Do fundamentalist xtians have something against CREMATION?

[T Bone]

I am wondering. Heard in a roundabout way that they might. Someone was told 'better read your bible' before considering cremation. Do fundies have a dogma preventing cremations?

WTF? :rolleyes:

I'll hang up and listen for your reply.

[jdj]

1. yes, at least my fundie family does, because when

Jesus comes back everyone will be pulled out of their graves and have a new body, etc, etc, and if you burn it you don't get to do this, so you better not.

Or something. At least that is what my mother told me the other day. I want to be cremated because I don't believe in wasting land for corpses, but I guarantee you she will try to break my will and prevent it if I go before she does.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. That is so stupid. If God can create one body for you He can make another

Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[Rose Siding]

4. Hell yes, He could!

Sometimes people think God is too small.

[jdj]

5. True.

It's like,did they miss the first part in Genesis where God created, like, the whole freaking universe?

[Flubadubya]

7. Whoever said fundamentalists were smart??

Bwahahaha - nonetheless, jdjkkse is exactly right. They believe that the "elect" will be restored in their original bodies, and if you're cremated this won't happen. Pretty stupid concept, alright, but like I say... who said they were smart?

[jdj]

3. here are a couple things I found:

Now let me quote another Bible incident which gives us to
understand what God thinks about the burning of human bodies. In
Amos 2:1 we have the record of Moab's unpardonable sin. Remember
that Moab was considered a heathen nation. This account serves to
prove that God takes notice of the doings of the most ungodly. Let m
quote the verse: "Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of
Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime." If there
is any verse in the Bible that positively emphasizes God's disapproval
of the burning of human bodies, it is this. God plagued and punished
Moab for this immoral and unpardoned sin.
http://www.tgph.org/archive/books/28.html

and also from the same link:

According to divine
standards, it was a supreme dishonour and curse for a person to have
no burial. Such a curse was pronounced by God on King Jehoiakim
of jerusalem because of his pride and disobedience to God. The
prophet Jeremiah said of him, "He shall be buried with the burial of an
ass" (Jeremiah 22:19); which meant, he shall have no burial at all.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, states that Jehoakim's body was cast
out by the king of Babylon, and lay exposed and unburied some
distance from the gate of Jerusalem. There are a number in the Bible
who wee thus cursed for their disobedience to God: Achan (Joshua
7:15); Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37); Ahab's offspring (1 Kings
21:17-24): Sisera and Jabin (Psalm 83:9-10); and others. If we
dishonour friends by cremation we shall be called to account for it
(Romans 14:12; 222 Corinthians 5:10).
Another "advantage" of cremation is that if you wish to bury the
remains in another land, the freight charges are small, or you can carry
them with your luggage; and then, too, a second undertaker is not
necessary.
When we mention the transportation of the dead form one place to
another, I think of the case of the patriarch, Joseph. He died in Egypt
but did not wish his remains to stay there; so, previous to his decease,
he took an oath of his people, saying, "God will surely visit you, and
ye shall carry up my bones from hence." He died at the age of 110
years; they embalmed him and put him in a coffin (Genesis 50:24-26).
About 300 years later his people left Egypt to go to the promised
land. In Exodus 13:19 we read, "And Moses took up the bones of
Joseph with him." His people carried his remains in the coffin all
through that long, long journey. And then in Joshua 24:32, which was
about forty years later, we read, "And the bones of Joseph, which the
children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in
a parcel of ground which Jacob bought...and it became the inheritance
of the children of Joseph (Israel)."
If Moses had cremated the body of Joseph before commencing that
long journey, the question of transportation would have been much
simpler. Instead of carrying that costly, bulky, Egyptian coffin with
its contents, one of the grandsons could have carried the urn with his
household baggage. But no! This heathen custom of cremation must
not be practised among God's people. For them, there was only one
way to dispose of their dead and that was by the sacred custom of
burial.


I don't know anything about this source, I just posted it because he's quoting actual bible verses.

