# Shorter Catechism 37



## Romans922 (Nov 25, 2008)

How would you respond to a person who responded to WSC 37 in this way: 

"As the soul departs from the body at death, does it matter what state the body is put to rest, i.e. burial vs cremation? Since God created the earth by His word would He not do the same to unite the body with the soul? Heb. 11:3"


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## Romans922 (Nov 25, 2008)

....ah I see you would all not respond...got it.


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## 21st Century Calvinist (Nov 29, 2008)

It must be the egg nog and Jack D that I am sipping, but I'll offer a response.

Personally speaking, I am not in favor of cremation. It has the undertones of a pagan practice. I don't think it is the ideal way to dispose of our dead. I would not wish to be cremated nor would I advise others to be cremated.
However, I realize that some people think otherwise and for various reasons prefer cremation over burial. I do not think that it is a biblical command to be buried- either in the ground or in a tomb. Certainly, there is biblical precedence for burial.
I do not see a problem in relation to WSC 37. The ashes of the cremated person are usually buried on land (or at sea) or scattered. There is a sense in which the decomposed body is resting in the grave. They still remain united to Christ- Rom 8 makes it clear that nothing, absolutely nothing can ever separate us from Christ. When Jesus returns the creative power that He used to call the world into being will be the same power that will call forth the decomposed bodies of the ages to rise forth from their graves. It matters not whether these bodies lay decomposing in graves and became food for the soil or whether they were ashes buried or thrown into the wind.
Many have died who were so badly mutilated, or whose bodies were cut up in autopsy, etc that there really was very little left to bury. There are saints of which this is true. They enjoy the same rest that every believer does.
So, in a word No, it does not matter.


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## jfschultz (Nov 30, 2008)

Are the "traditional" burials really any more Biblical than cremation? We spend $$$$$ to avoid what God says is supposed to happen to our bodies.

Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.

I find the "green" burials, which has come form the environmental movement encouraging. It is really just a return to the way people were buried just a few generations ago, with a shroud or a plain pine box.


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## SolaScriptura (Nov 30, 2008)

I'd remind that person that our job is to think the Divines' thoughts after them.


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## Pergamum (Nov 30, 2008)

We certainly don't make any more work for our Creator if we burn our bodies to ashes. And in disease ridden places it is more hygienic.

But on the other hand the way a culture handles its dead says a lot. I suppose one could exercise respect while cremating. 

It seems the pagans burned the dead while the Bible speaks of burial and even preserving the bones of the righteous and the rotting and breaking of the bones of the wicked. Maybe that is normative for us, I am not sure.


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## TimV (Nov 30, 2008)

Pagans did and do all sorts of things. One a certain Island perg is familiar with, I lived with people who ate their dead, who buried their dead and who mummified their dead. All totally different, and tribes not that far from each other. That last one was a bit gross, as they'd prop the mummies up on a tree and the pigs would eat the parts that they could reach.

Romans cremated their dead, and that's probably why early Christians avoided cremation. But Egyptians embalmed their dead, as they did with Jacob. From Genesis 50



> 2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to(B) embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians(C) wept for him seventy days.
> 
> 4And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying,(D) "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5My father made me swear, saying, 'I am about to die: in my tomb(E) that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.' Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return." 6And Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear." 7So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left(F) in the land of Goshen. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan,(G) they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he(H) made a mourning for his father seven days. 11When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim;[a] it is beyond the Jordan. 12Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13for(I) his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham(J) bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.



To my mind the key point of this wasn't the mummification, but that the body would not putrefy until they could get it to the family burying place. So the idea I come away with here is family continuity rather than how the body is treated after death. I can see having a family burial site as instructive and valuable.


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