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.
