CREMATING or EMBALMING THE HUMAN BODY
A Christian Perspective and Alternative
Dr. Jerry Nelson
When my mother-in-law died at age 50, it was assumed by most of the family that her body would be embalmed in preparation for the funeral and burial. If her death occurred today, my guess is that the family would at least consider cremation. Most of us will face the decision of whether to embalm or cremate a loved one. As with most questions about death, we probably won’t give it much thought, until the death occurs. And then, amid grief, we must decide rather quickly.
- What do we really know about embalming, cremation, or other?
- Do the Bible and historical precedent give us any help in such a decision?
- Is there an alternative to embalming or cremation?
- What are other faith-perspectives on embalming and cremation?
- What do we know about embalming or cremation?
When we consider embalming, cremating, or an alternative, we bear in mind not only the process but the person whose body it is. When we see a doctor, we want her to know not only what she’s doing but also to realize to whom she’s doing it. Likewise, if we are deciding what to do with the body of a loved-one, we should bear in mind that person and ask, “How do I want their body treated?”
The following descriptions are drawn from commonly available resources on the internet provided by mortuaries and others. Some of those resources are listed below. I urge you to watch the videos to have a much fuller understanding of the process.
Embalming includes the following: Your loved-one’s body will be stripped naked, washed with a disinfectant, finding a major artery they will drain the blood, and using a hollow tube with a sharp end, they will puncture the stomach and intestines to remove all fluids, matter, and gases. Fluid is then injected into the body to fill the cavities. Sometimes the anus and vagina are plugged to prevent leakage. Next the eyes are closed, either using glue or small plastic “eye caps” that sit under the eyelid. The jaw is wired or sewn shut. The mouth can be arranged into the desired expression after the jaw has been secured. After using cosmetics, typically on the face and hands, the body is dressed and placed in a coffin. Embalming: For a fuller description read: https://www.legacy.com/advice/the-embalming-process-how-it-works/ Or watch YouTube: The truth about EMBALMING “The Truth about Embalming” by the McCartney Family Funerals
Cremation includes the following: Someone will strip the clothes away, wash the body with a disinfectant, and dress the body in clothes the family provides. Medical devices and prosthetics that are mechanical or contain batteries are surgically removed to prevent reaction during the cremation process. The body is then placed in a combustible container (paper or wood) and inserted into the crematorium at 1500 plus degrees. The body (60% water) shrivels in the intense heat and all but the bones and the enamel of the teeth are consumed. After about two hours, what remains is scraped out into a container and sorted to remove any metal from surgeries. What is left is crushed into the fine powder popularly known as the “ashes.” These are placed in a container and given to the family, if they desire. Cremation: For a fuller description see YouTube The Cremation Process – YouTube and or read this fuller description: The Cremation Process Step-by-Step. How it works from start to finish. www.funeralwise.com/cremation/cremation-process/
- Do the Bible and historical precedent give us any help in such a decision?
It is ironic that in a culture that idolizes the human body while alive and young, we are willing to use the rather crude and ugly processes described above when someone dies. An ancient philosophy known as “Gnosticism,” is rearing its ugly head again. Among other ideas, Gnosticism held to a strong distinction between the spiritual and the physical. The physical was largely irrelevant. What happened to our bodies in life or death was unimportant – only the spiritual was significant. The body was merely a physical vessel for a season of life. In fact, Gnosticism considers the physical not just unimportant, but evil. At death the body was merely discarded. Even today, some Christians will say, “Though we should respect the dead, what does it really matter how the body is disposed of, after all, it is the spirit that matters.”
The Bible proclaims a very different perspective. God created humans, body and spirit, along with the rest of creation and called it all “good!” To be human is to be body/soul. And to be human in eternity is to be body/soul.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 give the person (body and spirit) the profound description of “a temple of the Holy Spirit… so glorify God in your body.”
The resurrection of the body is a major aspect of Christianity. At physical death, the spirit of the believer goes into the presence of Jesus UNTIL, when Jesus comes again, God gives life again to our bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:35ff gives a fuller description of the continuity and discontinuity of our earthly bodies and our bodies in the resurrection. Worthy of note is that our resurrected bodies are physical bodies in ways like the body of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus’ resurrected body was a physical body seen with physical eyes, touched by human hands, and he ate physical food.
