Empty Urn Rant
Russell D. Moore is just dead wrong on this one. (No pun intended.)
It's an article in Christianity Today, opposing the practice of cremation. Seems to me, he's making much ado about nothing., and I'm frankly surprised the CT folks bothered to print it.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. From dust we come, and to dust we shall return. There's absolutely nothing wrong with speeding up the process! (A little kid remarked, "There's somebody either coming or going underneath my bed!")
God is certainly BIG enough to handle the resurrection of cremated bodies (Moore grants this in the article.)
It felt to me like this article was putting unnecessary yokes on people's shoulders.
Seems to me, people should do what is best for their situation. If you prefer to do the full casket and burial for your loved one, that's fine and dandy. You should do it. There are certain advantages to that approach, and most stem from tradition.
However, it's wrong to chastise those who choose cremation -- for that, too, is a valid option.
1) It costs much less -- financial stewardship
2) It takes less space -- environmental stewardship
3) In the end, it makes absolutely NO difference -- the dead person isn't going to care one bit, and on resurrection morning, the new body isn't going to be any different than one that's straightened out and stuck in a box.
For heaven's sake -- don't add undue pressure to grieving people, by suggesting they're letting God down if they chose the latter option!
It's an article in Christianity Today, opposing the practice of cremation. Seems to me, he's making much ado about nothing., and I'm frankly surprised the CT folks bothered to print it.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. From dust we come, and to dust we shall return. There's absolutely nothing wrong with speeding up the process! (A little kid remarked, "There's somebody either coming or going underneath my bed!")
God is certainly BIG enough to handle the resurrection of cremated bodies (Moore grants this in the article.)
It felt to me like this article was putting unnecessary yokes on people's shoulders.
Seems to me, people should do what is best for their situation. If you prefer to do the full casket and burial for your loved one, that's fine and dandy. You should do it. There are certain advantages to that approach, and most stem from tradition.
However, it's wrong to chastise those who choose cremation -- for that, too, is a valid option.
1) It costs much less -- financial stewardship
2) It takes less space -- environmental stewardship
3) In the end, it makes absolutely NO difference -- the dead person isn't going to care one bit, and on resurrection morning, the new body isn't going to be any different than one that's straightened out and stuck in a box.
For heaven's sake -- don't add undue pressure to grieving people, by suggesting they're letting God down if they chose the latter option!
THANK YOU SO MUCH MARK!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI completley agree. Glad that I missed the original article.
ReplyDelete