What does the Bible say about cremation, and can you get demons through cremation? Now cremation is
to dispose of a dead person's body by burning it to ashes. The history of cremation is that
cremation was a normal practice of Greeks and Romans. Many of whom believed in the immortality
of the soul and saw no reason to give a special attention to the body. At the other extreme
were the Egyptians, who mummified their dead, preserving the corpse indefinitely. Hindus in
their doctrine of reincarnation still practice cremation. Now when it comes to Jewish people
or the Hebrews, the ancient Hebrews laid the body to rest within a day or two of the dead person,
because it was not embalmed or preserved. They buried loved ones in a tomb out of the rock,
or in the cave, or in an earthen grave together with their other deceased family members. Even
the early Christians would insist on burying their dead. Christian grave sites were called
cemeteries. Which literally meant sleeping places, reflecting a belief in a future resurrection.
So the ancient Jews, followed by the early Christians, and even Muslims, found cremation
unthinkable. In fact, if they could not properly care for the body before burial, at least they
wanted the bones to be buried with care. If you remember Joseph, he actually wanted his bones to
be brought back from Egypt into the promised land. Now why were Christians were so concerned with the
proper disposal of the body? The body of every human was created by God, and it bore His image,
and it deserved to be treated with respect because of this. The Holy Spirit indwelled in the body of
believers, making them vessels of honor. As Jesus Himself was buried, raised bodily from the dead.
So Christians believed that their burial was a witness to the resurrection yet to come. The early
Christians practiced burial to bear witness to their hope of resurrection against the Romans and
others who practiced cremation. In fact Christian influenced caused cremation to be abandoned
throughout the Roman Empire. Now the cremation revived in the 19th century, largely in the
free-thinking circles, among whom some Christians have come in favor of. The first cremation in
America took place in 1876, accompanied by the readings from Charles Darwin and the
Hindu scriptures. For many years relatively few persons, mostly liberals and the free
thinkers chose cremation. By 1972 the frequency of cremation has risen to about 5% and 20 years
later it was up to 20% and it was as a preferred method of treating a person's body after death.
As of recently in 2010, 40% of Americans have been cremated after death. Of course the percentage is
still increasing. In Japan for example, where the burial is sometimes illegal, the cremation
rate is about 98%. The rise in cremations reflect many factors. Concern for the land use,
the expense of the traditional funerals, the loss of community and a sense of a place in
modern and New Age type spiritualities. Now the Catholic church in 1963 has permitted cremation,
while earnestly recommending burial as a preferred mode of disposal of a dead body. Now Billy Graham,
a famous evangelist has noted what Christians have always believed. That the cremation cannot prevent
a sovereign God from calling forth the dead at the end of time. When you look at the Bible
you will see there are several examples of burning the body in the Old Testament. Achan was one of
them in Joshua 7:25. Saul was another one in 1 Samuel 31:12. The king of Edom in Amos 2:1.
But they all were involved in God's judgment and a curse. Burning a body was actually a
sign of punishment in Leviticus 20:14, Leviticus 21:9, Joshua 7:15, Joshua 7:25 and 2 Kings 23:20.
Cremation was not generally practiced in Israel. Perhaps it was used in some of the references
because the body have been mutilated. Also maybe to prevent the Philistines, like in the case of
King Saul, from the possibility of dishonoring the bodies even further. So biblically we see
that the Scripture is not speaking of burning the body in a positive light. There are two main views
concerning cremation. One of them is that if you are cremated, it means you will not be resurrected
because you're destroying the body. And when Jesus rose from the dead, He came back in the same body
that was raised and made perfect. So it will be the same thing with Christian believers, therefore
we should not be cremated. Others believe that cremation and the question of burial is within the
realm of Christian freedom. The body is eventually going to die and disintegrate in any case,
and God will raise it from the dead and recreate it in a more perfect condition. A glorified prime,
no matter how scattered it is, and we know that we came from the dust and we will return to the dust,
Genesis 3:19. And the process of physical decomposition is inevitable when life has ended,
and cremation is really nothing than to expedite the process process of turning a body into dust.
Now, for some people it's because they don't have finances, or maybe there is no burial spots and
they choose to you know cremate a person. My personal recommendation is to give a proper
disposal of the body by burial, as it's been practiced by Christians in the church history, as
well as the Jewish believers in God throughout the Old Testament. Even though cremation is permitted,
but I earnestly recommend, if possible, the use of burial as a preferred mode of disposing of the
body. If you do choose cremation, don't keep ashes in the house. Return them back to the ground.
As we see in Genesis 3:19.
As we see this, even how Jesus
when His body was taken, wrapped in linen cloth and then laid in a tomb. Disciples didn't carry
Jesus's body everywhere with them. We see Stephen, when he was stoned, then devout men carried him
to his burial and made a great lamentation over him. Book of Acts 8:2. When you carry the ashes
of the people who died with you, in the house, or somewhere, put it in some kind of a jewelry.
You're carrying dead people. You need to do what the Bible tells us to do, and that is put them
back in the ground and not carry them with you. Because the Lord is going to come back,
and dead in Christ will be risen again. And some people who carry these ashes with them all the
time in the house, you know like, "Oh, I just want to be close to these people." Those people
are not in those ashes. Their soul has gone up, either to God or it's awaiting judgment.
They are not in those ashes. You want to put those ashes back in the dirt, back in the ground where
we came from. And the Lord is gonna resurrect us in the last day, at the coming of Jesus Christ.
I hope this video brought some clarity and understanding concerning this topic. I pray that
God will give you wisdom concerning as you prepare for your own departure. I know some of you, most
of you who watch my videos are very young. So I'm pretty sure you're not planning for your funeral.
But honestly it will help us to live with end in mind, and be prepared for coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Whether we meet Him in the sky or we meet Him by our time coming to an end on this
earth and us dying. And so God bless you, have a wonderful day and I'll see you in the next video.
Thank you.