What a person says or does may be described by
a single word: testimony.
Testimony is the declaration that confirms or makes anything known.
John 3: 32 gives us a biblical example of the first kind of
testimony: “what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies; and no
one receives his testimony”; the Lord’s word to the
twelve in Mark 6: 11 “And whatsoever place shall not receive you nor
hear you, departing thence, shake off the dust which is under your
feet for a testimony to them” gives an example of the second kind of
testimony.
In Corinth there were some who said “that there
is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead” (1 Cor. 15: 12).
That was their testimony—what they were
saying. There are
those that are giving exactly the same testimony today by what they
are
doing. Ponder well,
my reader, the Apostle Paul’s argument in the following verses of
Scripture. Having asked the question “Now if Christ is preached that
he is raised from among [the] dead, how say some among you that
there is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead?” (v12), Paul
then locks the resurrection of the dead firmly to the resurrection
of Christ. Deny the one in word or deed and you deny the other: “But
if there is not a resurrection of [those that are] dead, neither is
Christ raised” (v13). If one is not true, then neither is the other.
These two truths are
inseparable. Then come the terrible consequences: “but if
Christ is not raised, then, indeed, vain also [is] our preaching,
and vain also your faith. And we are found also false witnesses of
God; for we have witnessed concerning God that he raised the Christ,
whom he has not raised if indeed [those that are] dead are not
raised. For if [those that are] dead are not raised, neither is
Christ raised; but if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye
are yet in your sins. Then indeed also those who have fallen asleep
in Christ have perished” (vs 14–18). This is the awful result of the
denial of the resurrection of those that are dead.
Reader, this is precisely the
testimony of cremation. What those at Corinth said does not
differ from those today that cremate or condone the cremation of the
body. Their testimony to the world is identical to those of Corinth.
Yes, God will still raise the ashes but that has nothing to do with
the awful testimony given. Yes, the Scriptures on resurrection may
be quoted and spoken of at such cremation ‘services’. But the
testimony is there for all to witness by what is done, irrespective
of what may be said. Indeed, what is done speaks so loudly, it
drowns out what may be said.
Cremation is the denial of
resurrection. Saying “that there is not a resurrection of
[those that are] dead” (1 Cor. 15: 12) is cremation’s testimony to
the world. How can Christians subscribe to such an event?
Regarding another matter in the same epistle,
Paul asks the Corinthians “Does not even nature itself teach you”?
(1 Cor. 11: 14). Indeed, he actually employs nature as a teacher in
the very chapter on resurrection (see his use of “wheat” in 1 Cor.
15: 35–38). Let us do the same. Fire is part of nature (so much so
that the ancients used to think that the material world consisted of
just four elements: fire, water, earth and air). Suppose a Christian
takes a bundle of papers out into his garden and sets fire to them
while his next–door neighbour is watching. What does that tell the
neighbour about the papers? Further suppose that the man’s wife
brings out some clothes and puts them on the fire of burning papers.
Again, what does that tell the neighbour about the clothes? Exactly
the same in both cases.
That so far as the owners are
concerned, the papers and the clothes are finished with for ever.
Neither can be recovered from the ashes. This is the testimony of
fire, of what is burnt. In exactly the same way, cremate the body
and you testify to the world that it is finished with forever—you
deny resurrection.
Cremation is a pagan way of disposing of
the dead that was practised by the Romans in the apostle’s day.
“Does not even nature itself
teach you?” (1 Cor. 11: 14)!
