinthians 13:3 KJV. This is thought to be a reference to first century martyrdoms.
2.     Dust to Dust:  I say “Cremation does quickly what time does slowly.”  Both result in dust. Genesis 3:19 and Ecclesiastes 12:7 remind us that humans were made from dust…and will eventually return to dust – slowly or quickly.  Daniel 12:2 promises that those who “sleep in the dust” will awake at God’s life giving call.  So how quick we become dust really doesn’t matter.
3.     Living Dirt:  God doesn’t need what is left of this “dust” to make dad new again in the resurrection. (See the first E.G. White quotation later in this article.) We are God’s living ceramic project. Humanity is living soil – dirt in a shirt - and God can and will make us again out of any convenient clod of clay. 
4.     Burials at Sea:  Since the sea gives up the “lost” dead after the millennium, (Revelation 20:13 is the only aquatic resurrection mentioned in the Bible.) it stands to reason that it also gives up the “saved” dead before the millennium.  Apparently even those buried at sea, who become food for the scavengers of the deep, (Yes, that is what happens down there!) are not beyond the reach of God’s resurrection power.  When I see that special little cloud approach the earth, I’m heading to the beach!  Something wonderful will be happening there!
5.     The Fiery Furnace:  What if Daniel’s 3 friends (Daniel 3) had been burnt up in the fiery furnace?  Would God be less God?  Would they be beyond the reach of God’s resurrection?  No!  Such thoughts are too limiting of our infinite God.  I realize this is a hypothetical situation, but it is relevant to the question.
6.     John the Baptist:  We know his disciples came and buried his lifeless torso and limbs. (Mark 6:29)  But his head became the property of Salome.  But we believe God is more than able put him back together again, though parts were buried separately.  Yes, what about those that were sawn in two (Hebrews 11:37?)  They are part of the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) that says, do not fear those that can only destroy the body.  They cannot affect the eternal future of your soul!  (Joyfully, it is likely John the Baptist is already whole again and now immortal.  It is appropriate to deduce that John the Baptist was physically raised in that strange special resurrection found in Matthew 27:52, 53 and enhanced in Desire of Ages pg. 786.1-.3).  If God can fix beheadings, certainly they can also correct the conditions of cremains.
7.     Mummified Patriarchs:  If one must be buried intact, it would logically rule out an afterlife for both Jacob and Joseph.  Both were “embalmed”, which the Hebrews didn’t do either before or after their Egyptian slave period.  Both Jacob (Genesis 50:1-3) and Joseph (Genesis 50:26) were prepared for burial according to Egyptian practices:  mummified.  This was a long process (Again, skip to #8 if you don’t want to know any more details.)  It involved chemical dehydration of the body tissues, as well as removal of 4 vital organs (Intestines, Liver, Lungs, Stomach) into canopic jars, that were housed beside the body…but not with it.  When Joseph’s bones were taken from Egypt (Exodus 13:9) it is hoped they also took those jars.  His remains were mobile during the wilderness wanderings and he didn’t find a “final resting place” until he was buried near the grave of his mother at Shechem (Joshua 24:32)  I mention all this simply to make the point that people we know will be in the resurrected kingdom who were buried in pieces here and there…not necessarily as intact bodies with hands folded in repose upon their chests.
8.     Organ Donation:  If one must be buried intact, it would logically rule out organ donation at any time.  We are thankful for people who donate their own or a loved one’s usable parts to bless others. I know a man that is very grateful for his cadaver cornea, enabling him to see and lead an active life. Though a decedent’s corneas help one person see, their lungs help another breathe, their heart helps another have a pulse and their kidneys help 2 others pee – our Almighty God is more than able to sort it all out in the resurrection morning.  Since They (God in the trinity unity) know how many hairs are on our heads at any given time, this is not a problem for the almighty Them!  A burial only stance would logically require one to not donate blood, as all platelets, plasma and corpuscles must remain with the owner.
