Great episode Keith! I was just talking about the topic of cremation with some family members today and your video was the first thing that popped up when I went to study into it. I think you’re right that it isn’t a sin, but it does feel most appropriate to follow the consistent biblical model of burial or entombment. The cost issue certainly makes cremation much more appealing and worth considering. Also, I really enjoy these monologue videos of yours. I feel like it gives you more freedom and room to talk out your thoughts and be super thorough and clear, whereas the dialogue format can sometimes feel to the listener like the speakers are competing for speaking time. Always a blessing to listen to sit and listen to what you have to say brother! Bless you!
I was a hospice chaplain and encouraged them to have a real pastor but many were non religious etc but I always took the opportunity to share the gospel. I am so much more conservative about women’s roles today so not sure I’d do it again… it did inform my views on cremation. It’s not a sin, but it’s not ideal. People generally obtain better closure with a viewing. The image bearers are not just a vessel but an amazing work of art made by our creator. Should be treated with awe and respect. Biblically, God’s people had high regard for loved ones remains.
I got a buddy that sells burial/funereal polices. He literally moved to FL because there was so much more money in it. FL being full of retirees, he got to double dip. They’d have a service of some sort there and then be “shipped” back to their home state to do it again. He said he did about 80% cremation mainly because shipping a body is a five figure event, shipping ashes is priority mail. BTW: Bow tie dialogues are easily my favorite of your content, but I do love a good q&a.
I really appreciate this video. Thank you for reminding me that it's okay to grieve in length. We have sanitized our mourning process so much that three days after the funeral we're supposed to be "back to normal." My daddy died, and it's going to take me a while, even though I'm not grieving as those "who have no hope."
I really appreciate these videos as it helps provide insights on issues I might not hear in conversation on my own or in my own church. Just a bit unusual to bring up for a young adult like myself. Thank you Keith
This is very enlightening. I am a Christian and I'm seriously considering being cremated, but having my ashes buried in our family plot in our church cemetery. The reason for considering cremation is both financial and practical. My family is scattered now across the United States and being cremated would make it easier for them to gather for a memorial. I definitely want a funeral service with gospel songs and a sermon. I think it is important to point out is our method of burial is not what was done in ancient times. Great video!
My mother was cremated, partly due to financial reasons, but also the weeping edema that would’ve had the embalming fluid seep through her skin. Thank you for your words of reminder concerning grief as not only am I nearing the one year anniversary of her passing (and intense period of hospitalization beforehand,) but very soon approaching my first birthday without her.
My wife and I were driving back from a funeral earlier this year and had a good car conversation about cremation vs. burial. Happy to see more content around this - thank you!
I do like the celebration of life. No matter what a person dying is going to be sad for family but to remember the times if they were a believer them living for Christ it should be a celebration in some sense. Alot in this video i didnt know. Great video!
Lol! I’m here all week padumpum! I’m going to forward this to my friend. She’s been wondering about the cremation issue. 👍 love your email answer videos, don’t stop. I’ve told my former pastor and now my new one I want the gospel preached a lot at my funeral. As of now I’m the only one saved in my family.✝️🙏
I can just imagine how awkward it must be when that Stairway guitar solo hits and you're just sitting there staring at the audience 🤣 On a serious note, thank you for speaking the truth at funerals. I have been to quite a few and the theology is often horrendous. Funerals should have the most doctrinally sound messages. I appreciate your ministry!
I retired as a funeral director two years ago. Now I’m in ministry program through my church 😃. God bless you for being available to do funerals. In my area it was so difficult to find a minister for someone who was not a church member. Also the craziest song I’ve ever played at a funeral was Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 by Bob Dylan. The pastor refused to be in the building while it was played. We compromised and played it at the end so the pastor could wait in the car.
My dad and brother died back in 2018. Praise God for Shepards like you doing the Lord's work for his sheep. Their death lead me to conviction of my heart by the Spirit and ultimately saved me. I once heard a quote about how much you have to hate someone to not share the gospel with them. I'm eternally thankful for tribulation and triump given to me by God. The Lord is good. God bless you all
Great episode. Some really good thoughts. Greatly appreciate you walking through sharing the gospel at a funeral and how you preach John 14:6. I'll have to steel that some day 😁. Yes like the episodes with just you answering a question.
I don't think cremation is a sin. What happened if you die during fire a 🔥 or if you were burned like many Christian martyrs were? Second point. I enjoy more the long videos with the teachings and debates than the short videos. God bless!
Yes, I really like these episodes and hope you keep at it. Really thankful for what you do on here and for men like you, Matthew everhard, and Gabe Hughes. In my life right now I don’t have much personal exposure to men that are both godly and just personable and nice. It seems like so many of the godly men around me are just so angry or scared right now.
Interesting video Pastor Keith and I’ve saved this for the Gospel reference that you give here. I love these videos and learn a lot from you. Thank you, and God bless!
I grew up with my best friend’s family owning funeral homes and they’re believers. Spent a lot of time around them. I sent this video to him. Appreciate you brother 🙏
I was told we should practice Christian burial, and not cremate, but in a sense, in America, Christians practice a form of ancient Egyptian burial. The irony is the person telling me this wouldn't use a bible version based on the "Alexandrian Texts". Lol. Personally don't think it matters much.
