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.

This is a great commentary. In fact, I don't think Pastor Begg was saying cremation is "un-Christian" but he did say it is "sub-Christian". The fact is that a friend of mine invited us to a celebration of her former husband's life, after she cremated his dead body. I could not bring myself to attend. There is a time to mourn. Right after someone's death, having a celebration where everyone talks about the times they spent together seems off. "There is a time to mourn and a time to dance." After listening to Begg, my husband and I have decided that neither of us will be cremated and we will not even cremate our dog when she passes on. We will bury her.

I'm so conflicted about this...members of my family have already been cremated. The body does not stay intact in the grave... so I don't understand why cremation is wrong. I'm currently reading the Old Testament. When God gave all of the strict instructions re. the offerings everything was burned because it was Holy...an offering to the Lord. Burning is a cleansing, and refining, is it not? We turn to dust, which is what I would consider the ashes to be. Please don't tell me that the Almighty God cannot return my soul to my body if it's burned... and not decayed. In my mind, and my heart, my God is bigger than that... I always think of Phil 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. I always envision changing into my Spirit body immediately after dying...am I wrong? I have comforted people with this...and might have done damage that cannot be changed.

"The main things are the plain things. The plain things are the main things." This is more opinion than Christian doctrine. There are a great number of things brought over from Peganism into the Christian Faith (Date of Christmas for one). What was intended by our enemies for our detriment was used by God for our benefit. That being said, there is a great deal said for burial intact. Those who are aggrivated over this message did not listen to the whole thing, they have just picked up those things that offended them and took off with it. The major issue here is repsect. Do we respect the creation of God? Is that respect out of our respect for the creator, or the creation itself? Romans 14 (all) covers such devisive topics that are not main things. If you are doing it unto the Lord, there is no problem.

Kathy Ingallis and others who may be tormented by the issue of cremation, my heart goes out to you, in the the Precious Name of Jesus, may I direct you to some of the Scriptures for comfort on the fact that 'out of the body' we are present before Lord. Please prayerfully study, under the Holy Spirit, such as John 5:24; 1 Corinthians 15, especially from verse 35 to the end; 2 Peter 1; and Romans 8. Let not your heart be troubled, if you believe in and on, Jesus, the Christ, believe in God, His Entire Word. Amen? Blessings in His Name.

I am a Christian and I love the Lord and I am so in love with Him for his gift of grace and salvation. However, I am a retired RN and I am on a fixed income and God gives me just enough to get by on. So cremation has become a necessity unless God gives me the money for burial. I am debt-free so I have managed my money but it seems that I have always walked with Him by faith. He meets my needs and I trust in Him. Huss and Jerome were burned at the stake and their ashes where thrown into the Rhine River. Once again I have to do the best I can and trust in Him.

My husband died young, healthy, and totally unexpectedly when his heart just stopped just over 2 years ago. I cherish that he was a believing Christian and is with the LORD now. At the time of his death I felt like I had no other choice but to have him cremated. I will always hate having to make that decision. That is what he wanted and that is what our 2 adult children were comfortable with. To know him and love him I could absolutely NOT have his body violated by people shoving embalming junk into him, putting makeup on him, (assuming some family would have wanted to “see” him) or any other required by law preparation. The cost was a factor for all that as well - mostly because extravagant charges are made for that “service.” I just wanted him wrapped in a cloth, put in a plain box - even if it was cardboard, and put in the ground. That would have been far more honorable to him and his life of service. I guess laws don't allow for that. But, I believe in God's plan for life and death, no matter how it comes and goes. HE will take his own regardless.

Anymore thoughts on organ donation? "Give the gift of life", what a wonderful thing to do to care for others, right? Do we have any biblical advice on this issue? Can't we respect the Creators handywork and participate in organ donation? A great message, as always!

I urge everyone to check their state's Code and get some legal advice. Embalming or cremation is not mandatory. There are stipulations--burial within 24 hours of death or release from refrigerated storage, permit to transfer body, etc. Planned ahead, this could make a less expensive, respectful alternative to the modern culture.

I just want to thank everyone for their responses...and I especially want to thank Pastor Begg for being a faithful servant of the Lord. You're a great teacher! When it all boils down to the truth...knowing that we'll be with the Lord is all that matters to me...nothing is too hard for Him.

Deandra; I am sorry if this has in any way, troubled you or your husband. From reading your post and the following responses, I would only like to add a couple of things that I hope you find helpful. 1) Be encouraged that God can save even if an individual is subjected to bad preaching (not that I would ever accuse Alistair of bad preaching. on the contrary he is my favorite preacher). Regardless, your husband will only walk as God leads and he responds in turn. Trust that God will play his part and encourage your husband as best you can, depending on Christ to lead you. 2) I am confident that Alistair would not intentionally provide a stumbling block to a fellow believer, if it came to his attention. I don't think he would change his mind per say, but that he would be sensitive to your concerns and reiterate that this is definitely a secondary issue to the gospel. 3) If your husband, no matter what church or place of worship he attends will always meet with something that he disagrees with theologically. (Why? because that is the experience of every believer). if his faith is only going to be strong if he finds a teacher/preacher that he agrees with 100% of the time, then his faith is not on Jesus, but rather intellectual agreement or consistency. This standard eventually will fail, unless you join a cult. 4) you said Alistair's biblical argument for burial was weak. I'm not sure how to gauge the argument in terms of strength, but I'm going to outline what I understood Alistair to say, and let's all take a look and see if it really makes sense or not:
A) Burial of dead bodies fits the New Testament picture of sown in dishoner and raised in honor. He said that this is the mental picture of death Paul used. B) Abraham and patriarchs through Christian history have practiced burial C) The body has intrinsic value. God created it. It is made in His image. It therefore never loses value and as such, should be laid to rest in the most dignified possible way.

Are these sound biblical arguments? -they seem reasonable to me, but I haven't heard a good, thorough argument from the other perspective either. I hope others can provide further insight to the issue and bring additional sound judgment to the issue.

My goodness, I can understand why Pastor Begg would be against cremation, based upon his horrible experience with the furnace, the organ, and finishing the service. That experience certainly did not honor the body or produce a comforting funeral for the family. My experience with cremation - for my parents and Mother-in-law were peaceful and loving. Both parents donated their bodies to the medical school in my city, as my husband and I will. I will be happy knowing my organs will save someone's life (or lives). We had memorial services, honoring their lives and celebrating their going home to be with Jesus. There were no caskets at the service, and thankfully no race to finish the service before the casket left. If our souls are gone from our bodies, present with the Lord right after death, why not save someone's life or help train a doctor? Isn't the body just our corruptible earthly tent? Won't our Father give us an incorruptible body?