What Does The Bible Say About Cremation?

thank you for joining us today in our study we're going to be focusing upon the subject what does the Bible say about cremation I've had numerous contacts and emails and messages that have come in from all around the globe on this subject and we're going to be reading today out of First Corinthians chapter 15 and if you have your Bible I'll be reading today out of the New Living Translation First Corinthians chapter 15 beginning to read at verse 51 and I'm going to read down through verse 58. written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth he said but let me reveal to you a wonderful secret we will not all die but we will all be transformed it will happen in a moment in the blink of an eye when the last trumpet is blown for when the trumpet sounds those who have died will be raised to live forever and we who are living will also be transformed for our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die our mortal bodies must be transformed into Immortal bodies then when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die this scripture will be fulfilled death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is your Victory O Death where is your sting for sin is the sting that results in death and the law gives sin its power but thank God he gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ so my dear brothers and sisters be strong and immovable always work enthusiastically for the Lord for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless let's take a moment to pray Heavenly Father once again as we open up the Holy Bible and we look into the scriptures and the content of your wisdom knowledge and understanding I pray that by the Holy Spirit you would guide us into all truth I pray for every single person listening my prayer for them is that everyone would live ready with an understanding that eternity is real and if they're not sure as to where they stand with Christ I pray at the end when we offer that opportunity to pray to turn from sin to turn to Christ that you'll give them the faith and the courage and the humility to do what they ought to do and we ask these things today in Jesus name and all God's people said amen the subject of cremation has been a debated matter in various cultures throughout history and is still a somewhat controversial among many Christian denominations I have received and continued to receive many questions from a growing Global audience on this subject as you might imagine many questions about life after death and what happens when you die and obviously some people have asked the question concerning is cremation found in the Bible what does the Bible have to say about it I received a question on the subject of cremation one individual wrote is it a sin for a believer to be cremated another one wrote in and said is cremation a pagan practice another road in does cremation destroy both Body and Soul another said does cremation mean I will not experience a bodily resurrection and then many have asked a question much like this one can you still go to heaven if you are cremated and so in our Bible study today I'm going to be answering these frequently asked questions and uh as always we will use the Bible and I'll keep my opinions out of it I'll keep denominational uh paperwork and response out of it what really matters is what does the Bible say as always we encourage you if you're new to our Channel and we welcome you so glad that you're here we always ask you have a Bible ready have a way of taking notes and have a highlighter as we go through some of the great and classic passages of scripture but if you're taking notes write this down rule number one because this pertains not only to this study but it pertains to all of our studies and but we have so many thousands of new students that are coming on each month and I've taught this frequently but for those of you that are new I want you to be sure you understand this rule number one and here is what that rule is the fundamental rule that I have taught consistently for over four decades now to all of our students and to all of our listeners that concerning how we as Christians properly approach all teaching all Doctrine and all practices is by the rule of scripture the single most important Rule and I'm going to give this to you twice because I want you to write this down this would be something worth putting on your social media or on your Twitter feed or Facebook or wherever you have an opportunity to share truth that will help people the single most important rule that guides our Pursuit Of Truth is the Bible is our all-sufficient rule for faith and conduct and I know that's a mouthful let me give it to you again and again this is rule number one it pertains not only to our Bible study today but this is how we build and study and research and and edit and present to you everything is subservient to rule number one here it is once again the single most important rule that guides our Pursuit Of Truth is that the Bible is our all-sufficient rule for Faith and for conduct in other words if a teaching or a Dogma no matter what it might be no matter who brings it up if that teaching or Dogma cannot be directly supported from the pages of the Bible then it cannot be considered authoritative all teaching all practice even those about death and interment for a Believer must come from the Bible and so as we're answering this frequently Asked question on cremation and is it right is it wrong is it acceptable for a Believer is it a sin does it exclude me from Heaven does it destroy the hope of a resurrection body and all of the concerning questions that people have on the matter as we always do we're going to start in the Bible stay in the Bible and finish in the Bible let me Begin by giving you just a brief history on cremation and culture now I am teaching here from the United States of America where I live I realize that every month there are more than a hundred nations of the world that are represented in our audience and people that few are teaching and listen to our podcasts and follow us on social media but the first United States indoor cremation machine was opened in 1876 in a town in central Pennsylvania that I have been to many times called Lancaster Pennsylvania and the Creator and the operator of that machine his name was Francis Lemoine and as he began the original cremation service here in the United States of America he very quickly came under a strong attack and criticism by the Catholic church and others as well all because this method of cremation and the disposal of human body by fire was considered dangerous