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If you’re looking for an inspiring or spiritual message, this probably isn’t it. Sorry. I’m curious about cremation and the Church’s teachings & views regarding it.
The only thing I can find as a policy is the following:
Quote:21.3.2 Cremation
The Church does not normally encourage cremation. The family of the deceased must decide whether the body should be cremated,
taking into account any laws governing burial or cremation. In some countries, the law requires cremation.
Where possible, the body of a deceased member who has been endowed should be dressed in temple clothing when it is cremated.
A funeral service may be held.
Does anyone know why the Church
Quote:does not normally encourage cremation
Is it becoming more common in the US Church?Is there a biblical or scripture position either way?
Does anyone here feel strongly either way?
I don’t see any other posting here at: StayLDS.com
I see the practice of burial underground as morbid & creepy.
NOTE: There was another topic posted titled: The Role of Sharks in the Resurrection.
http://forum.staylds.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5152 We had a death in the family recently. That person was cremated, and the Church even helped pay for it. I will be cremated (after I donate any good organs I have left). Maybe make myself into a brick.
One common tradition is for people to be buried in their Temple clothes. Pretty sure there’s nothing doctrinal about that, but is common enough that some might wish that.
Personally, I think the idea of ashes swirling in a whirlwind and reconstituting a resurrected being is a heck of a lot cooler than a stinky zombie in temple clothes clawing its way out of a coffin.
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My father was dressed in his temple clothes, we said goodbye, and then the crematorium had a window through which you could watch the box go into the fire. You could stay as long as you wanted. It was all new to me, not what I ever pictured, but I have nothing against it. Embalming isn’t a better alternative in my mind, but I’ll let my family decide. I think it is just tradition and a bit of emphasizing that it is important to be buried in your temple clothes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The only reason I can see for the no cremation thing is Judeo-Christian tradition. I enjoyed rereading the shark thread. I’m sure I can find people in my ward who take the physical resurrection very literally, but a literal view of it never made sense to me. I would like to be cremated, actually, but I’m not sure my more believing wife would buy into the idea. Absent cremation, I don’t want a funeral, no embalming, and just plant me in the garden next to the stupid lion (cardboard or pine box is fine). My husband and I debate this a lot. He wants to be buried, not cremated, because of the Church handbook statement; I prefer cremation because it’s a LOT less expensive, and I refuse to spend money on a corpse. If it feels cheap, then figure out the cost to have my dead body embalmed, then have me cremated, then donate the money saved to a worthy organization. Heck, donate it to the Church if you’d rather. I also don’t want to be buried in my temple clothes, or at least, I don’t want to be buried with the veil covering my face. I reject the idea (as seemingly taught in the temple) that a woman can only approach her Maker with a layer of opaque polyester in between, and I fully plan to haunt whomever flouts these wishes. My husband is a few years older than me, and has a shorter life expectancy anyway, so I’ll probably be making these decisions for him rather than the other way around. When I pass, it will be my kids responsible for carrying out my wishes. And my daughters are already more feminist at 13 and 7 than I was at 21 so I know they’ll be down with the no-veiling thing. As far as cremation vs burial, I think in another 40 or 50 years cremation will be the standard practice, and the traditional embalming/fancy coffin/burial will be seen as an outlier.
Here’s a link worth some perusal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_in_the_Christian_World ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation_in_the_Christian_World Some highlights:
Cremation was made a crime punishable by death by Charlemagne in 789 because it was considered a pagan rite.
- It was seen as being blasphemous towards god by Roman Cotholics, I’m guessing because it destroys the body which is god’s creation. It was also seen as a sign of disbelief in the resurrection, strange when there’s a belief in an omnipotent god, but there it is.
- On 26 March 1885 the first modern legal cremation in England took place.
- In 1963, the Pope lifted the ban on cremation and in 1966 allowed Catholic priests to officiate at cremation ceremonies.
- The Eastern Orthodox Church still forbids cremation.
- Protestant Churches approved cremation gradually after the First World War and the Spanish Flu.
If I were to toss in a few of my own. It’s interesting that they typically burned heretics at the stake. Maybe the thought was that being burned was somehow more permanent, or there was an association with fire and hell.
To me it looks like the Christian world initially discouraged cremation to disassociate themselves from pagans, then it became a thing of law, superstition, and tradition. Given some of the dates mentioned cremation is something that people have only warmed up to very recently.