[Mr_Spock]

10. Ah yes, the Bible. A bunch of anonymous writings that were selectively

chosen to have famous names attached as authors. These books were chosen by Kings based on their favorable political viewpoints. The King then used these books to consolidate his power over his subjects. Thousands of years of human development later, people choose these political books to manipulate people into acting like the subservient "Kings subjects" of ancient times. All of what Jesus taught is ignored so that a power base may be preserved. Everything Jesus stood against is now being promoted by his heathen followers. Religion has become the root of all evil and the death of all who stand in the way of it's power (Church leaders).

[jdj]

12. It's amazing to me how much terminology there is in the bible

regarding hierarchy, i.e. lord, king, kingdom, ruler,lord and savior, etc, and no one connects the dots on this. This terminology gets people ready to fall into the role of serf and vassal without even questioning.

[gumby]

15. Those dots

connect a pretty unfortunate picture.

A listen to C-Span call-ins or am radio will find the minions praising W as a godly savior to be followed unquestioningly.

Very unfortunate indeed.

[Mr_Spock]

17. It's more than unfortunate. These unthinking morons are allowed to vote!

Amazing how something that is all about power (religion) is justified in the name of Jesus, the MOST famous and RADICAL LIBERAL of ALL TIME. Jesus would be enraged at what people have done in his name. He would be absolutely livid!

[gumby]

25. "These unthinking morons"

not only vote, they rule this country and therefore (they think)they rule the world.

[Mr_Spock]

26. Uh-oh, I think we may be in trouble.

I think we need get our country back from these nut cases!

[Warpy]

8. Catholics and fundies believe your bodies

will be resurrected from the grave when the world ends.

I'm with Frida Kahlo. This Judas of a body has given me nothing but trouble and a lot of pain. I don't want it back. I'm going for cremation on the miniscule chance they may be right.

[jdj]

14. That's hilarious.

But when you mention Frida Kahlo, of course now I picture Salma Hayek, and if she doesn't want that body, then I'm next in line for it.

[jus_the_facts]

9. Never heard the biblical phrase...ASHES to ASHES.....

....dust to dust? :shrug:

Not ALL fundies have an aversion to cremation.

[jdj]

13. yeah, but we're the dust, not the ashes.

Evangelicals who believe in the revelations do not practice cremation. They want to come out of the grave lookin' like they just stepped out of a scene from the "Thriller" video. Not pretty.

[jus_the_facts]

18. Sorry...but my family are Southern Baptists and they DO.....

....it's all in the pickin' and choosin' which part of the GOSPEL they apply or don't wanna apply...that's all. :crazy:

[jdj]

19. Wow. There's hope for mine too, then.

I'm a recovering southern baptist, my family is still ill.

I don't care what they do, I just don't want them to try to bury me, and go all Jesus on me in a church when I die.

[ashling]

6. Thank you for this thread

it is a perfect one to reply to as I enter the 700 club.

The answer is YES.

Fundamental Christians have something against EVERYTHING!

[DemBones DemBones]

11. Catholics are allowed to be cremated but

in the past it was seen as a denial of the resurrection of the faithful that is to come at the end of the world, and was not allowed for Catholics.

Some Christians still oppose cremation for similar reasons. I don't think any group is trying to keep others from being cremated, though.

[CaTeacher]

34. I am not a fundie myself, but saw this thread and called up

a few religious friends---some are fundie Protestants and a few are Catholic. All of them that I spoke to believe that cremation is OK from a religious standpoint (although some have a personal aversion to it). (Oh and one friend is a nun--a VERY progressive nun that I met while in the peace corp.)

Yes---some religions, like the Catholics do believe that the body will be raised up--but they all told me it will not be "this old body" that we now have. It will be a new body--so those whose bodies are not buried or whole will have nothing to fear. (Christians seem to believe that they will get a new body, one that can rise up and meet Christ in the air--so one that can float, and never gets old, never feels pain--etc...in short a whole new body--this process was explained to me as being similar to how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly---it is still the same insect--but goes through a transformation and gets a whole new body. This body has a whole new form and is capable of things the old body was not.)

One Philipino friend even pointed me to the place in the Catholic Catechism where this is explained in detail. Apparently, at least some religions have given it a lot of thought. In areas of the world where overcrowding is the norm--many Christian churches actually encourage cremation to use less resources.