The most significant indication of the worth and dignity of the physical human body is in the Incarnation. God the Son, became also a human being with a body. He lived bodily, died and was buried bodily, rose from the dead bodily, and will return again bodily.
With such an exalted view of the human body, it is important not only how we use it in life, but also how we treat it in death. It is exemplary and instructive how the ancient people of God (the Israelites) respectfully buried the bodies of the dead, anticipating the resurrection. The ancient world practiced both cremation and embalming, but God’s people chose the burial of the body. There are extensive examples of the respectful burial of the bodies of the dead. See Genesis 25 and 35 and the treatment of Jesus’ body given in Mark 15 and 16.
While there are no direct prohibitions or affirmations of embalming or cremation in the Bible, there are strong precedents and theological implications for the burial of the body without either embalming or cremation.
An Alternative:
To be buried, it is not required that the body be either embalmed or cremated except in unusual situations (see Genesis 50:26). Once you read or see the actual processes of embalming or cremation, they seem inconsistent with scriptural and historical examples of Jewish and Christian burial and with a respectful treatment of the body.
An alternative scenario: Grandpa died in the hospital at 79 years of age. He wanted to die at home, but Grandma insisted he go to the emergency department at the local hospital when his chest pain became severe. He died a day later. After the authorities gave permission for the body to be taken from the hospital, Grandpa’s sons went to the hospital with a *leak-proof body bag and gently placed his body in it and took him home in the back of their van. Within hours, with Grandma’s help, they washed his body (at death some muscles relax, leaving a mess) and they clothed him with what they wanted him buried in. They put the body back in the body bag. Because they didn’t yet have a death certificate and hadn’t purchased a burial site, they had to pay for a local mortuary to refrigerate the body for a day or two. That same mortuary expedited the death certificate, necessary for burial. The certificate could have been obtained through a state office, without mortuary assistance, but that could take longer and is usually a little more difficult. On the day of the burial, the family retrieved the body in their own vehicle and took it to the cemetery for burial. With cemetery personnel assistance, the body was placed in the grave. Because the body bag was used, a casket was unnecessary but could have been added.
To recognize the gravity appropriate to the burial of the body of this Christian loved-one, a short interment service was conducted. It included scripture that expressed the hope of the resurrection, prayer for the loved ones remaining, and a committal of the body to the earth from which God first created the body. A helpful liturgy for this service can be found in The Book of Common Prayer under the title, “The Burial of the Dead.”
Funeral or Memorial?
A funeral service before the burial is possible but obviously should be done soon. A memorial service after the burial may give more freedom in planning.
In either a funeral or memorial, it is important to remember the purpose of such a service. A Christian funeral or memorial service is not only to extoll the virtues of the deceased but more importantly – The purpose of a Christian memorial service is to: Bring glory to God through: Reaffirming the truth of salvation and the hope of the resurrection, Remembering the special grace of God in and through the life of the deceased, and thereby Bringing true comfort to the loved ones.
- Below are perspectives from:
Reformed Protestantism p6
Roman Catholicism p9
Orthodox Judaism p10
A Reformed Protestant Perspective:
“CONTRA CREMATION”
Contra Cremation – Reformation 21
October 19, 2020
Author’s Note: For some, this article will not be an easy read. Some readers may take offense, perhaps because of decisions that have already been made. But whatever your view on cremation, know that the Lord is gracious, and he is able to raise the dead. There is not one believer in Jesus Christ (lost at sea, burned at the stake, cremated, or buried) who will not receive the full reward of the resurrection. Jesus will save all His own, and take them home, body and soul, forever.
The human body is fascinating, beautiful, and complex. God made it so. He fashioned the first human body, beginning with a lifeless form of dust—and breathed into that body the breath of life.[1] It was very good.[2]
Before God made Adam and Eve he said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Thomas Boston described man as so created “a stately building; man carved like a fair palace.”[3] And how could man not be such, when the Architect, Builder and pattern was the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God? Herman Bavinck reminded the church that the imago dei is not simply a matter of some attributes, or one single part of man—but that the “whole human being is the image and likeness of God, in soul and body”[4]—the “human body belongs integrally to the image of God.”[5]
God purposed to dwell within this temple: “Do not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”[6] These are mind-bending truths—you are body and soul the image of God, and your body was fashioned by the Creator for the purpose of being a temple in which His glory would dwell. To His disciples Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”[7]
Herein lies the dignity of the human body—not according to the world’s commodification of beauty—but in the reality and implications of the image of God, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. God made you, male or female, after His image. John Calvin wrote “the human race is like God’s lineage.”[8] You are a masterpiece of divine creative genius, made in God’s likeness.
