On Death and Dying (Message)

I am an organ donor and plan to donate my remains to medical sciences I think it is foolish to think that in any way this would bring dishonor to our Lord, Yours in Christ Jesus, JJOHN OBRIEN.

My husband and I were discomforted by the approach Pastor Begg was making on cremation in this series. While relieved he added a comment at the end and attempted to qualify his points as primarily opinion, and it was obvious that is was just that, I feel it crossed the line as a leader. His biblical justifications were weak at best and to say we are making it harder for God to resurrect our bodies is simply silly. God can do all things with but a thought and it will not be any more difficult for him to deal with the cremated nor the dismembered bodies from whatever the circumstance. Does it possibly speak to the faith the pastor has in the Lord perhaps somewhere inside himself? I agree that it's gruesome, I also don't think it is worthy of a soapbox issue with an attempt to back it biblically. rediculous. Fire is also represented in many of the church signs as well, does that make them evil? I am doing my best to encourage my husband interested in his pursuit, to overlook this issue, so that he continue to make strides in his walk rather that become stuck again. We attended the Truth for Life Weekend and really enjoyed it. My husband was sparked into forward momentum again. I hope that Pastor Begg will think and show better self control on topics that are so weakly backed and obviously a personal position for the good of the followers of the Lords word through him. Generally we appreciate his manner of teaching and his boldness for the straightout Word, which this was not in our view. Just a venting thought. Blessings on your ministry.

Easy, Ms. Quaschinik! Mr. Begg gave the best study I have ever heard on this subject. I've long wondered about cremation,but I didn't hear Mr. Begg condemn the practice. And I certainly won't question his faith or authority based on such a sermon. He gave a very fair and complete presentation, as always. I am very grateful for Mr. Begg's hard work and service to God.

My understanding is that many of the Old Testament cleansing rituals had to do with the fact that death is unholy. That is, God created the world perfect and without death. Sin brought death, and death is equated with sin. God institued cleansing rituals to symbolically purge death and sin. I think understanding this background helps make clear what Pastor Begg was talking about. Which is, when the body, which originally was created to be deathless, dies, instead of treating it like garbage, it should be treated with respect and dignity as something holy that was tainted and is awaiting cleansing. Obviously, it's going to rot so it can't be left lying in state, as it were, so the historical (Biblical) record is burial.

That being said, I don't think organ donation or cremation to halt a deadly disease is out of keeping with the respect we are to show to life and God's creation, since the purpose is to promote and preserve life. Potentially one could make an argument that these activities should be carried out (and with honor and dignity).

Concerning Miss Deandrea's comments: Pastor Begg only qualified a little section as his opinion, not the whole explanation of why cremation isn't recommended; his Biblical justifications were based on both positive and negative historical (Biblical) examples, which is a good place to start when the Bible does not speak specifically yes or no on a topic, and also assume knowledge of the concept which is stated at the beginning of this comment; Pastor Begg did NOT say that cremation would make it harder for God to resurrect us, he said that wasn't so and wasn't the issue--the issue was not to tempt God (which he did not say in so many words but is what is boils down to); I recall the fire comment wasn't that fire was a symbol of evil, but a symbol of destruction, which would certainly be representative of God at certain times (not to mention the burning bush).

I would urge Miss Deandrea and others who might have been made uncomfortable to study the issue within the context of the whole Bible, and not just decide they disagree with Pastor Begg and put an end to the subject. Please be careful, also, about scoffing at a minister of God, whom God has appointed, particularly when your comments clearly show that you did not hear or understand what the minister is saying.

I almost didn't listen to this message because of Miss Deandrea's comments, but I'm glad I did; it certainly deepened my understanding about what the believer's attitude toward death should be as well as what will happen to our bodies in the Resurrection. Thank you for your faithful witness, Pastor Begg.

An amazing thing happened two days ago...my wife and I have been caretaking my mom for the past three years as she was dying-senility and dementia and horrible arthritis...We had decided to go the route of cremation because of the expense, etc.
Well-two days ago I punched in out of you archives this message on dying. I had no idea of the message Allistar Begg had given on this topic of cremation.
You know--honestly-I didn't have a peace on cremation. I sort of assumed it was okay-you know-cuz of the economy-and people in my church are doing this without question.
I am so glad the information given on burial-and why in the Jewish culture this is done-and why in the Christian culture(way back in the Roman Empire) this burial-like-I think the public rite of Water Baptism does matter.
Long story short-I called my uncle-a solid Christian of 87. I asked him of my family-if any of them have been cremated. He told me:"no".
I guess you could tie this in with where Paul talks of causing another brother to stumble by eating meat sacrificed to idols. If it convicts your conscience-just don't do it!
Anyway-by faith we changed our plans-got a very good deal with a casket-which can be done-mom had already bought the burial plot-and mom-the best news-IS WITH THE LORD FOREVER.

I just read an article on WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...) that states that the prevalence of cremation in the US has climbed from 4% in 1980 to 39% today. This to me is objective evidence of the statement that that we live in a post-Christian culture. Even many Christians now view cremation as just another of our many modern conveniences...

Thank you Pastor Begg for such a clear exposition of how burial has the sanction of Scripture and cremation is a practice imported from non-Christian cultures.