But here in the US, burial has been the norm for a long time, so people are used to that. I thought the views (at least of the people that I know) were quite reasonable and I can be very critical of religion (having rejected it for myself).

I actually have nothing against religion or religious people-I just have no faith myself. To me, it is like believing in a big fairy tale. But I honestly have nothing against those who do....

[Auntie Bush]

16. So Fundies believe all the Innocent people who have

been killed by fire throughout the ages are never going to be resurrected? Hummmm...that seems fair!

[jdj]

20. Well, if they were really innocent, that wouldn't have happened...

or something.

[Mr_Spock]

21. They don't believe anything, they just do what they're told.

"And now ya do what they taught ya, now you're under control"

Killing in the Name Of - Rage Against The Machine

Killing in the name of
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Huh

Killing in the name of
Killing in the name of

And now you do what they taught ya
But now you do what they taught ya
Well now you do what they taught ya

Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites


Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Some of those that were forces are the same that bore crosses
Uggh!

Killing in the name of
Killing in the name of

And now you do what they taught ya
And now you do what they taught ya, now you're under control
And now you do what they taught ya

Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died by wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites
Come on

Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Motherfucker

[DemBones DemBones]

22. Love the Martha Stewart cartoon!

:thumbsup:

[Mr_Spock]

23. Yeah, it's great huh! A few words that speak volumes!

:)

[Cleita]

24. When I was in Catholic school, it was against the Church rules

to cremate the dead except when there were extreme circumstances like plague and a dispensation was administered for the greater good. Questioning the nuns, like I always did about "why?", they explained that because the Roman pagans preferred to cremate their dead, the Church banned cremation as being unchristian. Now that the protestant or fundie Christians are becoming more orthodox than the Catholics, it appears sure they would be against it. The Catholics on the other hand have changed their position and regard cremation as being fine.

[LoZoccolo]

27. Fundamentalism, by definition...

...is supposed to be a demonination that holds to a set of a few "fundamental" doctrinal beliefs. I doubt with such a narrow definition that you would be able to find an opinion that covers all of them.

[Geo55]

28. I dunno.....there's

just sumthin' creepy about the thought of some ol' dead fundie poppin' out of grave....
an' what in JESUS' name do ya DO down there , waitin' for him to come back?

[On the Road]

29. The Belief is Much Older Than Evangelical Christianity

I would guess goes back to the Jewish resistance against the Greeks in 2d C BC, when the belief in resurrection began.

It was definitely around in the 1st-3d centuries AD, when Christianity was still an offshoot of Judaism. The catacombs beneath Rome were used as burial chambers because the Jews and Christians didn't believe in the Roman practice of cremation. The places smelled terrible as a result.

Strict Christian fundamentalists, conservative Jews, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believers may have a problem with cremation. Most serious believers don't really care because the belief seems nonsensical nowadays. It goes to show that fundamentalists are really less strict than they imagine in their adherence to the Bible.

[westsidexview]

30. the rapture

the rapture is when christ returns to remove the elect from the earth which then allows the devil full reign over the earth with his world of sinners who have been left behind. just before the christian saints get sucked up into heaven, the dead in christ shall rise in the air to meet jesus. if you have been cremated, this could be a problem. will you go up as a cloud of ashes? how will family members know it is you? you can understand all the unanswerable questions concerning cremation so the best policy is to just say no to cremation in the first place.

[Mr_Spock]

32. LOL, like a bunch of rotted bones will be recognizable.

Sorry, I always try to apply logic to these things - I know it's an utter waste of time.

[mitchum]

31. Yes, because "ash" sounds too much like "ass"...

and fundies know that's a nasty word

[calimary]

33. Sometimes it seems as though they're against EVERYTHING.

Sigh...

Except the wrong people in office, that is... And mind control. Or - anything after the 11th Century.

[Borgnine]

35. I personally know a few who believe this.

They also think organ donation is a sin. For the life of me, I can't figure them out.

So when Jesus comes back from his cloud and the dead rise again, the fundies' ideal paradise will look like "Night of the Living Dead?" Creepy, creepy shit.