Cremation
Judith H. Taylor
I have something to add to the cremation question; this one is
another thing I have pondered. My family all get cremated but
they are non believers and the financial part is why they do it.
I always wanted to know where this custom began and what
primarily was behind it, being aware that it came out of
Hinduism.
This past Tuesday our local paper reported on an artist who
had died of AIDS. His work was apparently popular although
I wouldn't have bought any of it. To many skulls and weird
looking creatures. Anyway the paper reports as follows on
the artists cremation:
"Swinson had made plans to be cremated "I believe in cremation
because it's rechanneling energy" he told a reporter earlier this
month. He thought of it as recycling which was a recurring theme
in his art.
Most recently, he used recycled materials in the assemblage art he
created. He kept working until earlier this month in the basement of his
parents' Colonial Place home. the notion of recycling had surfaced in
June 1982 when he burned 60 drawings created over a 5yr period
before an astonished audience. Part of his "senior show" at Norfolk State
University, the unorthodox act was his first performance art piece.
"To make all that artwork took a lot of energy" he later explained.
The energy in the struggle to learn. And fire is a release of energy
It can be rechanneled back into the environment and so there's more
positive energy out there.
Sounds to me as though cremation has its roots in the philosophy of
reincarnation ....
In Christ
Judy
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Charles Knight
custom. nearly all Romans were cremated, usually with great ceremony and
pomp, particularly in the case of the Caesars, Their bones were then
buried. The hebrews, otoh were laid away for a year and their bones
separated and placed into family ossuaries. There is a scripture about not
letting your children pass through the fire which some have used to talk
about not cremating. Personally, I would not do anything that has a Roman
tradition.
At 05:00 PM 7/30/98 -0400, you wrote:
>--
>I have something to add to the cremation question; this one is
>another thing I have pondered. My family all get cremated but
>ted "I believe in cremation
>because it's rechanneling energy" he told a reporter earlier this
etc.....
Judith H. Taylor
> Personally, I find it odd that you allow pagans to dictate what you can
and
> cannot do in your christian walk. Personally, I much prefer to get
> teaching and doctrine from the bible.
Comment:
I agree on the issue of teaching and doctrine but I don't see
anything in scripture that can be compared to cremation other than
Gehenna which is not an end to be desired.
It's not a matter of letting pagans dictate what I can and cannot
do. I can do whatever I choose and I choose to walk in the fear
of the God who changes not. He told Israel not to be involved in
the practices of the pagan nations around them. I don't see
that He has changed and so I choose not to take these things
lightly, or walk in ignorance.
The excerpt below tells what they did but it does not say why.
So as far as I am concerned it is not really informative. To my
knowledge we will give account for deeds done in the flesh on
the day of judgment. I want to know what I am doing and why
I am doing it and that also goes for my final requests.
There is a way that seems right to a man .......
Judy
Anyway, here is an excerpt on the history of cremation that I found on the
web.
Scholars today quite generally agree that cremation
> probably began in any real sense during the early Stone
> Age -- around 3000 B.C. -- and most likely in Europe and
> the Near East.
>
> During the late Stone Age, cremation began to spread
> across northern Europe, as evidenced by particularly
> informative finds of decorative pottery urns in western
> Russia among the Slavic peoples.
>
> With the advent of the Bronze Age -- 2500 to 1000 B.C. --
> cremation moved into the British Isles and into what is
> now Spain and Portugal. Cemeteries for cremation developed
> in Hungary and northern Italy, spreading to northern
> Europe and even Ireland.
>
> In the Mycenaean Age -- circa 1000 B.C. -- cremation
> became an integral part of the elaborate Grecian burial
> custom. In fact, it became the dominant mode of
> disposition by the time of Homer in 800 B.C. and was
> actually encouraged for reasons of health and the expedient
> burial of slain warriors in this battle-ravaged country.
>
> Following this Grecian trend, the early Romans probably
> embraced cremation some time around 600 B.C. and it
> apparently became so prevalent that an official decree had
> to be issued in the mid 5th Century against the cremation
> of bodies within the city.
>
> By the time of the Roman Empire -- 27 B.C. to 395 A.D. --
> it was widely practiced, and cremated remains were
> generally stored in elaborate urns, often within
> columbarium-like buildings.
>
> Mark
>
> --
> Mark Drake dr...@asu.edu
Karen Curtis
<< Gehenna >>
Hi Judy,
What is Gehenna? And please direct me to the verses you were referring to
when you said, " He told Israel not to be involved in the practices of the
pagan nations around them."
Thanks! Karen <><
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John Burrows
I was wondering if anyone knew the origins of the term "ashes to ashes,
dust to dust ". Is the "ashes to ashes" part a possible reference to
creamation, through which we will return to ashes, or is this something
else? I did notice in Genesis 18:27 Abraham refered to himself as but
"dust and ashes". Could there be a connection here to the term ashes to
ashes, dust to dust? Just wondering.
John
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