The funeral home I work at is very good to work with people. We understand there are truly destitute families with no way of coming up with enough to pay for a funeral. We would never push someone over finances to cremate if they truly wanted burial. At times we do this for what they can gather together through donations and as a business write off the loss at the end of the fiscal year. The primary thing we see (northern Georgia) are people who can’t or won’t stop their lives to grieve their loved one and choose cremation as a means of disposal to not inconvenience their life. Another thing we often see are people who come to pre-arrange and tell us they want cremation because they had a hard time at a funeral or don’t want people looking at them and leave specific instructions for no one to even see them. This is very self-serving and robbing their loved ones of an opportunity to grieve. You mentioned the strange process of embalming. Every action taken has a purpose, to temporarily delay decomposition. Georgia does not require embalming for viewing but we do have a company policy that we will have no public viewing of unembalmed remains, because we do not have control of the decomposition process, and at times can get quite ugly and be unhealthy. The practice of embalming can also serve to help someone who is swollen from fluids after a long hospital stay to look less swollen, or a person who is emaciated severely after a rough battle with cancer to look slightly fuller and healthier and overall take the edge off. It also facilitates someone who had trauma from an accident or murder to give the family a last opportunity to see them in less traumatizing light. There are aspects of the process I do not enjoy but know as I am doing them that it will help the family to be at ease. This I cannot say at any point as I place someone into a 1600 degree flame, or pull them out to place them in the pulverizer to turn their bone to “ash.” When we meet a direct disposal cremation family member in the grocery store 6 months or 2 years later, most of the time they are still heavily struggling with grief. Meanwhile, we have some very traditional families that, at the end of the service, open the casket back up, and everyone in the church walks around to the family and the casket and cry and grieve openly…and once the service is finished, they are going to be okay. It’s just how they process their grief. I have the ability to look at years of billing from the past and in the 1990s funerals were $5000-7000..Today they are between $8500-$11,000 on average. A 1995 Chevrolet Silverado Z71 sold new for $18,000. MSRP on a 2024 single cab Silverado in 4WD Work Truck trim is $44,000. 250% increase in that time frame. Funerals in that time may be up 40-70%. My auto insurance rates have climbed 20% in the past 2 years. Grocery prices have went up between 20-100%(depending on what source you believe to be credible) since 2021. The price of housing has went up 100% since 2021. It’s not a matter of the price of a funeral going up as much as people place less emphasis on being fiscally responsible, refusing to purchase life insurance, and generally just not taking time to value the lives of their loved ones
Regarding cremation, I think the question is intent. My maternal grandfather was cremated as I understand it because the VA would pick up all the costs that way. I believe it was a matter of space. They had a wall of miniature tombs for cremated remains set into the side of a hill at the Veterans Cemetery. The funeral itself was conducted by my grandparents’ LCMS pastor.
My Granny just passed in May, and I was very close to her. We wanted to bury her in a normal burial, but we had to cremate her due to financial issues. She was a believer so I don't think there's a problem theologically but I still wanted to bury her with my Grandpa, who was also a believer. God is good, no matter what the situation!
I'm a licensed funeral director and ordained pastor, and really enjoyed this. I prefer burial, however, King Saul was burned, and then his bones buried, so he had both done to him.
Hi there, I'm an Orthodox Christian. We view cremation as blasphemous because Christ took on our human nature and made it His. It goes against the principle in Philippians 2. It shows a lack of honor to the resurrection of Christ, which is the basis for the resurrection of all mankind (1 Corinthians 15). I hope I don't sound argumentative.
I have been ordained for 15 years and in my time have notices changes in funeral practice here (I am in New Zealand) - this is a more secular country than the US and we have come to the point where unless people had a real involvement with the Church it is unlikely their families will ask for a minister to take the funeral. Also Covid and the lockdowns had a huge impact that hasn't gone away with a tendency for a very quick cremation followed by a memorial service some days later
Will you be covering “Finally Home” in your funeral song anthology? I earned a reputation as a “funeral singer” at my last church, as there were many dear elder saints. I think I was asked to sing “Finally Home” at 90% of the funerals.
Not many states have this yet, but we do here in Missouri, and that is flameless cremation also called aquamation. The body goes into a tank with warmed water and an alkaline mixture. Over several hours all of the tissue except the bones decompose and dissolve. The bones can then be ground just like in regular cremation. It is my understanding that if a person were to just be buried naturally without embalming, the moisture of the ground and enzymes that would eventually totally decompose the body is pretty much what is happening in this. It is just accelerated into several hours rather than several years. It is moisture that causes the decomposition of tissue. It is considered a form of green burial. The water that is drained is pure, no toxic embalming fluids going down the drains during the embalming process, no smoke and pollutants from traditional cremation. You can have the ashes buried or take an urn home. Many medical schools and research centers have used this for quite a while when it is time to let go of the donated body because it is so much more eco friendly and less toxic.
@@PostmillhighlightsGenesis 2:7…. LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground. if, excused me…. Because He formed us from the dust, can He do it again at the resurrection? Plus He says he gives us a new body.
I am choosing cremation and having a memorial service in my church (apart from the funeral service) 100% due to cost. Burial and funeral service at the funeral home just costs too much. I hadn’t consider the model of Burial in the Bible. But I’m convinced cremation (unless a Pagan practice/worship) is not sinful.
A former coworker had an aunt that no one could stand to be around at all. At the end of her life she was living in a skilled facility. She didn't get along with anyone there either. When she died, the very few family members were informed and had to make funeral arrangements. They hired a minister. He want to know some information about her to personalize things. The only, the only thing the family could come up with that didn't deal with her mean nature was that she liked cats and her favorite color was purple. That's it. Only the very tiny family attended. The woman had no friends. The minister thanked everyone for coming. Then he had to fill several minutes with cats and purple. If there was one thing for which she was known was her love for cats. Yes. She dearly loved cats. Cats. All cats. And anything purple made her happy. Purple was her favorite color. She liked so many purple things. And don't forget how much she loved cats. Cats were her favorite animal. And purple. How nice she looks in purple today........Sara said the poor guy went back and forth between cats and purple like this for several minutes. That had to be the worst funeral in that man's life. I can't even remember the aunt's name now. Cats and purple override that in my memory. I worked at a hospice house for 6 years. A friend was a funeral director. If a family chose his FH I would hope he would be coming for the body so I could say hi. It was a bit strange to some when the secretary gets up to hug the funeral director and chat about his family. My paternal grandmother liked to walk up to the FH close by often to see if maybe there was anyone she knew to visit. Way back then, FH had little promotional souvenirs. I can't begin to count the number of FH souvenirs my younger sister and I got for our birthdays and Christmas....little plastic "purses" about 1.5 inches in size with a folded rain bonnet inside. They came in an array of pastel colors. We had multiples of all. Of course fans. If that was the best she could afford and do....weird but ok. However, our cousins lived nextdoor and got super nice gifts!! They went home with expensive dolls and building sets, Nancy and I were set for a rainy burial. I worked in a bank with a woman who was hired as an accountant for a FH because her last name was Peace and first two initials were R.I. R.I.P. (she was also a very good accountant)
My own mom is terminally ill with cancer, and she is requested that I cremate her for cost reasons as we don't have a whole lot of money. Although I would personally rather bury her, when the time comes costs are likely to cause the cremation. I definitely agree with you on the preferential status of burial against cremation and that cremation remains not intrinsically sinful. Some of my favorite episodes that you have done have also been you alone giving your thoughts or elaborating on your experiences. I love the interviews too, but I definitely wouldn't want to see the episodes of just you going away anytime soon.
Foxfield Preserve near Canton Ohio. It’s a nature reserve for burial. No headstones, only biodegradable body bag or pine box for burial. Must be buried within 36 hours. No embalming( I believe or not necessary) Your plot is marked by GPS and a map is displayed in a building for services. Not necessarily cheap, but seems to possibly be more biblical (?)
When you look into the history of embalming, viewings, and modern funeral traditions, you will be surprised. (civil war started it, young boys, grieving mothers, bodies deteriorate rather quickly without embalming) Money, money, money! What a surprise. Gold plated bathroom fixtures in the funeral home! Oh my! I am a funeral director, and I only want to ease your pain. (for a fee) Please, get cremated or seek a very less expensive type of burial if available in your state, and give the money saved to a loved one or a righteous cause. (How do you deal with deaths in fire, at sea, or where the body is destroyed?) Common sense guided by Wisdom must be a consideration!
Keith answered those issues in the video. He realizes the costs and the extenuating circumstances of dying in a fire etc. perhaps you commented without watching it all? Peace🙏
@@Savedbygrace22 Just a reiteration of some of what Keith said and an expression of my experience with things he didn't. I did watch. I chose to use a little sarcasm to express my opinion. Also, I urged people to check out the history of our "modern day" tradition.
Your EO visitor was in keeping with the Orthodox teaching, shared in older Western Catholic doctrine, that *elective* cremation is a forbidden form of desecration of the body of the deceased and a heretical or even blasphemous implicit denial of the equal worth of the body as part of the created person, and/or of its resurrection. In modern Catholicism, the preference is stil for burial, but since the time of John XXIII cremation has been explicitly allowed. The main proviso is again, that your choice must NOT come out of the notion that the body is waste that does not matter. Cremated remains thus must be given the rites and treated with the same dignity as intact bodies -- they are to be in aproperly secured individual urn, interred in a dedicated/consecrated mausoleum or cemetery (or buried at sea) within a reasonable time (not kept on your mantlepiece for years); if in a mausoleum or cemetery the resting place must be marked; and the remains may NOT be scattered, or mixed with those of others.
No, cremation is not a sin. However, it is not recommended. Traditional burial testifies to Christ's second coming and the Resurrection. Traditional burial is edifying to God's truth. Cremation is not and is historically a pagan practice. However, while not recommended, cremation is still not a sin, except if the intent of cremation is to spurn or dismiss God's creation. Fortunately, most faithful Christians don't at all have that irreverent intent. Edit: I commented before watching your video, to avoid confirmation bias or bias at all. But it turns out, we actually share the same view! It's a view also held by Confessional Lutherans of the LCMS, fyi. I've instructed in my will to do a traditional burial without a eulogy, because it's not about me but the hope for those with faith in Christ. He should be edified above all else.
Until not long ago, rcc did not allow cremation and even suggested it could induce either damnation or inability to transition to their "new body". This is due to what cremation meant to the Roman pagans if I remember correctly.
My Anglican clergy have said that cremation is allowed but how the remains are handled after cremation may be problematic. They should be given a Christian burial in ground or entombed in a columbarium not scattered. They must be handled the respect and dignity not in a pagan manner. I have cancer and am confronting these issues to make choices for myself. I have decided on cremation as it would be too difficult to achieve a Jewish style burial, not many public cemeteries will accept bodies that are not embalmed. After researching enbalming I think it is lacking in dignity and respect for God’s creation in many ways. It has taken me much research, thought, and prayer to come to this decision as I always felt cremation was sinful.
Keith-- thanks for this video. I take your point that cremation would be sinful if motivated by paganism. Isn't it true that burial can be and has also been motivated by paganism, e.g., ancient Egyptian burials?
Man, guess this means most viking funerals are out (slightly bummed, but I also don't live in Iceland...) ...I feel the US gov. should butt out of body prep, but can have some say in cemetery plot regulations- I would be weirded out if a casket floated by my house...
Pastor Keith, did you know that our Parlors in our house were changed and named Living rooms because of the creation of funeral homes? The room is now a place to live and not for death. Interesting.
From the website of Saint John the Evangelist Orthodox church: "Orthodox Christians should reject cremation, in accordance with the Church’s teachings about the sanctity of the human body and its role in our salvation. Cremation treats the body violently, without the respect due to it as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Those who voluntarily request cremation upon death will not receive an Orthodox funeral or burial. However, the Church recognizes extenuating circumstances and will not condemn or deny funeral rites to any who must be cremated in these situations." The article also states that Byzantine canon law forbids it due to its connection to paganism and gnosticism.
Which is greater, the Church’s teachings or His Holy Word/scriptures? Genesis 2:7…. LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground. Genesis 3:19…. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return if, excused me…. Because He formed us from the dust, can He do it again at the resurrection? Plus He says he gives us a new body.
The only condemnation I find in the Bible involves motives - the reasons that people burned dead people. A conqueror might dig up the bones (or whatever was left) of the people he conquered, and burn them for the deliberate reason of dishonoring them. God condemned them for that. Not because the conqueror turned them into carbon dioxide, water and ashes, but because of the reasons behind him doing it.
I wouldn't say that it is a sin, but I think it's a symptom of Christians putting such a small emphasis on the resurrection of the dead. Burial is a symbol of the resurrection on the last day. But most Christians today just know that you go to heaven when you die with no knowledge of the resurrection and the new creation.
@@robmc120 Hence, my question. It is a very common misconception. Note the #1 song played at funerals according to Keith, "When I Get to Where I'm Going". The first verse has the lines, "The first thing that I'm gonna do Is spread my wings and fly" That is a clear implication that the departed one is now an angel. How do any funereal officiants reading this deal with that common misconception? Do you address it or ignore it?
To the title question: I'm reluctant to make a law where there is no law--when God's word doesn't speak clearly to a question, I don't want to go beyond what God has said. But with that said, Christians have confessed since the earliest days of the church (and though there was dispute on the subject, many Jews before that) that we believe in the resurrection of the body. To choose to burn the body just doesn't seem consistent with that belief. Yes, it can happen by "accident" (in scare quotes because I, like you, am a Calvinist and believe that nothing happens that God does not ordain), and surely our bodies will decompose over time if the Lord tarries--and God's entirely able to sort that out, but doing it deliberately still seems inconsistent with believing that God will raise that body. So, like you, I at least wouldn't favor cremation. The place where I'd disagree with you is in absolving the dead person from responsibility in this question--often they've given specific input or desires with respect to how their body be treated after their death, and they're surely responsible in that case. Not to the exclusion of the ones actually doing it, of course.
I thought about that, yes a person is often the one who chooses cremation. In that case, they would at least be responsible. But in cases like my grandmother, she did not voice an opinion that I’m aware of.
@@ConversationswithaCalvinist Of course--if I die having said nothing to anyone about what I want to happen to my body, I'm not responsible for what my family decide to do with it (though, depending on the rest of the circumstances, I might be responsible for failing to have made arrangements or decisions myself). But it sounded to me--and maybe I was misunderstanding you--that you were saying that the dead person is never responsible, and that just didn't sound right. Regardless of who's making the decision, I don't think it's what Christians should generally be doing--but I still think I'd stop short of calling it sin.
Hi, I'm deceased. I guess my pronouns are still the same, however, please refer to me in the past tense as was, were and used to be. I know one thing for sure, however you refer to me, I won't be offended.😵😵💫
What about a sky burial where they put the corpse in a tree, and just let nature take its course (vultures, bears, insects, vermin, mountain lions, etc)?
Both of my parents were cremated, along with my wife, and many other relatives. I am confident that I will be with them again in Heaven, when I have died (and subsequently cremated). I believe that my physical body is just a vehicle for my soul while I am alive and on earth, when I die and meet God in Heaven, there will be a new, perfect body that will be mine for eternity. The first time I heard anyone talk about cremation vs burial was my grandmother - she visited the cemetery where her parents were buried, in rural New South Wales. It was very overgrown, headstones broken and toppled, she said it was sad that these people had been forgotten. She then saw one of the crematoriums in Sydney, there were beautiful, well maintained gardens, as she said the people interred there had not been forgotten.
Great episode Keith! I was just talking about the topic of cremation with some family members today and your video was the first thing that popped up when I went to study into it. I think you’re right that it isn’t a sin, but it does feel most appropriate to follow the consistent biblical model of burial or entombment. The cost issue certainly makes cremation much more appealing and worth considering. Also, I really enjoy these monologue videos of yours. I feel like it gives you more freedom and room to talk out your thoughts and be super thorough and clear, whereas the dialogue format can sometimes feel to the listener like the speakers are competing for speaking time. Always a blessing to listen to sit and listen to what you have to say brother! Bless you!
I was a hospice chaplain and encouraged them to have a real pastor but many were non religious etc but I always took the opportunity to share the gospel. I am so much more conservative about women’s roles today so not sure I’d do it again… it did inform my views on cremation. It’s not a sin, but it’s not ideal. People generally obtain better closure with a viewing. The image bearers are not just a vessel but an amazing work of art made by our creator. Should be treated with awe and respect. Biblically, God’s people had high regard for loved ones remains.
Spot on with my understanding.
How did your view on women's roles influence your view on sharing the gospel in a hospice?
I got a buddy that sells burial/funereal polices. He literally moved to FL because there was so much more money in it. FL being full of retirees, he got to double dip. They’d have a service of some sort there and then be “shipped” back to their home state to do it again. He said he did about 80% cremation mainly because shipping a body is a five figure event, shipping ashes is priority mail.
BTW:
Bow tie dialogues are easily my favorite of your content, but I do love a good q&a.
I really appreciate this video. Thank you for reminding me that it's okay to grieve in length. We have sanitized our mourning process so much that three days after the funeral we're supposed to be "back to normal." My daddy died, and it's going to take me a while, even though I'm not grieving as those "who have no hope."
I really appreciate these videos as it helps provide insights on issues I might not hear in conversation on my own or in my own church. Just a bit unusual to bring up for a young adult like myself. Thank you Keith
I'm enjoying these shorter episodes, and you're entertaining enough on your own to keep me coming back!
This is very enlightening. I am a Christian and I'm seriously considering being cremated, but having my ashes buried in our family plot in our church cemetery. The reason for considering cremation is both financial and practical. My family is scattered now across the United States and being cremated would make it easier for them to gather for a memorial. I definitely want a funeral service with gospel songs and a sermon. I think it is important to point out is our method of burial is not what was done in ancient times. Great video!
My mother was cremated, partly due to financial reasons, but also the weeping edema that would’ve had the embalming fluid seep through her skin. Thank you for your words of reminder concerning grief as not only am I nearing the one year anniversary of her passing (and intense period of hospitalization beforehand,) but very soon approaching my first birthday without her.
My wife and I were driving back from a funeral earlier this year and had a good car conversation about cremation vs. burial. Happy to see more content around this - thank you!
Yes. please continue with these episodes and "The Mail Bag" Q & A's. Excellent.
The mini Keith Foskey is a nice touch.
I actually strongly prefer the solo videos, I hardly ever watch the interviews, but I love the mailbag and monologue videos.
I love the short videos. I'm not very knowledgeable about this funeral business but I don't think cremation is a sin.
I enjoy these shorter videos as well as the longer ones! All very edifying. Thank you.
Really like this format for your videos, great subject and something that our family has talked about before.
I do like the celebration of life. No matter what a person dying is going to be sad for family but to remember the times if they were a believer them living for Christ it should be a celebration in some sense. Alot in this video i didnt know. Great video!
We like the shorter videos and mail bag videos ! Thanks Keith !
Your thoughts are interesting and I enjoy listening.
Lol! I’m here all week padumpum! I’m going to forward this to my friend. She’s been wondering about the cremation issue. 👍 love your email answer videos, don’t stop. I’ve told my former pastor and now my new one I want the gospel preached a lot at my funeral. As of now I’m the only one saved in my family.✝️🙏
I can just imagine how awkward it must be when that Stairway guitar solo hits and you're just sitting there staring at the audience 🤣
On a serious note, thank you for speaking the truth at funerals. I have been to quite a few and the theology is often horrendous. Funerals should have the most doctrinally sound messages. I appreciate your ministry!
Theology like "Jimmy is an angel now!"? 😅
I retired as a funeral director two years ago. Now I’m in ministry program through my church 😃.
God bless you for being available to do funerals. In my area it was so difficult to find a minister for someone who was not a church member.
Also the craziest song I’ve ever played at a funeral was Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 by Bob Dylan. The pastor refused to be in the building while it was played. We compromised and played it at the end so the pastor could wait in the car.
yes! enjoying! and this subject was particularly helpful, ty!
Always good to hear from you in any format. So do what works, as long as your heart is in it.
My dad and brother died back in 2018. Praise God for Shepards like you doing the Lord's work for his sheep. Their death lead me to conviction of my heart by the Spirit and ultimately saved me. I once heard a quote about how much you have to hate someone to not share the gospel with them. I'm eternally thankful for tribulation and triump given to me by God. The Lord is good. God bless you all
Great episode. Some really good thoughts. Greatly appreciate you walking through sharing the gospel at a funeral and how you preach John 14:6. I'll have to steel that some day 😁. Yes like the episodes with just you answering a question.
i’m enjoying these
thanks
Really enjoyed this episode and some behind the scenes on the funeral industry.
What a fantastic ministry, Keith!
Yes, enjoying these.
I don't think cremation is a sin. What happened if you die during fire a 🔥 or if you were burned like many Christian martyrs were?
Second point. I enjoy more the long videos with the teachings and debates than the short videos. God bless!
Fantastic video! Thank you for sharing your experiences with the many different people.
Thank you for this podcast!
Like this presentation format. Thanks!👍
That was interesting. Thanks for taking the time.
Hi Keith, yes continue your videos.
Yes, I like these short videos, Q and A is good.
Yes, I really like these episodes and hope you keep at it. Really thankful for what you do on here and for men like you, Matthew everhard, and Gabe Hughes. In my life right now I don’t have much personal exposure to men that are both godly and just personable and nice. It seems like so many of the godly men around me are just so angry or scared right now.
Interesting video Pastor Keith and I’ve saved this for the Gospel reference that you give here. I love these videos and learn a lot from you. Thank you, and God bless!
I grew up with my best friend’s family owning funeral homes and they’re believers. Spent a lot of time around them. I sent this video to him. Appreciate you brother 🙏
Thank you brother! This is really helpful.
I like the format.
Absolutely love your videos whatever they are. You have a warmth to your voice that comforts me in my loneliness.
This topic burns me up.
I think it would be great to do one of these every other week or so!
I'm enjoying these!
I like the slightly shorter videos where you answer questions.
I was told we should practice Christian burial, and not cremate, but in a sense, in America, Christians practice a form of ancient Egyptian burial. The irony is the person telling me this wouldn't use a bible version based on the "Alexandrian Texts". Lol. Personally don't think it matters much.
Thank you for pointing out death is not a part of life, or is the enemy of life!
Very good content. I really appreciate your thoughts on this. One thing, I insist that the gospel is presented at my funeral.
The funeral home I work at is very good to work with people. We understand there are truly destitute families with no way of coming up with enough to pay for a funeral. We would never push someone over finances to cremate if they truly wanted burial. At times we do this for what they can gather together through donations and as a business write off the loss at the end of the fiscal year.
The primary thing we see (northern Georgia) are people who can’t or won’t stop their lives to grieve their loved one and choose cremation as a means of disposal to not inconvenience their life.
Another thing we often see are people who come to pre-arrange and tell us they want cremation because they had a hard time at a funeral or don’t want people looking at them and leave specific instructions for no one to even see them. This is very self-serving and robbing their loved ones of an opportunity to grieve.