But we go higher yet when we consider the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, who is the “express image of [God’s] person.”[9] Jesus is the pinnacle of Christian theology concerning the human body. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”[10] The world was placed in subjection to the Man, God in the flesh, who was “crowned with glory and honor.”[11]
The human body is sacred—this principle underlies our very good laws prohibiting defacing the image of God, both those concerning murder and the desecration (to divest of sacred character) of corpses.[12]
So if you know even a little about cremation—the incineration of human flesh and the grinding of human bones—you should realize that it is desecration.
The Bible speaks to us clearly concerning Christian burial. When God blessed Abraham He said: “As for you…you shall be buried.”[13] Abraham, in the first funeral recorded in the Scriptures, went to extensive and expensive lengths to bury Sarah in the land of promise, with the hope of receiving that promise.[14] Our promises are better: “The meek shall inherit the earth.”[15]
And Abraham was buried.[16] Rachel was buried on the way to Bethlehem; Jacob set up a pillar on her tomb.[17] Isaac was buried.[18] Joseph buried Jacob;[19] Joseph later arranged to be (re)buried in the Promised Land, and Israel took his bones on the Exodus journey.[20] Miriam died and was buried.[21] Aaron died and was buried. Joshua, Gideon, Ruth, Samuel, Saul and David died and were buried. Solomon died and was buried. There was “something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel” in the rebel Jeroboam’s dying son, and the sign of God’s pleasure was that the boy would be buried—not like the rest of his family who were cursed, and so not buried.[22]
True—Elijah breaks the pattern. He wasn’t buried, and for fairly obvious reasons. Elisha was died and was buried—and his bones retained their prophetic power.[23] This makes me think of the exquisite beauty of a little phrase in the Westminster Short Catechism—that the bodies of believers “being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection?”
Bodies still united to Christ? Do we believe this?
When Moses died, just short of the Promised Land, he was alone. Ah—no people, no burial? Not so fast—the Word records what happened next: “And [the LORD] buried him.”[24] The Son of God battled Satan in order to gently bury His face-to-face friend, the insufficient mediator, with the intention of raising him up at the last day by the power of His own perfect mediation. Paul writes, “Be imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us.”[25]
When the One greater than Moses died, He was buried. He was buried by friends who loved him, and who were willing to die to bury him; if they had died, they would have been buried. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus “came and took the body of Jesus.”[26] They laid His body gently in the tomb, after having “bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as was the custom of the Jews to bury.”[27] “The women observed the tomb and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils.”[28] And Paul writes concerning our union with Christ, “we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”[29] “We were cremated with Him through baptism into death” doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it? And what if Joseph and Nicodemus had cremated Christ—because it doesn’t really matter, does it?
The Bible commends burial to us, not cremation. When God pronounced curses on Israel, He said: “They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.”[30] Amos condemned the bone-burners of Moab; Calvin remarked “to dig up the bodies of enemies, and to burn their bones, this is an inhuman deed, and wholly barbarous. (John Calvin, Sermons on Genesis, trans. Rob Roy MacGregor (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 93.)
Ahaz, a wicked man, passed his children through the fire. The fiery furnace was destruction, so the fires of Sodom, and so will be the final judgment. The early church didn’t miss the cues, and was marked by her care for the dead, so much so that burning of the dead was replaced by Christian burial. Like father Abraham, they believed in the resurrection from the dead, and they believed in the Promised Land.
My father died nine years ago. I was home in South Carolina, and my mother called before Monday’s sunrise with the news that the Lord had taken him. We knew death was near—Lou Gehrig’s disease marches on. Just weeks earlier we had talked face-to-face about God and heaven, and about Christ and the resurrection; my children sat quietly at his feet as he whispered encouragements to follow Christ.
