Cremation is a subject that the Bible does not specifically discuss. It is interesting to note, however, that people throughout the Bible times treated the human body with great respect, and often showed deep concern about the disposition of the remains following death. (see Genesis 49:29-31 for instance) Embalming was practiced in both the Old and New Testament times (Genesis 50; 26; Mark 16:1), and it was taken as a great disgrace not to have a proper burial. (1 Samuel 31:9-13; 2 Samuel 2:4-6: Ecclesiastes 6:3)

 

Cremation is one of the options now available for final disposition of the body at death. It is estimated that less than 5 percent of American families choose cremation, but in Japan and England over half the families take this option.

 

Funeral arrangements are not necessarily significantly different from other options. The body may still be viewed prior to the service, and a worship service may be held with the deceased present in most cases. There are a number of options available as to the disposition of the cremated remains, including burial and scattering.

 

In contemplating the choices available, Christians will want to give thoughtful consideration to all who may be affected by the decision, such as loved ones who may have strong feelings on the subject. One certainly would not like to bring unnecessary distress to anyone. Furthermore, the attitude of the Christian's heart will show deep respect for the wonderful body that God designed. (Psalm 139:14) Of course God will resurrect all of His children regardless of what has become of their bodies. When Jesus comes, "The dead in Christ" will be raised and given immortal bodies, "fashioned like unto his glorious body." (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 5:54; Philippians 3:21) How happy we are as we look forward to that great day!

 

Doesn't everlasting fire mean that hell will be burning ceaselessly and eternally?

 

There are some Bible verses that may appear to say that. Let us look at some of these verses.

 

In Matthew 25:46, Jesus said, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into eternal life."

 

Mark 9:43, "And if your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched."

 

Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever."

 

Before we make a Bible doctrine from these verses, we need to see if there are other verses that speak of the punishment of the wicked.

 

First let us go to Malachi 4:1,3. "For behold the day is coming burning like and oven, and all the proud, yes allude wickedly shall be as stubble. And the day that is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts,that shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . You shall trample the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet."

 

These verses tell us that the wicked will be burned up, burned to ashes.

 

In another place the Bible says in Psalms 37:10, 11, "For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, but it shall be no more."

 

Jude 7 makes this subject very plain. "As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner, having given themselves over to sexually immorality and gone after strange flesh,  are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Sodom and Gomorrah are not burning today, yet the Bible says they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. How can this be explained? It means that these cities were completely burned, until there was nothing left.

 

There is another way to determine the meaning of the word eternal or everlasting.

 

In English these words mean that the fire will go on forever, but in the Greek it has a different meaning. Dr. Basil Atkinson explains it this way. 

 

"When the adjective aionios,  meaning  everlasting is used in Greek  with nouns of action it has reference to the result of the act, not the process. The phrase everlasting punishment  is comparable to everlasting redemption and everlasting salvation, both Scriptural phrases. No one supposes that we are being redeemed or saved forever. We were redeemed and saved once for all by Christ with eternal results. In the same way the lost will not be passing through the process of punishment forever but will be punished  once and for all with eternal results. On the other hand the noun 'life' is not a noun of action, but a noun expressing a state. Thus life itself is eternal.

 

Basil F. C. Atkinson,  Life and Immortality.  An Examination of the Nature and Meaning of Life and Death as they are revealed in the Scriptures (Taunton, England, n. n.), p.101.

 

The Bible says, God is love, 1 John 4:8. God loves His enemies. As the soldiers were nailing Jesus to the cross, He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do (Luke 23:34). As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!  For why should you die, O house of Israel (Ezekiel 33:11).

 

God cannot allow sin, crime and violence to continue to cause suffering and death in this world. But He is not one to torture His children. So He does the most loving thing He can do, He destroys them eternally. The Bible says, He will make an utter end..Affliction shall not rise up the second time (Nahum 1: 9).

 

What happens when you die? It’s a question that has crossed everyone’s mind, because death happens to everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or status. It is the unconquerable foe that has taken over the likes of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Postulates or theories by minds like Einstein or Stephen Hawking can never be proved upon this subject. So what does the Bible say?

 

One of Jesus’ most significant miracles recorded in the Bible was the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead (John 11). There are other instances of people who had been raised from the dead, but unlike those mentioned before in the Bible, Lazarus had been dead for an entire period of four days. When Lazarus died, Jesus said, " ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ Then His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.’ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.” (John 11:11-13, NKJV).

 

The Bible compares death to sleep more than fifty times. When we are asleep, we are unconscious; we are not aware of the passing of time or of what is going on around us. That is what death is like as well. The Bible says, "for the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing… their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, NKJV, see also Psalm 146:4; 115:17). It makes sense that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, he doesn’t share what he saw or experienced. He didn’t have anything to tell, except that once he was dead, and now he is alive! He didn’t experience hell or heaven. He was simply "sleeping” in his tomb. Peter on the Day of Pentecost said the same of King David. "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day…For David did not ascend into the heavens…(Acts 2:29, 34).

 

Many Christians think of the soul as an immortal entity within us that goes on living after death. What does the Bible say? Describing the creation of human beings in the beginning, the Bible says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Other Bible translations say, ". . . and man became a living being” (NKJV; NIV). God did not put a soul into man. He formed the body from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed His life-giving spirit into the lifeless body—and the result was a soul, or a living being. When a person dies, the reverse takes place. The breath of life departs from the body, and the soul no longer exists. That’s what the Bible says. "The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7, NIV). At the resurrection, God reunites the body and His life-giving spirit—and the person lives again.

 

If souls existed as separate entities that lived on after we died, that would mean we have immortality. However, the Bible says human beings do not have immortality. Only God is immortal (see 1 Timothy 6:15, 16). Paul says that the righteous "seek for glory, honor, and immortality” (Romans 2:7). If we had immortal souls, why would the righteous seek after something they already have?

 

Though we may die, Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25). We will receive immortality when Jesus comes again (see 1 Corinthians 15:51-54). The Bible says that all those who have died—both righteous and wicked—will be raised to life in one of two resurrections. The righteous will be raised to life at Jesus’ second coming. " For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NKJV). According to this verse, the righteous do not to go heaven when they die. They remain asleep in the grave until Jesus returns and raises them to immortal life (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-57).

 

The wicked are raised to life in a separate resurrection—the resurrection of condemnation. Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28, 29, NKJV).

 

The prophets never mention in the Bible that the righteous immediately go to heaven or the wicked go to hell when they die. Neither did Jesus and His apostles teach it. When Jesus was about to leave His disciples, He did not tell them they would soon come to Him.  "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3, NKJV).

 

When He returns, our loved ones asleep in Christ will awake from their tombs. No matter how long the time has passed, be it long or short, will be but a moment to them. By the trump of God, they are called forth from their deep slumber they will begin to think just where they ceased, awakening to a glorious immortality.

 

"For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible…So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”

The last sensation was the pang of death, the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave, but then, imagine, when they arise from the tomb, to the shout,

 

"O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).