BURIAL OR CREMATION

           A BIBLICAL CASE FOR BURIAL AND AGAINST CREMATION       

            By  Royce Smith, MA, Th.M., Th.D.  

INTRODUCTION:  In Genesis 3:19 God declared to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return. ”(KJV)  Exactly what did God mean by the statement:  “For dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return”?  It means man’s body which is of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7) is to return to the earth when he dies.  These words have been historically taken by both Jewish believers of the Old Testament and both Jewish and Gentile believers of the New Testament to mean the body is to be buried.  

But someone will surely say, “Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘dust to dust and ashes to ashes’?”  No, it does not!  This phrase is not found anywhere in Scripture.  It is found in certain Pastors’ Manuals often used by ministers as they officiate at burials, but it can be found nowhere in the inspired Word of God.  

The phrase ashes to ashes is often appealed to as a justification for cremation.  Cremation, which was hardly heard of in middle America forty years ago, is increasingly being used for the final disposition of the body.  This writer knew very little about such a practice until he moved to California in 1966.  Shortly after moving to San Jose in 1968, he was asked on one occasion whether or not it was Biblical for Christians to cremate their bodies after death.  Because he could not answer the question satisfactorily in his own mind, he asked for time to study and research this issue.  After devoting considerable time to the study of this subject, he has come to the decided conclusion that burial, not cremation, is the only proper and Biblical practice for the final disposition of the human body.  

When one discovers that the origin of cremation is to be found in unbelief and paganism, he will abandon any notion of its being a viable alternative to burial which is everywhere in Scripture shown to be the proper disposition for the body after death.  Cremation is a part of certain pagan and man-made religions.  It is the choice of atheists, who do not believe in either God or resurrection, and all who would escape resurrection if they could, even though the cremation of a body will not and cannot prevent it from being resurrected.  

I.                                I. CREMATION IS NOT THE PROPER METHOD FOR THE FINAL DISPOSITION OF THE BODY.

 It is an ancient pagan practice.  Both the pagan Greeks and Romans practiced cremation, but are Christians to follow the practices of pagans or the teachings of the inspired Scriptures?  Following pagan practices instead of the Word of God have always brought dire results upon those who have done so.  Remember what occurred when David sought to move the Ark of the Covenant the way the Philistines had moved it instead of the way God prescribed in His Word to move it (2 Samuel 6:1-11).

It is the practice of both Hinduism and Buddhism.  Neither of these religions believes in resurrection, nor do those who practice these religions desire to be resurrected.  Both of the ancient religions believe in achieving Nirvana in which the soul is released from its many reincarnations and absorbed into nothingness.  What a goal?  To become nothing!  Cremation is therefore compatible with that belief, but it is not consistent with a belief in resurrection.  In India , for example, Christians bury their dead to demonstrate the difference the hope of resurrection gives the Christian in contrast with what is taught by Hinduism.  Thus, Christians in India consider cremation to be a heathen practice and burial to be a Christian practice.  

It is the choice of the secular humanism.  Between 1876 and 1884 there were only 28 recorded cremations in the U.S.   During the 1960’s and 70’s many changes in our culture began to occur in a time of social instability fueled by the doctrines of secular humanism, the basic tenant of which is man is not accountable to any higher power or God.  From this doctrine of human autonomy have come both the acceptance of abortion and the practice of cremation.  The right to do both of these barbaric rituals is claimed on the basis of the false concept that one’s body belongs to himself and he can do with it whatsoever he pleases.  Consequently, by 1977 only 7% of all human corpses were reduced to bone fragments and ashes by cremation in this country.   By 1993 that percentage had increased to nearly 20%.  That percentage will continue to increase as Americans reject Biblical Christianity and adopt the so-called New Age thinking which is nothing more than ancient and pagan Hinduism and Buddhism in new garb.  

II.                                           II. BURIAL IS THE METHOD OF DISPOSITION PRACTICED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.  

            God commanded Israel to bury their dead. Deuteronomy 21:23, “His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.” (KJV)  The final disposition of the body is not a matter of indifference, notwithstanding the claims of even some ministers who say it really doesn’t make any difference what is done to the body after it is dead.  It mattered to God.  He commanded the body to be buried, and the command to bury renders cremation totally unacceptable in His sight.

A         Abraham buried Sarah, and he himself was buried by her side. Genesis 23:19, “And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan .” (KJV) Genesis 25:9, “And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah , in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which [is] before Mamre.” (KJV)  It is most significant that an entire chapter of the first book of the Bible is devoted to making burial arrangements.  If God devoted this much of His Word to this subject, how can any Bible-believer treat the final disposition of the body with indifference?  As one reads further in Genesis, he notes that Jacob buried Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse who was but a slave (Genesis 35:8) and his beloved wife Rachel (Genesis 35:19).  Both Esau and Jacob lovingly buried Isaac (Genesis 35:29).  Before he died Jacob gave explicit instructions to his twelve sons to bury him (Genesis 49:29-31).  Likewise, Joseph gave a similar command to the Children of Israel before he died (Genesis 50:24-26) which command was duly obeyed when Israel had conquered the land of Canaan (Josuha 24:32).

            God buried Moses   Deuteronomy 34:5-6,  “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab , according to the word of the LORD.  And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab , over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” (KJV)  God could have burned Moses' body as easily as He buried it (2Kings 1:10), but He did not;  He buried it in keeping with His own commands and the principle of resurrection which coincides with burial.  If the method of the final disposition of the body is a matter of indifference, why did God Himself bury Moses’ body?

            Elisha the prophet was buried.  2 Kings 13:20,  “And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.” (KJV)  Even in a time of spiritual decline in Israel , burial was still practiced (2 Kings 13:21).  For one not to have a burial was considered a sign of extreme disgrace— something reserved only for the most worthless of men. Jeremiah 16:4, “They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; [but] they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.” (KJV) Jeremiah 22:19, “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem .”(KJV)

           J ob expected to be buried.  Job 19:26, “And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God.” (KJV)  The patriarch obviously has his burial in view because there are no skin worms where cremation has occurred.  

                               III.  CREMATION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY OLD TESTAMENT TEACHING.  

            God forbade the burning of children is sacrifice to Molech.   Leviticus 18:21,”And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through [the fire] to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I [am] the LORD.” (KJV)  While human sacrifice is primarily in view in this prohibition, cremation is indirectly forbidden in this command. Deuteronomy 12:31, “Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.” (KJV)  The Law of God provided for the stoning to death of rebellious children, but never did it permit their bodies to be burned (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

            God punished the king of Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom .   Amos 2:1, “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions