Pastor John Piper notices that an increasing number of Christians are opting to cremate their dead primarily because it is more cost-efficient than a burial. In this light, he is urging the Church to help families who are financially struggling to conduct "simple Christ-exalting funerals and burials."
Piper writes on his Desiring God blog that he is not speaking out against cremation. However, Piper says Christians should prefer burying their dead because the Scripture leans more towards it.
He says there are two reasons why burial is better than cremation. "One is the focus on the meaning and importance of the human body, now and in the life to come. The other is the meaning of fire as it relates to the human body, now and in the life to come," he says.
Biblical faith does not view the body as the prison of the soul, Piper says. The fact that the eternal Son of God was incarnate in a human body was the "immeasurable elevation in history of the dignity and glory of the human body."
Because people's bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Piper says there would be no greater honour in death than to have a burial. "Burial — sowing the seed of the body — is the biblical picture of belief in the resurrection of the body," he says.
Piper points out that the use of fire to consume the human body has been viewed in the Bible as a sign of contempt, and it should be the last symbol that people use in connection with death.
The pastor knows that a lot of people who prefer cremation would be quick to jump into an argument with him, but he would like to clarify: "I am arguing that God-centred, gospel-rooted burial is preferable to cremation. Preferable. Not commanded, but rich with Christian truth that will become a clearer and clearer witness as our society becomes less and less Christian."
