Cremation Vs. Burial

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Moses Yoder
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Cremation Vs. Burial

Post #1

Post by Moses Yoder »

I was talking at my parents house one time about the idea that I wanted to be cremated when I die. My dad said if I ever saw a body being cremated I would never do that, which made me wonder why that is but I knew better than to pursue it. So why not get cremated? If I get cremated I could get a friend of mine to make matching wooden urns for my wife and I and build a nice little cabinet for them ahead of time unless something unexpected happened. So what do you think; can a cremated body be resurrected? Other thoughts on the matter are also welcome.
Matthew 16:26
New King James Version (NKJV)
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

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bluethread
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Post #2

Post by bluethread »

I don't think any form of body disposal precludes ressurrection. That said, I prefer what I have heard is the traditional rabbinic burial. In that the body is layed out on a slam in a crypt of mosoleum and allowed to naturally decompose. After a year, the bones are collected, boxed up and stacked with ones ancesters. There are several pluses to this method. It provides a memorial that is hard to accidentally destroy. It saves space. the box is only as long as a femur the longest bone and the slab is recycled. No violence is required. In creamation, the bones are crushed to powder. Finally, it sustains family ties. So, that is my sales pitch.

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Post #3

Post by phoenixrising »

I have prepaid my own burial by cremation.
Not only because cremation is the cheapest and because I think a "regular" in the ground burial is outrageously expensive.
Having prepaid my burial means there is no expense for my family for it, nor is the stress of having to make a funeral decision added to their grief once I have crossed over.
My ashes will be scattered.

There is, however, an even more important reason for the cremation.
Nobody would be able to desecrate my grave. Not that I would care personally - I won`t be in that grave, in that decomposing body. But, having been to numerous places where massive grave desecrations/destructions took place, I know what that is like for the remaining loved ones of the departed people!
I do not want that to happen to my family.


But I also like the method you suggest, bluethread, it is new to me.

There are a few other creative methods which were practised by European tribal peoples looong ago, and even by some modern day neo-pagans.

Whatever way a body is buried or disposed of, none of them can prevent the resurrection...........

phoenix

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Post #4

Post by McCulloch »

Tibetan Buddhists and Zoroastrians both have a tradition of exposing dead bodies on towers to the sky, where predatory birds and natural decomposition take care of the problem.

Sky Burial
Kakhma or Towers of Silence.
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Post #5

Post by ThatGirlAgain »

Ezekiel 37

5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
It seems when it comes to resurrection, there is not a whole lot that the Lord cannot do.
Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.
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Re: Cremation Vs. Burial

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Post by Choir Loft »

Moses Yoder wrote: I was talking at my parents house one time about the idea that I wanted to be cremated when I die. My dad said if I ever saw a body being cremated I would never do that, which made me wonder why that is but I knew better than to pursue it. So why not get cremated? If I get cremated I could get a friend of mine to make matching wooden urns for my wife and I and build a nice little cabinet for them ahead of time unless something unexpected happened. So what do you think; can a cremated body be resurrected? Other thoughts on the matter are also welcome.
What a gruesome subject.

Get cremated and dump the ashes out somewhere so that some poor soul doesn't have to dust your stupid urn every couple weeks. Think, man! That's why they bury people so that friends and family don't have to worry about upkeep of the dead body.

You want a shrine? A nice little cabinet THAT ALSO COLLECTS DUST and takes up space? That's why they invented cemeteries so that the dead guy would be out of the way. Put them outside somewhere so that the birds would have something to aim at. Think positive.

You don't resurrect a dead body, pal. The spirit is raised in a new body or haven't you read the Good Book? It's an owner's manual for eternity and it helps to read it now and then.

Can you imagine a resurrection like the one you describe? Some poor soul makes an ash of himself on earth and all he gets in heaven is pile of dust. He'll spend eternity hoping it doesn't rain.

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...
R.I.P. AMERICAN REPUBLIC
[June 21, 1788 - October 26, 2001]

- Here lies Liberty -
Born in the spring,
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Re: Cremation Vs. Burial

Post #7

Post by Iolo »

richardP wrote:
Moses Yoder wrote: I was talking at my parents house one time about the idea that I wanted to be cremated when I die. My dad said if I ever saw a body being cremated I would never do that, which made me wonder why that is but I knew better than to pursue it. So why not get cremated? If I get cremated I could get a friend of mine to make matching wooden urns for my wife and I and build a nice little cabinet for them ahead of time unless something unexpected happened. So what do you think; can a cremated body be resurrected? Other thoughts on the matter are also welcome.
What a gruesome subject.

Get cremated and dump the ashes out somewhere so that some poor soul doesn't have to dust your stupid urn every couple weeks. Think, man! That's why they bury people so that friends and family don't have to worry about upkeep of the dead body.

You want a shrine? A nice little cabinet THAT ALSO COLLECTS DUST and takes up space? That's why they invented cemeteries so that the dead guy would be out of the way. Put them outside somewhere so that the birds would have something to aim at. Think positive.

You don't resurrect a dead body, pal. The spirit is raised in a new body or haven't you read the Good Book? It's an owner's manual for eternity and it helps to read it now and then.