9.     Donations to Science:  If one’s body must be buried intact, it would rule out donating your body to science/medicine.  (I have friends whose husband/father taught music for his career, and then taught anatomy after he died in a medical school.)  We learned by reading the book Stiff, by Mary Roach, she tells how many bodies donated to science are parceled out as parts:  The Orthopedics (bone doctors) get the joints, the Podiatrists get the feet and the Plastic Surgeons get the heads to refine their techniques for face lifts and nose jobs.  This doesn’t happen to all of those donated, but it does happen. So the next time you have surgery…thank the kind persons whose corpses were in the lab.  Your doctors practiced on the dead them, so they could work on the living you.  And…most of the cadavers are cremated and either returned to the family or buried or scattered somewhere agreed upon prior to the donation.  I think all people that donate themselves to medical progress…are rewarded with eternal bliss…just for this act of selfless generosity alone!
10. Cremation of Royalty:  When King Saul and his 3 sons died on the hills of Gilboa, the Philistines desecrated their bodies.  Stripped of weapons (and clothing), posthumous beheadings, bodies hung on a city wall (for the beasts and birds).  It was the men of Jabesh-gilead that walked all night and came at night and removed their bodies out of respect.  The first thing they did was “they burned them there” in Jabesh.  They were left with bones, just having a wood source of fire, and so they then buried their bones.  You can read all about it in 1 Samuel 31:7-13. Now one may argue that Saul is lost for the other spiritual choices, but he is still resurrectable, albeit in the wrong resurrection.  But one would be hard pressed to find justification for condemning Jonathan and his other two brothers to the lake of fire, just because their bodies were cremated.  And it is notable that David blesses the Jabesh folk for their BURIAL of Saul and sons in 2 Samuel 2:5.  So the burning of their bodies (what we call cremation) was called burial by David.
11. From a Tent to a Building.   Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10 has a major section where he discusses life and death.  In chapter 4, he uses many phrases to describe our present body and our precarious state: “earthen vessel”, “constantly delivered over to death” “our mortal flesh” “outer man”, “momentary and light affliction” “the things that are seen are temporal”.  Finally, he describes our present body as a “tent” (5:1). (That’s a thoughtful metaphor for a tent maker, who likely had repaired many seams, door flaps and floor panels in his working days).  This “tent” will one day be replaced by a body that is “a building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”” (vs 1), “our dwelling from heaven” (vs 2), when a “mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (vs 4). In the same verses, Paul uses another metaphor.  He speaks of being “clothed”with attire that decays (this present existence) and we groan (vs 4) for we don’t want to become naked (vs 3) and unclothed (vs 4) (death). “Naked came in into the world, and naked will I leave” Job said.  Paul then implies at the resurrection we will be clothed with our permanent outfits, that will be forever, a theme he developed earlier in the “putting on immortality” in 1 Corinthians 15: 53-54.  We’ll all get a body just as God wishes in the resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:38.  It sounds like Paul has no concern what happens to a body after death, for God has everything under control.
12. Man-made Tombs:  If God can’t raise your cremains (that is the mortuary word for human ashes) than perhaps they may not be able to get through the roof of the mausoleum or that layer of concrete poured over the family plot either!  What if God can’t figure out how to open the lid of that 20 gauge steel casket you purchased?   What if…?    NO!  Preposterous!  God the omnipotent is not hindered in anyway in his resurrection power.  Nothing is impossible for God, and we can quote Jesus on that. Matthew 19:26.
13. Final Thought:  As you can see…when one really delves into the Bible and any topic…it can get complicated pretty quickly.  I believe however a body is handled in death is not a problem to God as long as the person is remembered, the body is treated with dignity and the hope of a resurrection is expressed. This ends up being a cultural and financial issue – for me.  As long as the surviving family are not disrespectfully “thumbing their nose” at God, saying ‘There!  See if they can resurrect her now!’, I think it’s fine. Our belief is that our omnipotent God can and will give life to all in “the grave” in the first and second resurrections, no matter where that grave is or how long our loved one has moldered in it…or not moldered as the case may be.  Those buried in ground or water, those eaten by land, air or water creatures and those whose ashes have been scattered on land or sea or in a fire pit (like another dear friend of mine)… even those whose ashes sit on a revered bookshelf in the den.

