[For sections 1-5 in this essay, read the previous two posts in December 2011.]
6. Does
the body have value when nobody’s home?
From the
foregoing considerations, the answer obviously is yes. The bodies of those who
have died should be treated with respect and even a kind of reverence because
at the shout of Christ (John 5:25-29) they shall be raised either to
incorruptible glory or to inconceivable horror.
We see the
importance of the body in God’s condemnation of the pagan nation Moab “Because
he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime” (Amos 2:1). This is not a blanket
condemnation of cremation. Enemy soldiers disinterred the king’s bones and
burned them to lime, which could then be used for plaster. Their offense was
desecrating the body of the dead king.
Greek and Roman philosophy
tended to disregard the body as the prison house of the soul, and cremation was
common, especially among the Roman nobility. In this context, the church
insisted on the burial of the dead as a testimony to the importance of the body
and its future resurrection. However, the Bible does not forbid cremation, and
the disintegration of the body by fire or by natural decomposition is no
hindrance to the resurrection. The body is like a seed which must die in order to
grow into a mature plant (1 Corinthians 15:35-43). If cremation is viewed as a means
of disposing of an unwanted corpse, it may be an act of desecration (except
perhaps during a plague or when large numbers of decomposing bodies threaten
public health). Normally, however, people treat the cremated remains of their relatives
with loving care. In such cases there is no Scriptural objection to cremation.
If a dead body
is to be treated with respect, certainly the body of a comatose patient should
receive considerate care. In my view, that care should continue as long as life
endures, but the life of the body need not be maintained indefinitely when the brain
functions necessary for consciousness have ceased and cannot be restored.
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