| Q. What does the Bible say about cremation? (Submitted by: Mark ) A. On the issue of the means by which a dead body should be taken care of, the Bible is fundamentally silent. There is no text that condemns burning a body. It's true that non-Biblical religions, such as Hinduism and the paganism of the Vikings, practice(d) cremation. It's also true that in no case is any person's body in the Bible, whether a righteous man or unrighteous, is cremated. The practice of the ancient patriarchs was burial, such as shown by Jacob being buried with his ancestors in a cave that Abraham had bought, his grandfather (see Genesis 49:29-33). Jesus' body was interred in a tomb after His crucifixion and after it had been wrapped with aromatic spices (Luke 23:52-56; John 19:38-42). Interestingly, if a person accepted the Nazarite vow, that person wasn't supposed to touch any dead body, even a close family member's (Numbers 6:6-12). The Apostle Paul made a statement that implies that to offer one's body by being burned isn't sinful, but actually highly self-sacrificing "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." (1Corinthians 13:3, NKJV) Therefore, the Bible has to be regarded as silent on the issue of how a dead body is to be properly cared for and respectfully disposed of after death. For what matters isn't how someone's body is dealt with after death, whether ours or someone else's, but what kind of spiritual and moral decisions the now-dead individual made before death if that person was called. God can physically resurrect any one's body regardless of how it was destroyed, since He is almighty (cf. Ezekiel 37:1-14). |