You may have other thoughts to add to this list.  I would love to hear from you.  I hope you have enjoyed this take on this subject, along with my sprinkling of humor, irony, sarcasm (and parenthetical thoughts)

Conclusion:

Years ago, I was in New Orleans for some meetings and my wife and I wandered through one of the many old, above ground cemeteries.  There is a high water table in Louisiana…so the graves there are not below ground.  Caskets would just float up through the high water table, and that’s not good thing.  Instead, they are above ground as individual crypts and concrete structures.  I happened to see one old grave that was actually cracked open.  Bravely, I peeked in.  There was no casket inside and no bones…just old casket handles could been seen in the shadowy darkness.  Time had done slowly, what cremation does quickly.

My soul is comforted and my perspective on cremation has been enhanced during our current grief by the following comments by Ellen G. White I found while reading silently beside my dying father-in-law. She never uses any form of the word “cremate” in all her writings; I checked by computer search.  Mrs. White was a religious visionary author my father-in-law read from frequently and voluminously.  She also remains an authoritative voice of truthful inspiration in the Adventist church. (The emphasis below is mine.)

“Our personal identity is preserved in the resurrection, though not the same particles of matter or material substance as went into the grave. The wondrous works of God are a mystery to man. The spirit, the character of man, is returned to God, there to be preserved. In the resurrection every man will have his own character. God in His own time will call forth the dead, giving again the breath of life, and bidding the dry bones live. The same form will come forth, but it will be free from disease and every defect. It lives again bearing the same individuality of features, so that friend will recognize friend. There is no law of God in nature which shows that God gives back the same identical particles of matter which composed the body before death. God shall give the righteous dead a body that will please Him.

Paul illustrates this subject by the kernel of grain sown in the field. The planted kernel decays, but there comes forth a new kernel. The natural substance in the grain that decays is never raised as before, but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him. A much finer material will compose the human body, for it is a new creation, a new birth. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
He [the believer] may die, as Christ died, but the life of the Saviour is in him. His life is hid with Christ in God. “I am come that they might have life,” Jesus said, “and that they might have it more abundantly.” He carries on the great process by which believers are made one with Him in this present life, to be one with Him throughout all eternity....

At the last day He will raise them as a part of Himself.... Christ became one with us in order that we might become one with Him in divinity.   Maranatha, October 20, page 301.  Emphasis mine.

In the context of Aaron’s death being attended by just the two people who buried him, Ellen White comments in Signs of the Times, October 14, 1880, Paragraph 22 (This was modified later and published in 3 other places: EP 299.3; PaM 174.1, PP 427.2)  Emphasis Mine.

The watching, waiting people, at last see Moses and Eleazar slowly returning; but Aaron is not with them. Upon Eleazar are the sacerdotal garments, showing that he succeeds his father in the sacred office. With quivering lips, and sorrowful mien, Moses tells them that Aaron died in his arms upon Mount Hor, and they there buried him. The congregation break forth into expressions of genuine grief; for they all loved Aaron, although they had so often caused him sorrow. As a token of respect for his memory, thirty days were spent in services of mourning for their lost leader.

The burial of Aaron, conducted according to the express command of God, was in striking contrast to the customs of the present day. When a man in high position dies, his funeral services are attended with the greatest pomp and ceremony. When Aaron died, one of the most illustrious men that ever lived, there were only two of his nearest friends to witness his death, and to attend his burial. And that lonely grave upon Mount Hor was forever hidden from the sight of Israel. God is not glorified in the great display so often made over the dead, and the great outlay of means in returning their bodies to the dust. 

So Adventist funeral values include knowing (1) God doesn’t reuse our current particles and (2) we should do funerals as inexpensively as possible.  (Knowing Mrs. White, she would advise to give the money one saves to advance the Lord’s work in the world.)

My opinion is that it doesn’t matter what becomes of these particles of matter that make up us:   Food for bugs, birds or barracuda or fuel for burning.  It could be burial in the ground; entombment in a crypt, burial at sea, cremation with scattering, niching or shelving,  - none of this matters to an omnipotent God who is the resurrection and the life.

What should rule the day in our theology and church relationships on this and so many other matters is the principle of Pauline liberty.  “Let each person be fully convinced in their own mind.”  Romans 14:5.  He applies this to diet, and holy days, and it certainly applies to many other “disputable matters.” Romans 14:1.   It would seem that both cremation and burial are fine, if one has a clear conscience with God.  Paul’s liberty regarding giving a daughter in marriage or not doing so in 1 Corinthians 7:38 also seems to be an important principle.

What really matters is…are we saved souls or persons? Will we be one of the many that sleep in the dust…and arise to life immortal? (Daniel 12:1,2) What a day that will be when “the saved of earth shall gather to their home beyond the skies” and “the roll is called up yonder.” Then, each person will be composed of “a much finer material…a new creation, a new birth.”  “Hey, I know you!”  Glory! Yes, Job - in my new flesh, I’ll see God.”

Just as Dad’s departure from us was sudden and “direct”, so also will be his resurrection.  Sudden and “Direct”.  He gave us directions, like Joseph, concerning his body, his bones. (Hebrews 11:22) “Cremate me…and save the money.”  I’m so glad that many years ago, he also gave God directions concerning his soul.  “Have mercy on me, O God, for I am a sinner.  By your mercy and the evidence of Your love in the cross of Jesus… save me.”

I look forward to the day when I will see a much finer father-in-law (and my dad, and my grandparents and my aunts and uncles and cousins and friends and the vast host of God’s redeemed) praising God in Christ…the life giver.  Truly, this blessed hope is our ONLY hope.


*  All Bible verses quoted from the NASB, unless noted.

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