What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?


For many years, a loved one's traditional funeral ceremony and burial included numerous vital components, including:

●    Embalming of the body
●    A casket and a vault
●    Facilities for visitation or viewing
●    A burial space or crypt
●    A headstone and grave liner

However, as early as the turn of the twentieth century, the choice for disposing of human remains, known as cremation, became a valid and less-expensive option. Cremains do not require embalming or other burial goods, and the ease of cremation piqued people's attention.

Cremation is quickly becoming the preferred method of burying a loved one nowadays. However, the validity of this approach perplexes many people of religion, who frequently turn to the Bible to find out what the Bible says about cremation.

What is the Bible's take on cremation? Let's look at a few essential points to help you comprehend.


Can Catholics and Christians be cremated?
Cremation has always been considered sinful by Christians owing to their belief in the bodily resurrection of the body. Ground burial also separated Christians from other Pagan religions, who primarily practiced cremation rather than the deceased's grave.

However, sometime around the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church lifted the ban on cremation. It has since been an acceptable practice as long as it is not done to demonstrate doubt in the bodily resurrection.

While most faiths discourage cremation but allow it as a legal option, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider cremation a religious manner to dispose of a person.

What happens to cremated remains is also a point of contention. For example, the Vatican's doctrinal office does not consider it appropriate to retain the ashes at home for display or to disperse them at sea. Instead, it advocates burying the cremains in a church cemetery.

The Common Objection
Some Christians feel that cremating the bodies is not the proper way to dispose of them because it may interfere with the process of resurrection, which is the foundation of life after death. On the contrary, remains buried underground also disintegrate, so they should confront the same difficulty as ground burials. Some may even claim that nothing is impossible or difficult for the Almighty God; therefore, whether the body is burned or not should matter. Above all, our spiritual selves, not physical bodies, are brought back to life.

A Matter Of Personal Preference
We can interpret several Bible scriptures as favoring ground burials over cremation, yet nowhere does it indicate that cremation is forbidden. And preferences might shift over time due to changing circumstances. Ground burials may have been the less expensive choice back then, but they may now cost up to $10,000, compared to cremation, which costs no more than $2500. Nowadays, many consider it a question of desire or convenience rather than faith.

Although cremation may appear opposed to burial, burying bodies as a symbolic monument to loved ones can still be accomplished by burying the remains in an urn or preserving the urns at the church graveyard. When it comes to selecting an urn, you have several alternatives. Furthermore, choosing the most cost-effective and practical solutions may significantly lower the cost of an urn and burial.