Hi JoAnn. We do find evidences of cremation in the Bible, but chiefly amongst the Gentiles & not the Jews. In the case of Israel, we can read of an instance in 1 Samuel 31:11-13, where the bodies of Saul & his sons were burnt but the bones preserved & buried. Then in Leviticus 20:14, a punishment instituted by the LORD for taking both a mother & her daughter into the same bed, was by burning with fire; though not strictly a cremation here, the idea of dealing with a body with fire is clear. Among the heathen of those days, cremation was the norm.
So the decision whether to bury or cremate lies solely with the bereaved family members. There's no instruction in the Bible specifically against cremation, & understanding that the corpse & casket eventually decomposes to join with the earth, it becomes a matter of personal preference. Usually, the dignity of burial of a loved one or the costs associated with either, influence whether there should be a burial or cremation. My preference is for a burial even considering the higher costs involved with it, as it gives the greater dignity to the deceased, a specific place of rest & identification, & in line with practises of Israel even in Jesus' day. I don't believe that a cremation has bearing on the matter of the resurrection, as the Lord is well able to bring a body to life from the smallest particle or even given a new body where nothing exists. We can consider the many drowned in the oceans, burned in fires, or consumed by animals of days past; what matters is that the departed one has expressed true faith in Jesus for salvation, for the spirit can never be destroyed & is secure in Christ, with the Lord.
So the decision whether to bury or cremate lies solely with the bereaved family members. There's no instruction in the Bible specifically against cremation, & understanding that the corpse & casket eventually decomposes to join with the earth, it becomes a matter of personal preference. Usually, the dignity of burial of a loved one or the costs associated with either, influence whether there should be a burial or cremation. My preference is for a burial even considering the higher costs involved with it, as it gives the greater dignity to the deceased, a specific place of rest & identification, & in line with practises of Israel even in Jesus' day. I don't believe that a cremation has bearing on the matter of the resurrection, as the Lord is well able to bring a body to life from the smallest particle or even given a new body where nothing exists. We can consider the many drowned in the oceans, burned in fires, or consumed by animals of days past; what matters is that the departed one has expressed true faith in Jesus for salvation, for the spirit can never be destroyed & is secure in Christ, with the Lord.
This one stood out to me
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