Can you imagine a resurrection like the one you describe? Some poor soul makes an ash of himself on earth and all he gets in heaven is pile of dust. He'll spend eternity hoping it doesn't rain.

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...

As a gardener, I think the main objection to cremation in is the waste of good compost. We should see to it that we are useful to others both now and afterwards.

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Re: Cremation Vs. Burial

Post #8

Post by Iolo »

richardP wrote:
Moses Yoder wrote: I was talking at my parents house one time about the idea that I wanted to be cremated when I die. My dad said if I ever saw a body being cremated I would never do that, which made me wonder why that is but I knew better than to pursue it. So why not get cremated? If I get cremated I could get a friend of mine to make matching wooden urns for my wife and I and build a nice little cabinet for them ahead of time unless something unexpected happened. So what do you think; can a cremated body be resurrected? Other thoughts on the matter are also welcome.
What a gruesome subject.

Get cremated and dump the ashes out somewhere so that some poor soul doesn't have to dust your stupid urn every couple weeks. Think, man! That's why they bury people so that friends and family don't have to worry about upkeep of the dead body.

You want a shrine? A nice little cabinet THAT ALSO COLLECTS DUST and takes up space? That's why they invented cemeteries so that the dead guy would be out of the way. Put them outside somewhere so that the birds would have something to aim at. Think positive.

You don't resurrect a dead body, pal. The spirit is raised in a new body or haven't you read the Good Book? It's an owner's manual for eternity and it helps to read it now and then.

Can you imagine a resurrection like the one you describe? Some poor soul makes an ash of himself on earth and all he gets in heaven is pile of dust. He'll spend eternity hoping it doesn't rain.

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...
As I wrote yesterday (it disappeared into some other bit of the space-time continuum), as a gardener, I am more bothered about the waste of all that useful compost. I'd be putin my own garden, but it might reduce the sale-price of the house. We are part of the creation and should wish to be useful, alive or dead.

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Post #9

Post by Danmark »

The ancient notion of the soul or spirit as something separate from the body arose [ahem] from a lack of understanding. Before we understood that thoughts, that consciousness itself, came from electro-chemical reactions between neurons and thus had its basis in the physical mass of the brain, the idea that conscious comes from matter/energy was inconceivable.

When the body is dead and buried, when the brain is mush, there is no 'spirit' remaining. Doesn't matter a whit whether the brain has been roasted and macerated, or just slowly decomposed. It's gone and with it, the 'soul'.

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Post #10

Post by Choir Loft »

Danmark wrote: The ancient notion of the soul or spirit as something separate from the body arose [ahem] from a lack of understanding. Before we understood that thoughts, that consciousness itself, came from electro-chemical reactions between neurons and thus had its basis in the physical mass of the brain, the idea that conscious comes from matter/energy was inconceivable.

When the body is dead and buried, when the brain is mush, there is no 'spirit' remaining. Doesn't matter a whit whether the brain has been roasted and macerated, or just slowly decomposed. It's gone and with it, the 'soul'.
Your premise and supports for it are mistaken. "The ancient notion" as you call it and defined well by the ancient Greek philosophies, stated that the human was a tri-part entity. It consists of body, mind and spirit. The spirit isn't separate from the body and mind, it's a part of it; hence the modern anti-metaphysical argument.

As a consequence of this basic belief, all major religions have an interpretation as to what happens to the spirit once the mind and body have died.

"If a man dies, will he live again?"

That's the ultimate question that man has asked of his destiny for eons. Additionally, it has been recognized that everything the mind and body does affects the spirit of man. Heuristic medicine parts company with traditional medicine in its basic philosophy of treating the whole body with regard to health and ailments. "The whole body must be considered", they say. To some extent, traditional western medicine is coming around to a tacit acceptance of that philosophy. Its difficult to prove when pharmaceutical companies hope to make millions by selling their potions and when government and universities kow-tow to these monied interests.

The mind, body and spirit are linked. What affects the mind affects the spirit. What the body does affects the spirit. All of religion and politics was once based upon that simple principle. Finally, the ultimate disposition of the spirit, when death claims the mind and body, comes into question.

The core of the philosophical issue is not whether man has a spirit or not, its whether man is autonomous in the universe. Humanistic philosophies fear to admit that man is not the ultimate power in the universe and that something else may affect him or part of him; that something remains out of control. That something is very near and dear to him - his eternal spirit.

The core of the issue is not whether a man may survive physical death, but who or what entities may affect his eternal destiny. In American politics, many people prefer to ignore the weighty issues that demand our attention and study. Instead they choose to bury their heads in the sand and hope they'll go away. They won't. Similarly, spiritual issues won't 'go away' simply by adopting a contrary philosophy.

They are there. The wise man will recognize it and figure out the best way to deal with it. The fool buries his head in the sand and chooses to ignore it - hoping it will go away. It doesn't.

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...
R.I.P. AMERICAN REPUBLIC
[June 21, 1788 - October 26, 2001]

- Here lies Liberty -
Born in the spring,
died in the fall.
Stabbed in the back,
forsaken by all.

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