You mentioned the strange process of embalming. Every action taken has a purpose, to temporarily delay decomposition. Georgia does not require embalming for viewing but we do have a company policy that we will have no public viewing of unembalmed remains, because we do not have control of the decomposition process, and at times can get quite ugly and be unhealthy. The practice of embalming can also serve to help someone who is swollen from fluids after a long hospital stay to look less swollen, or a person who is emaciated severely after a rough battle with cancer to look slightly fuller and healthier and overall take the edge off. It also facilitates someone who had trauma from an accident or murder to give the family a last opportunity to see them in less traumatizing light.
There are aspects of the process I do not enjoy but know as I am doing them that it will help the family to be at ease. This I cannot say at any point as I place someone into a 1600 degree flame, or pull them out to place them in the pulverizer to turn their bone to “ash.”
When we meet a direct disposal cremation family member in the grocery store 6 months or 2 years later, most of the time they are still heavily struggling with grief. Meanwhile, we have some very traditional families that, at the end of the service, open the casket back up, and everyone in the church walks around to the family and the casket and cry and grieve openly…and once the service is finished, they are going to be okay. It’s just how they process their grief.
I have the ability to look at years of billing from the past and in the 1990s funerals were $5000-7000..Today they are between $8500-$11,000 on average. A 1995 Chevrolet Silverado Z71 sold new for $18,000. MSRP on a 2024 single cab Silverado in 4WD Work Truck trim is $44,000. 250% increase in that time frame. Funerals in that time may be up 40-70%. My auto insurance rates have climbed 20% in the past 2 years. Grocery prices have went up between 20-100%(depending on what source you believe to be credible) since 2021. The price of housing has went up 100% since 2021. It’s not a matter of the price of a funeral going up as much as people place less emphasis on being fiscally responsible, refusing to purchase life insurance, and generally just not taking time to value the lives of their loved ones
Regarding cremation, I think the question is intent. My maternal grandfather was cremated as I understand it because the VA would pick up all the costs that way. I believe it was a matter of space. They had a wall of miniature tombs for cremated remains set into the side of a hill at the Veterans Cemetery. The funeral itself was conducted by my grandparents’ LCMS pastor.
My Granny just passed in May, and I was very close to her. We wanted to bury her in a normal burial, but we had to cremate her due to financial issues. She was a believer so I don't think there's a problem theologically but I still wanted to bury her with my Grandpa, who was also a believer. God is good, no matter what the situation!
I'm sorry for your loss. 😔
I'm a licensed funeral director and ordained pastor, and really enjoyed this.
I prefer burial, however, King Saul was burned, and then his bones buried, so he had both done to him.
Hi there, I'm an Orthodox Christian. We view cremation as blasphemous because Christ took on our human nature and made it His. It goes against the principle in Philippians 2. It shows a lack of honor to the resurrection of Christ, which is the basis for the resurrection of all mankind (1 Corinthians 15). I hope I don't sound argumentative.
Not at all, I appreciate your comment. Thank you for sharing.
By the way, I prefer the All Keith, All the Time!
yes i do enjpy these video like this and also like bow tie dailogs
I have been ordained for 15 years and in my time have notices changes in funeral practice here (I am in New Zealand) - this is a more secular country than the US and we have come to the point where unless people had a real involvement with the Church it is unlikely their families will ask for a minister to take the funeral. Also Covid and the lockdowns had a huge impact that hasn't gone away with a tendency for a very quick cremation followed by a memorial service some days later
Will you be covering “Finally Home” in your funeral song anthology? I earned a reputation as a “funeral singer” at my last church, as there were many dear elder saints. I think I was asked to sing “Finally Home” at 90% of the funerals.
Not many states have this yet, but we do here in Missouri, and that is flameless cremation also called aquamation. The body goes into a tank with warmed water and an alkaline mixture. Over several hours all of the tissue except the bones decompose and dissolve. The bones can then be ground just like in regular cremation. It is my understanding that if a person were to just be buried naturally without embalming, the moisture of the ground and enzymes that would eventually totally decompose the body is pretty much what is happening in this. It is just accelerated into several hours rather than several years. It is moisture that causes the decomposition of tissue.
It is considered a form of green burial. The water that is drained is pure, no toxic embalming fluids going down the drains during the embalming process, no smoke and pollutants from traditional cremation. You can have the ashes buried or take an urn home.
Many medical schools and research centers have used this for quite a while when it is time to let go of the donated body because it is so much more eco friendly and less toxic.
We are made from the dust, and we will go back to dust.
Do you believe we stay dust?
@@PostmillhighlightsGenesis 2:7…. LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground.
if, excused me…. Because He formed us from the dust, can He do it again at the resurrection? Plus He says he gives us a new body.
@@Jonathan_Gen.15.6 I don’t understand what that has to do with my comment?
@Postmillhighlights no I don't believe we stay dust. We are molded into something beautiful. Psalm 139:13
Enjoyed it!
Keep up the good work. You do a good great job. And when the rapture happens you will finally have your eschatology right. :)
I am choosing cremation and having a memorial service in my church (apart from the funeral service) 100% due to cost. Burial and funeral service at the funeral home just costs too much.
I hadn’t consider the model of Burial in the Bible. But I’m convinced cremation (unless a Pagan practice/worship) is not sinful.
A former coworker had an aunt that no one could stand to be around at all. At the end of her life she was living in a skilled facility. She didn't get along with anyone there either. When she died, the very few family members were informed and had to make funeral arrangements. They hired a minister. He want to know some information about her to personalize things. The only, the only thing the family could come up with that didn't deal with her mean nature was that she liked cats and her favorite color was purple. That's it.
