Andy Griess
And so the question goes to burial or cremation. If the intent is to honor that body, is there one way that has to be done or are these two just different options? We definitely want to honor it, but there's two different ways of doing it. And it's so hard to put together any real specific biblical information because there's no passage you're going to look to that says "here's how".
Bruce Peterson
The Bible never tells us how to do it or how to honor the death. It's implied that if you love them, honor them, but God doesn't give us directive on that.
Jeff Banks
I mean, it certainly seems in the Jewish context that the preferred best way to honor was burial, right?
Bruce Peterson
But even their burial is going to be different than our burial here in Nebraska, or burial in Louisiana, everyone's above ground because the water's too high. Joseph was mummified, which is why it says that he's mummified. We might find his mummy someday. He can be taken out 450 years later. He's probably still a pretty young mummy, right? He probably looks pretty much like himself 400 years later. So that's not "burial" in terms of a Nebraska burial. Even the word has a pretty wide ranging definition of what it means be buried. And I would think in a euphemistic way, even the Nordics, when they would do the funeral pyre they would probably say "We buried him with his fathers". You know what I mean? I think that's more than a procedural specific thing.
Jeff Banks
So 1 Corinthians has some good places that highlight this, this is 1 Corinthians 15. "Someone may ask, how are the dead raised? What kind of body will they come? What you sow does not come back to life unless it dies when you sow, you did not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of the weed or something else. But God gives it a body as he determined. And to each kind, he gives seed to each his own body. All flesh is not the same. Men have a kind of flesh, animals have another."
Bruce Peterson
This is a seed. This is a shell. It's a hint of what's to come, right? You don't put in a corn seed and get an apple tree, you get a corn plant. It's the same family of things, but it's different. That's his point, right?
Jeff Banks
Yeah, definitely. And when he gets to the end, he says, "I declare to you brothers that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." So we're going to have these imperishable bodies resurrected, but flesh, right? Like you said, we're not going to be floating around in heaven as these disembodied spirits, right? There's going to be a bodily resurrection. And this is what we want to cling to.
Bruce Peterson
It's a mystery.
Jeff Banks
This is a mystery. I think that the essence of the miracle and the beauty and glory of bodily resurrection is a mystery to us, but not impossible for God.
Bruce Peterson
And I would say that the point is that it's a wonderful mystery. There might be the odd person who wants their human body back, but I don't know anyone that actually wants that, like "I can't wait to be taller. I can't wait to be thinner. I can't wait to be younger. I can't wait to be fit." What we are saying is, we want to be ourselves, but we're gonna be pretty cool with some physical perfections. I want to be similar and different. And Paul says, "Guess what? You're going to be similar and different," but in a better way than you could imagine.
Andy Griess
Yeah. I think about the mystery of how God from nothing created everything, and built us with a soul and a body together, and scientists can't even describe what a consciousness is and how it is. We don't even have the answers to that with all the technology that we have. We can't figure out the mystery of how God put it all together and that God, at the end of time, when it's time for our final resurrection, to be able to put together perfect bodies, imperishable bodies, he's going to have no trouble with that.
Bruce Peterson
And He did it all with a word the first time. He's going to have no trouble. So no worries, but we don't believe the Bible prescribes how to bury someone in a proper way.
Andy Griess
I'm glad this question came up because it's one that a lot of people have. And it's one that some people just agonize about, because my grandpa was cremated and I heard a comment about something to do with where my grandpa's soul was, and you can be troubled about it. As a pastor, what I want to say is - you search the scripture and you're not going to find anything in here that's going to indicate that cremation has any impact on this person's soul. And if it did, if it was that monumental, something would be told to us. Because we're arguing so much from silence, I think it's a non-issue.
Bruce Peterson
God left it silent on purpose. What does your culture do with their dead? Every culture has a way to honor the dead or disgrace the dead. Honor them, definitely honor them, but whatever that way is is neutral because the resurrection and being in Christ is the only worry until you die. There'll be a miracle, a mystery, a wonderful change, and the seed will turn into the fruit. Man, trust that. That's the important bit.
Jeff Banks
Yeah, I don't think cremation would put any of that in jeopardy.
Bruce Peterson
So if you died, do you want your wife to cremate you or bury you?
Jeff Banks
You know, that's a good question. I think she... I don't even know if she's told me what she wants, I don't think we've talked about it.
Bruce Peterson
Wow, there you go. How about you? You want to be buried or cremated?
Andy Griess
I think I prefer to be buried, but at different times when I was more cheap in my life, there was a time where I thought maybe I was going to be cremated because I just want to make it cheaper. You know, you say you could go at any time, but I must not truly be expecting to go at anytime because I'm not wrestling with that.
Bruce Peterson
So I don't want to make light of it, but I do at the same time. So we buried my son, but we had him cremated. The tiniest part of the idea was that if we had his ashes, the dead in Christ are raised first, so we'd get a clue at the resurrection because he would start moving before we did. Sure. So here's what I want now - I would like to be cremated and have my ashes kind of mixed with his, and we'll go together.
Andy Griess
There you go!
Bruce Peterson
You know, my wife can be in the jar too, all three of us. So put us all in together and then we'll let Jesus sort it all out. That's our trust and our hope.