for several reasons first of all it threatened what was considered common Christian traditional rule for burial and many also considered it a direct assault upon our society and our sense of morality and dignity and for many many centuries the Catholic church had held a very strong position against cremation and the burning of bodies as did many notable religions throughout the world but even in the Catholic church that all changed in 1963 the Catholic Church lifted its ban officially from cremation in 1963 and the reasons were stated as possible sanitation risks overcrowded cemeteries and financial consideration for Catholic members of churches etc etc there was actually a Vatican instruction from the congregation for the doctrine of the faith that was issued in 2016 that underlines all of their thinking behind this change it went on to say that Cremation of the deceased body does not affect his or her soul nor does it prevent God in his omnipotence from raising up the deceased body to New Life that was a direct quote and so for many of you that follow us that come from a Catholic back background cremation is now permitted by the Catholic church so long as it's not chosen in denial of the Christian teaching on the resurrection and provided it's not done in direct Rebellion to the sacredness of the human body I was uh a little startled to realize the growth of cremation because here in my home country of the United States of America in 1970 less than five percent of Americans chose cremation but by 1920 that all began to change and as I speak approximately 56 of all individuals having their will or choose cremation as their preferred method of their body being disposed of after death and the national Funeral Directors Association of peace that I came across in my research published that by 2035 that probably upwards of 80 percent of Americans will choose cremation and there are many reasons for that the three main reasons are number one funerals and grief plots are expensive the average funeral and I know that in some places it might be lower and some places it might be higher but here in our country the minimal budget funeral starts around eight thousand dollars and you can easily spend uh closer to the national average of 15 000 and so a traditional funeral is actually quite expensive whereas cremation services are offered for usually somewhere between a thousand and two thousand dollars there's a place in my hometown where I live right here I drive by it on a fairly regular basis and they have very bold open advertising that says Cremation Services 9.95 all included so less than a thousand dollars the second reason why a lot of people are turning towards cremation is their in our growing Society of of of the new green deal and people that are paying very careful attention to environmental issues there are environmental concerns with traditional burials and by that I mean they're concerned about the amount of land that's needed for increasing cemeteries for enlarging cemeteries but much of that is focused around pollution uh when a body in our country goes through a traditional funeral it is embalmed and uh there are thousands upon thousands of gallons of that embalming fluid that are in the body when it's placed in the ground and so there are those who Rage Against the pollution factor and not just the human body and the chemicals but the casket and what it's made of and the various metals and coppers etc etc there is an assault against environmental issues and many are concerned about that as well and then the third reason why cremation is growing is because fewer and fewer people belong to a church here in the United States only about 47 percent of Americans attend church in 2000 over 70 percent of adults stated that they were affiliated with no one religious institution so the result is many people are out of touch with church are not a part of any denomination don't hold to particular religious standards or beliefs and so at the time of death they didn't need church when they were living they don't need the church when they're dying they don't want many have no concern for respect for the use of a priest or a pastor or a rabbi in the services that are often offered with a traditional funeral service so that gives you just a little bit bit of culture and a little bit of history and a little glimpse into some denominational reasons but that's not what our Bible study is about what I want to focus upon as we continue and as we move towards the close of this teaching if you're taking notes what does the Bible say about cremation because remember rule number one rule number one in all matters of teaching of dogma of Life of practice and faith everything we as believers do has to be built and based upon what does the scripture teach us now this may surprise you but actually the scriptures do not I repeat do not dictate anything about the methods of how a Believer should be buried at the time of death as you study both the Old Testament and the New Testament you'll find that the accepted method was burial there's no way around that if if you're asking me in the Old Testament in the New Testament what was seemingly endorsed as the most accepted form of Burial at the time of death both in Old Testament and in New Testament it was not cremation it was a proper burial now it's true that Saul and Jonathan I want to just touch upon a few passages because I know that I'll receive uh hundreds and thousands of comments in the weeks and months ahead on this subject and I'm sure that somebody will say well you know in the Old Testament Saul and Jonathan were cremated well that's partially untrue because they were cremated after their death because of the wounds that were inflicted to their body but that was not the normal practice in Israel we actually if you want to study that we would go into first Samuel chapter 31 and in verses 8 through 13 we find there that their bodies had been mutilated by the Philistines and that was the reason for the decision to cremate their bodies and to bury the ashes sometimes those who are trying to lay out an argument for biblical cremation go into Joshua chapter 7 and talk about the account of Aiken but again it is a misinterpretation and a twisting of text in context Aiken his being burned and along with everything that he had was a form of judgment in the Bible fire is very often connected to judgment we could talk about Sodom and Gomorrah we could talk about Aiken we could talk about hell we could talk about coming judgments we could talk about the promised damnation of Satan and fallen angels and so forth but Aiken was burned not as a type of