Should Christians Cremate Their Loved Ones?
Observation: Most times not the decision the survivor’(s):
- Case to point: I have specifically specified in my legal documents that I wish to be buried.
- My Mother, who passed a month ago, pre-planned and prepaid her funeral (burial with a simple casket)
For adults who have passed, in many cases, they have specified their own preferences.
For one’s children (it must be a very said thing to bury a child), the adults are able to decide (if the children are minors).
Have a lot of this in my family—my grandmother opted for cremation with no funeral, my dad wants the same. One thing that occurs to me is that when my grandmother died, my stepfather and mother were aghast—their point was (in addition to Piper’s points) that the funeral is not for the dead, but the living.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
One of my many jobs was working in a couple of funeral homes. (I’ve got stories that should be in the book I’ll probably never write.)
While most funeral homes ar ethical, there are a few that aren’t. (“Wouldn’t your loved one like our four inch thick memory foam mattress?” comes to mind.)
It’s difficult for families to make decisions without emotion when experiencing the emotion that surrounds death and the limited time to think about the financial details.
My advice to pastors is to be familiar with the funeral business and make yourself available to families to help them make wise decisions. Second, advise people to pre-arrange and pre-pay their own funerals.
BTW, pastors may want to build relationships with local funeral homes. Often times unchurched families faced with death will be in need of a pastor for counseling and conducting a service.
My parents pre-paid and pre-planned everything about their funerals. My mother even wrote her service and eulogy. (That’s a story in itself.)
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
I’m a burial advocate but …:
- Eschew elaboration and ostentatiousness
- Chose an inexpensive box
- My personal preference is a closed casket
Discussion