Bury or Burn? Burial, Cremation and the Christian

As a pastor, I have conducted numerous funerals, and attended many others. In my observation, it has seemed as if many South Africans favour cremation over burial when it comes to their funeral arrangements. Several reasons are usually given for this.

First, many regard it as less expensive than a burial, and therefore less of a burden on the living relatives. Second, some see it as less painful an experience for the surviving relatives: to attend one memorial service, instead of two services (one in the church, and one at the graveside). Third, some will say that the disposal of the body doesn't matter, and therefore cremation seems less drawn-out, simpler and more cost-effective.

I want to gently challenge this view, and encourage you, if you think this way, to re-think the matter. I write not to chide you if one or more of your relatives have been cremated. Cremations have occurred in my own family. I have performed many funerals that were cremations, and I always respect the wishes and conscience of the family in choosing cremation. I do not think Christians have sinned in cremating their loved ones. However, there is more to the Christian life than simply avoiding sin. There is the matter of doing what is best, wisest, and most fitting. I think the death of a Christian is a hugely significant event and how we mark that death speaks volumes about our beliefs about the body, the future resurrection, and our understanding of humanity.

A Brief History of Cremation

Cremation was present in Ancient China, and sometimes in Ancient Greece.  In the western Roman empire, cremation was the standard until the first century A.D., often associated with military honors. With the spread of Christianity, cremation was frowned upon and disappeared for the most part in Europe by the fifth century A.D., except in unusual cases such as epidemics or war. The Viking practised cremation until around 1050, by which time Christianity had penetrated most Viking nations.

 Modern cremation began in the late 1800s with the invention of a practical cremation chamber by Professor Brunetti, who presented it at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. Championed by Queen Victoria's surgeon, Sir Henry Thompson, and driven by public concern for hygiene and health and clerical desires to reform burial practices, crematories slowly began opening in Europe and abroad. The first modern crematory in America was established in Pennsylvania in 1876.

 Religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism, mandate cremation. According to Hindu traditions, the reasons for preferring to destroy the corpse by fire over burying it is to induce a feeling of detachment into the freshly disembodied spirit, which will be helpful to encourage it into passing to its next destination, lest it remain near its former body. Conversely, Islam and orthodox Judaism forbid cremation, demanding that the body be treated with respect in life and death, and some even claiming that cremation will affect resurrection.

I want to suggest three reasons why burial seems to be more fitting for Christians than cremation.

1)    God's people have typically buried their dead.

 From the book of Genesis, we find God's people burying their dead, not burning them (Gen 23:19, 25:9, 35:8, 35:19, 35:29). This pattern continues right throughout the Old Testament and into the New. The Bible does not contain a single account of a believer's body being cremated. (King Saul's dismembered body was burned, and the bones then buried out of respect, 1 Sam 31:12-13.) This practice continued well into the Christian era, as the Roman catacombs prove. Granted, this does not make the case for burial or forbid cremation. However, it ought to cause us to at least ask the question, “Why did God's people not bury and burn the way we do?” The surrounding pagan nations frequently cremated their dead. The issue was not technological – Hindus have cremated for thousands of years. The fact that God's people only buried their dead is significant.

2)    Burying the body anticipates a future resurrection.

 When Paul discusses the future resurrection of the body, he uses an analogy.

• 1 Corinthians 15:35-38  But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?"  Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.  And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain -- perhaps wheat or some other grain.  But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

• 1 Corinthians 15:42-44  So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.  It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.   It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

When Paul keeps using the term sow, it is because he is comparing the human body to a seed, because that is what one sows. How does one sow seed? You put it into the ground. The act of Christian burial is an act of sowing the now dead human body into the ground, in anticipation of its resurrection as a glorified body. Christian burial is a witness to an onlooking world. We say by our actions that we believe this body will be raised up to new life, as a dead seed sprouts in spring. By contrast, a materialist sees no need to symbolise a future for the body, because he doesn't believe one exists. In that case, the body can be destroyed totally.

It is obvious that cremation does not properly picture the idea of sowing the body, expecting the future harvest of resurrection. Instead, it seems to suggest an end, a finality, with perhaps an other-worldly existence of the person as a spirit somewhere. Although we believe that dead Christians do exist temporarily in disembodied states (2 Cor 5:8, 2 Pet 1:14), this is not our ultimate hope, or final state. The Christian's hope is a resurrected body living with Christ on a resurrected earth. Christians believe that the afterlife is not some ghostly, transparent and non-material existence. We believe in a final resurrection that will be more real and physical than we are now.

We must remember that God cares about how we symbolise matters, particularly at such significant events. We care about the mode of baptism, because we think it is important to demonstrate that identification with Christ is a full immersion into His death and resurrection. God cares about the analogies and messages we make and send. For a funeral act to communicate that we think the body is of little more significance to the deceased person seems to send a message that is not thoroughly biblical and Christian.

3)    Burying the body treats the temple of the Holy Spirit with respect.