cremation in the Bible as a choice for disposing of his body or a family decision that Aiken and his family had made to be cremated they were cremated they were burned publicly along with everything they had not as an endorsement to Cremation but as a sign of judgment and to invoke fear for the Wrath and the righteousness of God in the Bible historically however the Christian church and again historically if you if you study the church from the first century up until just recently the typology of a proper burial service was always considered and often called a Christian burial and cremation was often looked down upon because of the typology that was involved the Christian Church historically has held a favorable position on the proper burial in a funeral service because it is pictured as Christ's own death burial and resurrection and is Meaningful in describing our new bodies let me take you Into the Book of Romans and the sixth chapter Romans chapter 6 right after the book of Acts go down to verses one through eight the Bible tells us there well then should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his Wonderful Grace of course not since we have died to sin how can we continue to live in it or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism we joined him in his death for we died and were buried with Christ by baptism and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the father now we also may live new lives since we have been United with him in his death we will also be raised to life as he was we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives we are no longer slaves to sin for when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin and since we died with Christ we know we will also live with him and it is from this passage and from this teaching as well as other teachings in the New Testament that the Christian Associated both life and death and Resurrection with the typology and the actual facts of Christ and so for that reason traditional burial was very accepted and usually there was little else offered historically in the Christian church but one of the things that I want to point out to you is that the Bible tells us in Genesis that we were created from the dust of the earth and the Bible goes on to teach us that to dust we will one day return even in a traditional Christian Proper Burial as many might call it the body in the ground eventually decomposes and returns to dust to dust as is often said in circles of Theology and so cremation is actually just a time lapse of the process cremation results at the end of The Cremation process in the body being returned to dust and so all bodies eventually decompose whatever method of burial that you have conviction of all bodies eventually return to the dust of the Earth so that when we understand cremation the body that is cremated is really no worse off it really is simply a matter of time lapse but Bible tells us listen carefully the Bible tells us that God is going to give us new glorified bodies whether they have been buried or burned or beheaded or drowned in the sea there are many ways that people have faced death some have had a choice in how they face death others had no choice in how they faced death some had a choice in how they would be buried after death others have not had that choice there have been soldiers who have been through bombs and through methods of war that I'll not go into the gross detail of in this teaching but when the bomb was dropped upon Hiroshima and upon Nagasaki in in Japan thousands upon multiplied thousands of people with the heat of that atomic bomb were instantaneously vaporized which is a war graphic cremation as it were men have been killed in war out to sea ships have sunk and bodies have gone to the bottom of the ocean there's one particular American Battleship that sunk and hundreds upon hundreds of all of those Sailors that were upon that ship were eaten alive by great schools of of sharks and I'm not trying to be morbid but I'm trying to make a point that not everybody has the luxury of choosing what happens to their body after death and so for a church or a pastor or a priest or a minister or a denomination to draw a line in the sand and and to State unless you have a proper historic Christian burial that your soul is at risk or your Resurrection is at risk or your entrance into heaven is at risk and so on is really not an intelligent position to take because God the Bible tells us will give of us in the Resurrection new Heavenly glorified bodies whether somebody has been traditionally burned buried or burned through cremation or however they have entered into eternity God has the ability to resurrect God is able and perhaps you should include this in your notes because I think it's one of the golden truths of this teaching God is able to bring together whatever has been scattered and the Bible actually tells us that why don't I take the time to take you into Mark's gospel and the 13th chapter and let me show it to you there Mark chapter 13 and go down to verse 27 there the Bible says and he speaking of God the father he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world from the fartherest ends of the Earth and Heaven so God has the ability to gather his beloved and his Saints from the four corners of the earth no matter how their bodies have been disposed of after death and in conclusion I I want to give you a summation to help you to understand this but what we have learned today according to the teachings of the Bible on death and burial is that the scripture does not offer any Specific Instructions about the burial of a corpse whether it be in a grave or a tomb or cremation or other you cannot tell somebody that the Bible gives an absolute definitive method of accepted burial because quite frankly the Bible is silent on those details so you need to be assured that it is within your Christian Liberty to decide whatever option you will I do believe you should stand within your convictions there are people that have strong convictions about a historic Christian Proper Burial as is often times used in terms terminology of the church and in paperwork and writings and statements of Faith but there are Christians who have been cremated and to assault that believer for their choice or their mother's choice or their father's choice is divisive and certainly would not meet the standards of following peace with all men in christ-like standards so I believe that as a Christian because the Bible does not give a definitive blessing upon one particular methodology of Burial at the time of death you have a Christian Liberty to make that choice based