The Ascension

The topic hasn't been swerved by cremation issues. The topic is about resurrected bodies--are there bodies in heaven, etc. I'm not sure why there should be a question about resurrected bodies in heaven. Why isn't this a foregone conclusion? Or does this thread point out our waverings on the issues? I think the some of the thoughts expressed about cremation shows some curious attitudes regarding the body and the resurrection.

Iwishon said: "I am neither for nor against cremation for Christians, although in the past I was opposed to it. However, since there is no Scriptural prohibition against it, I think it should be a matter of choice. The telling point is this: whether one is cremated or buried, the body itself winds up in the same condition, dust (except of course, if buried the skeleton usually will remain for a much longer period). But apart from the skeleton, the bulk of our bodies returns from which it came, the dust of the earth. Do we think that it is anymore difficult for God to raise up a cremated body than a body that has decayed into dust six feet under? Of course not. So actually, it should be a matter of personal choice and belief."

I had already made the point in my earlier posting that God can and will reconstitute an obliterated body or one that utterly turned to dust, but my point is this--LET US NOT ASSUME THAT BECAUSE THE BODY RETURNS TO DUST THAT WE SHOULD THEREFORE FEEL "FREE" TO DELIBERATELY OBLITERATE OR MUTILATE THE BODY. THAT IS A PAGAN ATTITUDE. Pagan do crenate precisely because they believe the body is worth absolutely nothing and, being matter not spirit, should not be saved. That's why they feel so "free" to cremate or mutilate the body. But our Christian "liberty" should not resemble the liberties taken by paganism. It sends a very mixed message to non-Christians who actually do know what cremation means, even if western Christians don't know any longer.

Another poster here has dismissed the use of Symbols, such as signified by burial practices. Symbols have theological meaning--language itself is a symbol. Symbols are iconic and made alive through our practices, teaching ourselves and others what our beliefs are. Religious symbols are lived, not simply analyzed like literary metaphors. Christian belief is not limited to head knowledge, but appears to ourselves and to others in our creeds (which are refered to as symbols), traditions and practices of the faith. Perhaps modern Christianity, which has willy-nilly thrown away many of our practices, have forgotten these symbols, but our forgetfulness is indicative of our decline as christians. We have forgotten these symbols due to our carelessness, lack of Christian education, our tenuous ties to any Church, and overly-personalized interpretations of Scripture. Our current inability to understand Christian symbols does not negate those symbols, it merely means we have no idea what to do with them. So our practice now, if there is any, is to make up what suits us based on do-it-yourself interpretation of Scripture.

The Jews of Jesus time did not practice cremation or other forms of bodily mutilation. Abraham buried Sarah, and had himself buried. Joseph had his bones buried in Israel. Christ was buried in a tomb, not cremated. Was there then really need to specifically prohibit cremation in the Scripture? Or wasn't this something already understood by Jews and early Christians?

I have personally seen the damage done by our current mixture of pagan and Christian attitudes concerning the body. I knew a young woman, a oneness pentecostal, who died of extreme obesity. Her siblings wanted her buried in a nice coffin, but because of her size there was no coffin big enough for her. At her funeral, the pastor preached a rather long sermon about "how the body appears in the grave hardly matters to God, since the soul is in heaven anyway. The body is only dust anyway. And beside that God will raise us up with new bodies. Amen, everyone!?" Everybody dutifully said amen.

On the surface his sermon seemed like the typical Protestant funeral sermon that said how wonderful it is that the soul is now free of the body, except that he seemed to be drilling this point in on the audience more than usual. Later, I learned why: The funeral home had cut off this woman's arms and legs (which is not an uncommon or illegal practice.) It was an unnecessary mutilation, though. By state law, a coffin was unnecessary, a custom made pine box would have suffice--only the concrete crypt was necessary. But she went out in style, albeit very mutilated. Her children, though, were not comforted by the pastor's interpretation on the situation. In truth, it was an attempt to force them to accept, through a false teaching, a horrible and totally unnecessary solution to a problem.