Only the very tiny family attended. The woman had no friends. The minister thanked everyone for coming. Then he had to fill several minutes with cats and purple. If there was one thing for which she was known was her love for cats. Yes. She dearly loved cats. Cats. All cats. And anything purple made her happy. Purple was her favorite color. She liked so many purple things. And don't forget how much she loved cats. Cats were her favorite animal. And purple. How nice she looks in purple today........Sara said the poor guy went back and forth between cats and purple like this for several minutes. That had to be the worst funeral in that man's life. I can't even remember the aunt's name now. Cats and purple override that in my memory.
I worked at a hospice house for 6 years. A friend was a funeral director. If a family chose his FH I would hope he would be coming for the body so I could say hi. It was a bit strange to some when the secretary gets up to hug the funeral director and chat about his family.
My paternal grandmother liked to walk up to the FH close by often to see if maybe there was anyone she knew to visit. Way back then, FH had little promotional souvenirs. I can't begin to count the number of FH souvenirs my younger sister and I got for our birthdays and Christmas....little plastic "purses" about 1.5 inches in size with a folded rain bonnet inside. They came in an array of pastel colors. We had multiples of all. Of course fans. If that was the best she could afford and do....weird but ok. However, our cousins lived nextdoor and got super nice gifts!! They went home with expensive dolls and building sets, Nancy and I were set for a rainy burial.
I worked in a bank with a woman who was hired as an accountant for a FH because her last name was Peace and first two initials were R.I. R.I.P. (she was also a very good accountant)
My own mom is terminally ill with cancer, and she is requested that I cremate her for cost reasons as we don't have a whole lot of money. Although I would personally rather bury her, when the time comes costs are likely to cause the cremation. I definitely agree with you on the preferential status of burial against cremation and that cremation remains not intrinsically sinful.
Some of my favorite episodes that you have done have also been you alone giving your thoughts or elaborating on your experiences. I love the interviews too, but I definitely wouldn't want to see the episodes of just you going away anytime soon.
Very interesting
The spiritually dead joke 😂
Foxfield Preserve near Canton Ohio.
It’s a nature reserve for burial. No headstones, only biodegradable body bag or pine box for burial. Must be buried within 36 hours. No embalming( I believe or not necessary)
Your plot is marked by GPS and a map is displayed in a building for services. Not necessarily cheap, but seems to possibly be more biblical (?)
Yes. I feel like my father /pastor and I talking
When you look into the history of embalming, viewings, and modern funeral traditions, you will be surprised. (civil war started it, young boys, grieving mothers, bodies deteriorate rather quickly without embalming) Money, money, money! What a surprise. Gold plated bathroom fixtures in the funeral home! Oh my! I am a funeral director, and I only want to ease your pain. (for a fee) Please, get cremated or seek a very less expensive type of burial if available in your state, and give the money saved to a loved one or a righteous cause. (How do you deal with deaths in fire, at sea, or where the body is destroyed?) Common sense guided by Wisdom must be a consideration!
Keith answered those issues in the video. He realizes the costs and the extenuating circumstances of dying in a fire etc. perhaps you commented without watching it all? Peace🙏
@@Savedbygrace22 Just a reiteration of some of what Keith said and an expression of my experience with things he didn't. I did watch. I chose to use a little sarcasm to express my opinion. Also, I urged people to check out the history of our "modern day" tradition.
Your EO visitor was in keeping with the Orthodox teaching, shared in older Western Catholic doctrine, that *elective* cremation is a forbidden form of desecration of the body of the deceased and a heretical or even blasphemous implicit denial of the equal worth of the body as part of the created person, and/or of its resurrection.
In modern Catholicism, the preference is stil for burial, but since the time of John XXIII cremation has been explicitly allowed. The main proviso is again, that your choice must NOT come out of the notion that the body is waste that does not matter. Cremated remains thus must be given the rites and treated with the same dignity as intact bodies -- they are to be in aproperly secured individual urn, interred in a dedicated/consecrated mausoleum or cemetery (or buried at sea) within a reasonable time (not kept on your mantlepiece for years); if in a mausoleum or cemetery the resting place must be marked; and the remains may NOT be scattered, or mixed with those of others.
No Kieth, the spiritually dead joke was in fact funny.
Im glad god had other plans ❤
My son is Eastern Orthodox and I texted him to ask-he said the Orthodox do see cremation as sinful.
All I know is, from dust you came and to dust you shall return.
No, cremation is not a sin. However, it is not recommended. Traditional burial testifies to Christ's second coming and the Resurrection. Traditional burial is edifying to God's truth. Cremation is not and is historically a pagan practice. However, while not recommended, cremation is still not a sin, except if the intent of cremation is to spurn or dismiss God's creation. Fortunately, most faithful Christians don't at all have that irreverent intent.
Edit: I commented before watching your video, to avoid confirmation bias or bias at all. But it turns out, we actually share the same view! It's a view also held by Confessional Lutherans of the LCMS, fyi. I've instructed in my will to do a traditional burial without a eulogy, because it's not about me but the hope for those with faith in Christ. He should be edified above all else.
Until not long ago, rcc did not allow cremation and even suggested it could induce either damnation or inability to transition to their "new body". This is due to what cremation meant to the Roman pagans if I remember correctly.
My Anglican clergy have said that cremation is allowed but how the remains are handled after cremation may be problematic. They should be given a Christian burial in ground or entombed in a columbarium not scattered. They must be handled the respect and dignity not in a pagan manner. I have cancer and am confronting these issues to make choices for myself. I have decided on cremation as it would be too difficult to achieve a Jewish style burial, not many public cemeteries will accept bodies that are not embalmed. After researching enbalming I think it is lacking in dignity and respect for God’s creation in many ways.
It has taken me much research, thought, and prayer to come to this decision as I always felt cremation was sinful.
