Burial Or Cremation ⚰ The New Burning Issue For The Christian Churches

Dr John Coulter 🔥 A hot topic (if you will forgive the flippant pun!) for many Christians over the years has been cremation of a person’s earthly remains once they have passed into eternity.

However challenging and unpleasant the subject of discussing death may be, with a perceived shortage of burial plots in cemeteries, Christians will have to start thinking about cremation.

Traditionally, many places of worship - especially in rural areas - already have an adjoining cemetery nearby which contains family plots. While many folk may be unsure of where their eternal soul is heading, they clearly know the destination of their earthly bodies after death.

Again mostly in rural areas, there is a tradition of visiting loved ones’ graves or those of folk we once knew well. Visiting the graves of loved ones can also be a vital part of the grieving process.

The folk may be absent from the Christmas get together, but there is an earthly place we can go even to talk to the headstones. It’s as if in our minds, they haven’t really gone.

My late dad, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, was a Presbyterian minister who faithfully preached the Gospel throughout his ministry. Even in death, my parents’ headstone is an evangelical witness as the words ‘John 3:16’ - a reference to the theological Salvationist text - is engraved on it so that visitors to the grave will read my dad’s favourite Biblical text.

While many folk make their future plans for services of thanksgiving at their funerals in terms of songs, hymns or readings, they may also leave instructions as to which grave in which they want to be buried.

In my own case, when it comes my time to depart this scene of time, I want to take the controversial route of having my body donated to science. Rather than my remains rotting in the earth, if they can be used to train new doctors, nurses and surgeons, I will be more than content in eternity. That request has already caused some heated debate in my family circle!

Failing that, I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered in the ruins of the old church in Clough cemetery in Co Antrim where I used to meet so many of my more contentious journalistic contacts!

Perhaps the thought of cremation has become so controversial with Christians because Jesus Christ Himself was buried in a tomb after his crucifixion and before His resurrection.

Perhaps, too, there is a perception that cremation is likened to the eventual fate of the devil in the New Testament book of Revelation chapter 20:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Burning by fire and brimstone was the fate of those in the Old Testament cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as outlined in Genesis chapter 19. Revelation also paints a picture of people burning in torment in hell, and especially the parable of the rich man in hell as told by Jesus in Luke Chapter 16.

However, while we supposedly live in a more secular society where cremation is becoming increasingly used, many Christians can still perceive cremation to be linked the the burning at the stake of early Christians by the Romans, or the gruesome executions of the Christian martyrs.

Cremation can also be given a false image because of the Holocaust in which six million Jews and other faiths were murdered by the Nazis with the bodies being cremated after death in the concentration camp gas chambers.

Even today, people can visit the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland and see the remains of the crematoria in which tens of thousands of bodies were burned.

If plot space in cemeteries becomes an increasing problem, then Christians may have to face the unpalatable solution of cremation.

In looking at this delicate matter, perhaps Christians should consider the advice provided in the New Testament book of Second Corinthians Chapter 5. This is where the Christian is told that after death, we will be given new bodies in heaven.

Put bluntly, if we are to receive new bodies in heaven, does it matter what happens to our earthly remains?

Just as the body will decay in the grave, or burn in the crematorium, what about those people who have been killed in wars and who have no earthly remains?

In this respect, as a family each Remembrance Sunday, we especially recall two relatives.

On my mum’s side, my great uncle William Holmes, who was blown to bits by a German shell at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 during the Great War, and on my dad’s side, my great uncle Ricky Coulter whose RAF bomber was shot down during World War Two, but his body was never recovered.

Put bluntly, does cremation get a bad press from some sections of the Christian community because of a misinterpretation of Scripture, or because of the use of burning in history?

Perhaps for many Christians, whilst they can cope with discussing funeral arrangements in terms of services of thanksgiving and celebrations in places of worship, talk of cremation remains the theological elephant in the room.

Like it or not, unless more land can be allocated for burials, the Christian Churches will have to address the question of cremation if a shortage of cemetery plots becomes a reality for many families.

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Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online.