Minyan Man wrote:Is it becoming more common in the US Church?
It’s becoming more and more common in the US (I’ve read that the percentage of cremations is expected to reach 50% very soon). Over time I’d expect church members to mirror their local cultures. It’s anecdotal, but I recently attended a LDS funeral and the person was cremated.
Minyan Man wrote:Is there a biblical or scripture position either way?
No, not unless someone reads the subject of cremation into a verse of their choosing.
Minyan Man wrote:Does anyone here feel strongly either way?
I’d like to be cremated. One, it saves my family some money. Two, no one can dig up my corpse a thousand years from now, see that I’m in temple garments, and get the wrong idea about me.
There are a number of references to being born from dust & returning to dust. Genesis 3:19
Quote:19 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.
Job 34: 15Quote:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
For me, cremation just hastens the process.
I’m leaning toward cremation. I don’t believe that it matters much to God in the BIG picture.
My parents were cremated & their ashes were sprinkled on the graves of my Mother’s parents. My Grand Parents.
My brother, sister & I did it together. It was meaningful for us to do it together.
To me, the resurrection is such a miracle…to believe in that idea and of God’s unlimited power…it doesn’t matter. It becomes personal preference. Any response to the question “Why does the church generally discourage cremation” would be nothing but speculation. Perhaps there are good reasons some of you have mentioned and those matter to some people who want food for thought…but ultimately to me it would all be speculation. I don’t think I would ask a leader. I would just decide what I prefer. When I asked this question, someone said there is a practical benefit in ressurection if you aren’t cremated. I can’t remember where he read it from, but it was a manual somewhere in the last 32 years or so…who knows. Perhaps respect for the body? To me cremation is a lot cleaner than letting the body decompose in the ground…
It is a cultural relic. I couldn’t care less, since, logically, there is no difference whatsoever in the end.
I find it interesting though, that cultural relic stuff creeps into religion. Clearly the ban on the blacks and the priesthood came from cultural, traditional stuff…but people in church start wondering what the prophet has to say about it and wanting church rules to agree how to handle it as a church people.
In our church, we have sought for zion so much…that all things become part of church. And then, we speculate why…which is what gets us into trouble.
The fact it is in the handbook says something about people bringing this up to church leaders and they need a statement about it.
The only solution for these kinds of things for me is to get to where Ray is…have the independence to not be beholden to leaders and the handbook. They can be resources to help give you something to think about, but ultimately, you decide what matters and what doesn’t.
I just can’t see why things matter. Is it harder to resurrect a cremated body? No. I can’t imagine. I am pretty sure the unfortunate person eaten by the shark is gonna be resurrected too.
Is it more respectful to the body? See…that is where it becomes personal opinion. I don’t see why it is. Others may want to have a viewing and see the temple clothes. It becomes a cultural relic and personal preference, not a gospel or doctrinal point. I support whatever is most helpful to the family in helping them remember the loved one and mourn and celebrate their life.
For me, I can & have made up my own mind about this issue. I started this discussion because I was curious about the church’s position & why. As it turns out, the church doesn’t really have a position. They have a clear position regarding tea & coffee but not cremation.
For me, there should be more options for making personal decisions without judgement being applied.
I wonder if my position about cremation would’ve changed if I was the one making the decision about my deceased minor child?
I don’t think I would change my mind concerning myself.
I may change if it came to making the decision for my innocent child.
Just a thought.
Back when the church wrote the statement about cremation, in the US, it was a little weird to be cremated. The church has consistently tried to steer the membership away from anything that could be viewed as culturally odd. The basic beliefs and ceremonies of the church are odd enough that I think the leaders didn’t want anything else done that could be viewed as outside the range of normal.
Cremation is very common now. I expect the statement on cremation will be removed at some point.
BTW, we had our kids’ bodies buried. We wanted to have a particular place to go to honor and remember them. I wouldn’t mind be cremated myself, just a long as someone promised to toss my ashes into the wind someplace. I wouldn’t want them left in an urn and placed on a mantle or in a closet. Within a couple generations, no one would care about the urn and wouldn’t know what to do with it. It would be easier to just start without that.
AP said: Quote:I wouldn’t want them left in an urn and placed on a mantle or in a closet. Within a couple generations, no one would care about the urn and wouldn’t know what to do with it.
That is a good point. I didn’t consider that. Thanks.
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