It is common for advocates of cremation to point out that a buried person will undergo decay, and nothing will be left of that body, just as very little is left of the cremated body. They conclude that both modes come out at the same place, therefore neither one is preferable. However, this objection entirely misses the point. The point of burial is not to preserve the remains of the loved one. Future resurrection is not about God finding and using the identical molecules that once existed in the living person to re-constitute the resurrected body. How God will do the miracle of resurrection is beyond our understanding, as are all miracles. We can be certain that Christians who were eaten by lions, burned by Nero, drowned and lost to the sea or died in some other violent or destructive way will be partakers of the resurrection. Burial does not pretend to help God out when it comes to resurrection. In other words, we miss the point when we say that both burial and cremation end up with the same amount of destruction done to the body. None of us is trying to embalm bodies to perfectly preserve them so as to give God more to work with on the day of resurrection.

Instead, the point is that we are to honour a human being, even in death. The issue is not how to best preserve the body; it is how to treat the body in death. A human being is body, soul & spirit (1 Thes 5:23). In fact, we are told that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. While it is true that the spirit is absent from the body at the point of death (2 Cor 5:8), this does not mean that the body loses all dignity and honour. Indeed, observe how we dress and beautify the body placed in the casket for viewing. We understand that though the person has gone on to face heaven or hell, his or her body remains and we show respect to them in respecting the body. I suggest that respect for the body has always been understood as giving it a proper burial.

The Gospel of John tells us that “Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days” (John 11:17). The Holy Spirit chose to identify this body as Lazarus, communicating continuity with the very same person Jesus had loved before and would love again. After the crucifixion of Jesus, the Gospels present us with an example of devotion to Jesus in the way the women—and Joseph of Arimathea—minister to him, anointing him with spices, specifically anointing, Mark tells us him and not just “his remains” (Mark 16:1). Why is Mary Magdalene so grieved when she finds the tomb to be empty? It is not that she doubts that a stolen body can be resurrected by God on the last day. It is instead that she sees violence done to the body of Jesus as violence done to him,dishonor done to his body as dishonor to him. When Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener, she tells him she is despondent because they “have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (John 20:13). This body was, at least in some sense, still her Lord, and it mattered what someone had done to it. Jesus and the angelic beings never correct the devoted women. They simply ponder why they seek the living among the dead.

When pagan armies have wanted to show the deepest dishonour to conquered enemies, what would they do? They would dismember and mutilate the bodies of those they had already killed. They would pile the bodies in heaps and burn them. They would leave the bodies exposed for carrion and animals. When the Catholic Church wanted to dishonour John Wickliffe for his English translation of the Bible, what did they do? They dug up his remains and burnt them. Conversely, respect for one's enemies has always been shown in burying the bodies. Consider Joseph's request to have his body buried in the Promised Land. Consider the valiant effort of Israel's soldiers to recover the body of Saul, so as to bury it (1 Sam 31:12-13). These actions do not make sense if  the body after death is of little consequence.

To cover the body with the cloak of dust from which it was made is to send it off in honour. To burn it seems, to me at least, to communicate something else.

Once again, let me emphasise: I do not think it is sinful to cremate. I will always perform funerals of either kind.  However, part of our growth as Christians is to grow to choose better over adequate, beautiful over ordinary and wisest over pragmatic. We should not simply ask, “Is this forbidden to us?” We should ask, “Is this best? Is this most glorifying to God?”

We are beings made in God's image. We ar eboth physical and spiritual, unlike the animals.  We do not act as mere animals, scarfing food down when we see it, or mating when in heat.  We clothe much of our physical existence with symbol, because we are spiritual beings, too. We eat at tables, with a blessing said, and special utensils and decorations. We marry with elaborate symbol and ceremony. We cover our lives with beauty and art and symbol. Should death by any different? Are we animals, whose corpses are to be disposed of? Should we not maximise the symbolism and significance of death with that ceremony that communicates

A Word About the Expense and Last Wishes

It is true that burials can be more expensive than cremations. However, the difference in cost is not always that significant. When it comes to burial, the primary costs are: the casket, the burial plot, and the tombstone. Burial plots can be expensive, depending on the cemetery, and tombstones range from basic to elaborate. These are choices we can make ahead of time.

However, cremation has some hidden costs. While no burial plot or tombstone is needed, South African Law now makes it mandatory for a full autopsy to be done on every body that will be cremated. This adds at least (at the time of writing) another R2000 to the costs. The crematorium charges its own fee. A casket is still required. Many people choose to set up a memorial stone anyway. In other words, the difference here is not night and day. A very basic funeral policy will cover the need to be buried respectably and modestly.

When a person has written it into his or her will that he or she desires to be cremated, we must honour that request. However, to all living Christians I say: the desire to bless your families with simplicity and cost-effectiveness by asking for a cremation is honourable. But consider if you  might not bless them even more, by allowing them to honour you once more, in the act of sowing your body to the ground in expectation of resurrection, by laying your body down to rest, to sleep, awaiting the day of your awakening. Consider if this might not be a far greater blessing than saving some money, and saving some time.

David de Bruyn