upon your personal convictions and you should consider your family you should consider the impact of that choice upon loved ones it should not be a selfish decision it should not be entered into without thought and prayer and consideration you should make an effort to keep peace in your family and many times sadly in death and in the aftermath of death families are destroyed never again to have kinship in relationship that existed prior to death people fight over possessions and choices at funerals and music at funerals and money and on and on and on no Christians should ever allow those types of temporary issues to dissolve your family your family is important it's a god-given gift and not all of your family may have been a positive influence and there may be members of your family that you've had to cut out of your life because of such Wicked behaviors and a History of Violence or assault or or perversion etc etc but as much as is in your power you should make decisions when it comes to the time of the passing of a loved one based upon convictions and based upon what will be Peaceable in the family but what is most important is as Christians we should not be focused upon the method of how we dispose our Earthly bodies after death but rather we must focus upon the certainty of our Salvation And The Blessed hope that one day because we are right with Christ we will be resurrected with a new body a glorified body in the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ who he himself exhibited victory over death hell and the grave and as Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior was raised bodily from the grave we have the Blessed hope that we also one day will be resurrected bodily from the grave a new body and a new Heaven and a new hope that will be eternal and so is cremation a sin you cannot take the Bible and judge somebody for that decision is the hope of Resurrection forfeited by cremation no many Christians have been burned alive at the stake their cremation was not a choice they were martyred and they they were burned alive and horrible deaths and fire will not separate them from the promise of Resurrection then it does not separate a Believer from the promise of Resurrection now uh is cremation something that we should judge other believers that have made that decision no we should never enter into uh at least we can't by scripture we can tell them that in the Old Testament in the New Testament traditionally there was the physical burial of the body but as far as saying that the Bible defines one method of burial is the only method of burial you cannot do that without perverting the text and the teachings of the scripture and so that answers the question what does the Bible say about cremation whether you want to have a historic traditional Christian burial of the physical body of yourself or a loved one that's within your Christian Liberty but if you choose to be cremated for whatever the reasons may be no one can take the Bible and judge you from the content of the Bible they can judge you from the hardness of their heart or they can judge you from the Twisted teachings that they may have been exposed to but God will not judge you the most important thing is live every day ready to meet the Lord because what happens after you die is of utmost importance where would you go if you faced eternity today do you have a certainty that your heart is right with God and you may ask me Tiff how can I know that I'm a Christian to become a real Christian a real follower of Christ that's what the word Christian means the Bible said in the book of Acts they were first called Christians at Antioch and that was a colloquialism that simply at that time was almost in mockery referring to little Christ's that's what Christian in the original all the way back to the first century church was about they called them Christians little christs but to have a right relationship with God the Father you have to come through Jesus Christ Alone the Bible says in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12 neither is there salvation in any other for their is no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved three things have you recognized your sin number two have you repented of your sin and number three have you received Jesus Christ personally because that is what the Bible tells us all must do to enter into right relationship with God through faith in Christ alone the repentance of sin the recognition of sin the receiving of Jesus Christ and if you're not sure as to where you stand with the Lord I'd like to pray with you right now and what I'd like for you to do and this is very important is when we're done if you've prayed this prayer with me I want to follow up on you everybody somebody to Jesus and you're important and so I want you to go to our website when we're done praying it's on the screen lost lamb dot org and click on New Beginnings and then follow the easy prompts I'd also appreciate it if you'd write me an email and let me know that you prayed we'd like to follow up on your decision and help you in any way we can but if you need to make peace with God whether you're praying this for the first time or you've wandered away from the Lord and you need to come home pray with me right now just say heavenly father today as I was listening to the Bible I felt you speaking to me because down deep in my heart I want to please God I want to live my life in a way that meets your standards and so today I recognize my sin and I repent of my sin I humble my heart and your holy presence and ask you to wash me and cleanse me cleanse my mind my body and my spirit and make me holy in your eyes today in childlike faith I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and as my savior and I vow this day I will live for you all the days of my life in place of my weakness give me your strength and I ask it in Jesus name and stand upon the promise of the Bible that declares all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved today in Jesus name by God's Great Grace I am saved and I'll never be the same in Jesus name amen and amen

Channel: Tiff Shuttlesworth

Views: 3,898,937

Keywords: Tiff Shuttlesworth, Tiff, Jesus, God, Prophecy, America, United States, Salvation, KJV, King James Version, Bible, Scripture, How do I study the Bible, Bible accuracy, Which Bible translation is the best, parable, sower, rocky, baptism, Catholic, communion, catechism, confirmation, antichrist, Mark of the Beast, Rapture, Tribulation, Revelation, Antichrist, Cremation, Death

Id: gXkzgpRTPqw

Length: 39min 0sec (2340 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2022