A day’s drive later we arrived in Ontario, and went through the customary motions of the bereaved—the wake, the funeral service, and the interment at Elmdale Memorial Park. There are a few moments that I remember vividly. I remember reaching to touch his hands, which stirred a deeper memory of a little boy held close, pressed into his father’s rough wool sweater. I remember my children weeping quietly in the funeral service, and my hands holding them close. I remember the officer standing at attention as the procession rounded the corner at Wilson and Elm. And I remember the honor, shared with my brothers, of the old tradition of carrying my father’s body to its resting place.
My father died, and was buried. We recited the Apostle’s Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ . . . He was crucified, died, and was buried, on the third day He rose again from the dead . . . I believe in the resurrection of the dead.” And I still think about the words of Jesus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”
So for Jesus, so for every Christian.
For millennia we Christians have gently buried our dead. Let us keep the faith, eyes fixed on Jesus, who died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Let us bury those who sleep in Jesus, laying each Christian body to peaceful rest, in their graves, until the resurrection.
***
There are times—more often than we care to admit—when prevailing culture influences the beliefs and practices of the church in ways that are not pleasing to God. Sometimes we need to change our ways; I think this is such a time. Perhaps a simple way the body of Christ can repent is to help needy families pay for Christian burials.
My hope is that the church would reconsider her practices and be known again, as the church in past ages, as the people who refuse to desecrate the body, but instead gently care for the dead. We’re more than simply pro-life during life—we need to hold fast to the full dignity of the human body, made in the image of God, from womb to grave.
This is part of living the gospel together, and letting some of its hopeful light shine in a dark and hopeless world.
Peter Van Doodewaard is the pastor of Covenant Community Church (OPC) in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Catholic Church on Burial and Cremation:
“For a believer, death is not a definitive end but a passage toward a full life in communion with God. Christian doctrine holds that at the end of time, all the dead will rise, and this earthly body – though transformed – will be part of our eternal identity. This is the foundation of the Church’s teaching on respecting and caring for the body after death. In Catholic faith, the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and a tangible sign of our identity and dignity, deserving special treatment even after death. The tradition of burial has, for centuries, been the Church’s preferred way of bidding farewell to the faithful.” Guidelines from the Catholic Church on Burial, Cremation, and Ashes: A Path of Respect and Hope – Catholicus.eu English
While cremation has been allowed since 1963, “the church has always preferred burial.” Scattering of the ashes is forbidden; ashes are to be interred in a sacred place (cemetery).
For Catholics, cremation is considered an acceptable form of handling the human body after death, although as noted in the Order of Christian Funerals, cremation “does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body.… The Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites, since the presence of the human body better expresses the values which the Church affirms in its rites…” Those charged with the arrangements for the funeral rites of the deceased should see that the cremated remains are interred or entombed at the earliest possible time.…. It is not permitted to scatter cremated remains over a favorite place, and it is not permitted to keep cremated remains in one’s home or place other than a cemetery.…. The cremated remains of one deceased person may not be mixed with the cremated remains of another person. It is not permitted to divide the cremated remains and inter or entomb them in more than one place.” Cremains and Respect for the Human Body | Catholic Life – The Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse
Judaism and Embalming
Autopsy and Embalming of a Jewish Body – Chabad.org
Jewish law (regarding embalming and cremation) is governed by several basic principles:
First, man was created in the image of God, and in death his body still retains the unity of that image. One may not do violence to the human form even when the breath of life has expired. Judaism demands respect for the total man, his body as well as his soul. The worthiness of the whole of man may not be compromised even in death.
Second, the dissection of the body, for reasons that are not urgent and directly applicable to specific existing medical cases, is considered a matter of shame and gross dishonor. As he was born, so does the deceased deserve to be laid to rest: tenderly and lovingly, not scientifically and dispassionately, as though he were an impersonal object of some experiment. The holiness of the human being demands that we do not tamper with his person.
Third, we have no permission to use his body without his own express desire that it be used, and even then it is questionable whether the person himself may volunteer to mutilate the image in which he was created. Certainly, where the deceased in his lifetime gave no express permission, even his children have no rights of possession over his body. Thus, we have no moral right, except for the cases to be mentioned, to use the body of the deceased by offering it as an object for study.