Keith-- thanks for this video. I take your point that cremation would be sinful if motivated by paganism. Isn't it true that burial can be and has also been motivated by paganism, e.g., ancient Egyptian burials?
Man, guess this means most viking funerals are out (slightly bummed, but I also don't live in Iceland...) ...I feel the US gov. should butt out of body prep, but can have some say in cemetery plot regulations- I would be weirded out if a casket floated by my house...
Pastor Keith, did you know that our Parlors in our house were changed and named Living rooms because of the creation of funeral homes? The room is now a place to live and not for death. Interesting.
Yes I had heard that before and meant to mention it. Thanks for the reminder :)
@@ConversationswithaCalvinist anytime!!!
From the website of Saint John the Evangelist Orthodox church:
"Orthodox Christians should reject cremation, in accordance with the Church’s teachings about the sanctity of the human body and its role in our salvation. Cremation treats the body violently, without the respect due to it as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Those who voluntarily request cremation upon death will not receive an Orthodox funeral or burial. However, the Church recognizes extenuating circumstances and will not condemn or deny funeral rites to any who must be cremated in these situations."
The article also states that Byzantine canon law forbids it due to its connection to paganism and gnosticism.
Which is greater, the Church’s teachings or His Holy Word/scriptures?
Genesis 2:7…. LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground.
Genesis 3:19…. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are, And to dust you shall return
if, excused me…. Because He formed us from the dust, can He do it again at the resurrection? Plus He says he gives us a new body.
The only condemnation I find in the Bible involves motives - the reasons that people burned dead people. A conqueror might dig up the bones (or whatever was left) of the people he conquered, and burn them for the deliberate reason of dishonoring them. God condemned them for that. Not because the conqueror turned them into carbon dioxide, water and ashes, but because of the reasons behind him doing it.
I wouldn't say that it is a sin, but I think it's a symptom of Christians putting such a small emphasis on the resurrection of the dead. Burial is a symbol of the resurrection on the last day. But most Christians today just know that you go to heaven when you die with no knowledge of the resurrection and the new creation.
No that joke was funny! Lol
Ha, thanks bro! 😎
Always had a problem with Led Zeppelin. Always felt that they were satanic.
I’d say it’s definitely a sin if you don’t wait until after they have died!
❤
Keith, do you challenge those who profess that their loved one is now an angel?
angels are a different creation altogether, we do not become them
@@robmc120 Hence, my question. It is a very common misconception. Note the #1 song played at funerals according to Keith, "When I Get to Where I'm Going". The first verse has the lines,
"The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly"
That is a clear implication that the departed one is now an angel. How do any funereal officiants reading this deal with that common misconception? Do you address it or ignore it?
How is this information useful if I can't determine if I'm cremated or not?
Did God predetermine al l things or not
To the title question: I'm reluctant to make a law where there is no law--when God's word doesn't speak clearly to a question, I don't want to go beyond what God has said. But with that said, Christians have confessed since the earliest days of the church (and though there was dispute on the subject, many Jews before that) that we believe in the resurrection of the body. To choose to burn the body just doesn't seem consistent with that belief. Yes, it can happen by "accident" (in scare quotes because I, like you, am a Calvinist and believe that nothing happens that God does not ordain), and surely our bodies will decompose over time if the Lord tarries--and God's entirely able to sort that out, but doing it deliberately still seems inconsistent with believing that God will raise that body. So, like you, I at least wouldn't favor cremation.
The place where I'd disagree with you is in absolving the dead person from responsibility in this question--often they've given specific input or desires with respect to how their body be treated after their death, and they're surely responsible in that case. Not to the exclusion of the ones actually doing it, of course.
I thought about that, yes a person is often the one who chooses cremation. In that case, they would at least be responsible. But in cases like my grandmother, she did not voice an opinion that I’m aware of.
@@ConversationswithaCalvinist Of course--if I die having said nothing to anyone about what I want to happen to my body, I'm not responsible for what my family decide to do with it (though, depending on the rest of the circumstances, I might be responsible for failing to have made arrangements or decisions myself). But it sounded to me--and maybe I was misunderstanding you--that you were saying that the dead person is never responsible, and that just didn't sound right.
Regardless of who's making the decision, I don't think it's what Christians should generally be doing--but I still think I'd stop short of calling it sin.
It can be.
Joseph and his father were embalmed to take back to Canaan...
Good point, I forgot to mention that. I did talk about that in my series through Genesis
Hi, I'm deceased. I guess my pronouns are still the same, however, please refer to me in the past tense as was, were and used to be. I know one thing for sure, however you refer to me, I won't be offended.😵😵💫
😂
What about a sky burial where they put the corpse in a tree, and just let nature take its course (vultures, bears, insects, vermin, mountain lions, etc)?
Wow, I’ve not heard of that before
@@ConversationswithaCalvinist Hmmm, doesn’t seem exactly Christian! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial
I thought it was a good topic. I don't have a firm opinion either way.
No.
?
No. But creamation is.
Both of my parents were cremated, along with my wife, and many other relatives. I am confident that I will be with them again in Heaven, when I have died (and subsequently cremated). I believe that my physical body is just a vehicle for my soul while I am alive and on earth, when I die and meet God in Heaven, there will be a new, perfect body that will be mine for eternity. The first time I heard anyone talk about cremation vs burial was my grandmother - she visited the cemetery where her parents were buried, in rural New South Wales. It was very overgrown, headstones broken and toppled, she said it was sad that these people had been forgotten. She then saw one of the crematoriums in Sydney, there were beautiful, well maintained gardens, as she said the people interred there had not been forgotten.
No
?
@@Savedbygrace22
I answered the title of the video
In Hinduism they burn the body. As you said, their motivation is religiously based.