Burial vs. Cremation. What does the Bible say?

Hi Roy, There are people who attend the fellowship and never talk, or rarely. But, we all appreciate their attendance, and we know they are listening and evaluating, and hopefully getting edified.

this is so strange i was thinking about this in the car today. excited to listen

Very good discussion. Thank you, Dianne and John for it. It is a very good question because so much of our spiritual understanding comes through physical experience. As you said Reg, there is Genesis 3:19 which is pretty clear. John also explains that "fire" is a tool of God's. . and a GOOD one with respect to Jesus' spiritual fire. John has referred to this ,many times as the "chastening" . .the difficult process by which we learn to rely on Jesus to combat our sinful nature in this world. We are to embrace Jesus' fire because it removes our dross (see e.g. 1 Peter 1:7; Malachai 3:2-3), but the heathen will be destroyed by it. See e.g. Ezekiel 22:19-22; Isaiah 1:25-26; Matthew 3:11-12. Dianne's question was very likely asked of Paul as well . . and he addresses the issue in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 "1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." . . . . . . According to Paul, once we are dead physically . . we are absent from the body and present with the Lord. To me, this says that the manner of disposal of the body is irrelevant to our salvation. Our own burial/non-burial is a matter that we do not control. Those who are alive in the flesh decide how to dispose of our bodies. Satan understands this well which is why heathen religions attach such significance to burial rites. Satan wants those who remain in the world after your physical death to attach spiritual significance to the method by which his priests/popes/acolytes parade your dead flesh through their burial "rites" . . their incantations . . their ceremonies. Through such rites, the adversary seeks to gain power and influence over the living. This is why I think Satan wanted Moses' body. To either exalt or desecrate the memory of Moses as Satan saw fit. Too often, ritual burial is arranged by the world to control the thinking of those who remain in the world. Remember also that Jesus wept (John 11:35) because his followers did not yet understand that, through belief in Him, Lazarus lived still despite death and status of his physical body. As Reg stated, to the extent a funeral/burial points to Jesus' coming, it can be a wonderful spiritual celebration for those who remain alive in the flesh . . . but no more spiritually significant than the simple prayers and hymns said and sung at the disposal of the remains of Jesus' martyrs who were put to the stake. In sum, Paul is pretty clear that what happens to your body after you are dead has no effect on your salvation which is assured . . or not . . at the moment of death.