Judaism and Cremation:
Why Does Judaism Forbid Cremation? – Chabad.org
Jewish law (“Halachah”) is unequivocal that the dead must be buried in the earth.1
As a deterrent measure,2 cremated remains are not interred in a Jewish cemetery.3 Furthermore, we are told that many of the traditional laws of mourning are not observed after the passing of an individual whose body was cremated.4 Kaddish, however, is recited for such individuals, and it is certainly appropriate to give charity and do mitzvot in memory of their souls.5
Responsibility for the deceased’s proper burial lies with the next of kin.6 While ordinarily Jewish law requires the deceased’s children to go to great lengths to respect the departed’s wishes,7 if someone requests to be cremated or buried in a manner which is not in accordance with Jewish tradition, we nevertheless provide him/her with a Jewish burial.8 It is believed that since the soul has now arrived to the World of Truth it surely sees the value of a proper Jewish burial, and thus administering a traditional Jewish burial is actually granting what the person truly wishes at the moment. Furthermore, if anyone, all the more so your father and mother, asks you to damage or hurt their body, you are not allowed to do so. For our bodies do not belong to us, they belong to G‑d.
These rules do not apply to an individual who was cremated against his will[It is important to note that according to Jewish law, a person is only held accountable for his/her actions when they are done willingly, and with full cognizance of their implications.9
Therefore, all the above does not apply to an individual who was cremated against his will. After the Holocaust, many conscientious Jews gathered ashes from the extermination camp crematoria and respectfully buried them in Jewish cemeteries. Recently, too, I heard of an instance where a hospital mistakenly cremated a Jewish body. With rabbinic sanction the ashes were put into a coffin and given a proper Jewish burial.
Furthermore, an individual who was raised in a non-religious atmosphere and was never accorded a proper Jewish education cannot be held responsible for his or her lack of observance.10 This general rule applies to individuals who opt to be cremated because their education and upbringing did not equip them with the knowledge necessary to make an informed choice in this area. This assumption impacts some of the legal results presented above.]
The Biblical Commandment
Man’s soul comes from Above, “He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life,”11 and when its earthly mission has been accomplished it rises back to G‑d, returning to its source.
The body, on the other hand, was taken from the ground — “the L-rd G‑d formed man of dust from the ground”12 — and must therefore return to the earth. This is expressed in the words that G‑d tells Adam, the first man,13 “For dust you are, and to dust you will return.”
This concept is reiterated in Deuteronomy,14 where we are commanded to bury the dead: “You shall bury him on that day.” The Jerusalem Talmud15 explains that this requires us to bury the body in its entirety, not after it has been diminished through cremation or in any other manner: “You must bury him in entirety, not partially. From this verse we extrapolate that the command was not fulfilled if the person was partially buried.”
Cremating a body destroys most of the body, making burial of the flesh impossible, and thus violates the biblical command.
In Jewish law, the human body belongs to its Creator. It is merely on loan to the person, who is the guardian of the body, but he or she has no right to deface it in any way.16 The body must be “returned” in its entirety, just as it was given.17
Additionally, Man was created in “G‑d’s image and likeness.”18 Any violation of the human body is considered, therefore, to be a violation of G‑d Himself.19
This general principle and law governs many of our laws, like those prohibiting self-mutilation20 or tattoos,21 and requiring us to do our utmost to keep ourselves from danger by maintaining proper hygiene and the like.22 This principle applies after death, too; any mutilation of the dead is prohibited.23
Any violation of the human body is considered to be a violation of G‑d HimselfThis is also one of the reasons why Jewish law does not permit autopsies24 other than in the most extenuating of circumstances.25
Utmost respect for the sanctity of the human body is also the overriding concern which pervades the process of preparing the deceased for burial. The funeral is scheduled for the earliest possible time, ideally on the same day as the passing,26 so that the body reaches its eternal rest as expeditiously as possible. The honor of caring for the dead is traditionally reserved for the most respected members of the community,27 who are expected to maintain the highest levels of decorum, privacy, and respect throughout the entire process.
According to traditional Jewish sources, the merit of facilitating the proper burial of a Jewish corpse is immeasurable. Even the High Priest, who was even prohibited from attending the funerals of his next of kin, was required to preoccupy himself and personally bury a met mitzvah, an abandoned Jewish body which had no one to attend to its proper burial.28
No lengthy explanation is necessary to conclude that there can be no greater violation of our legal and moral responsibilities to the body’s Owner than to cremate.