Since there are no prohibitions in the bible concerning cremation we have chosen that route, if we go home before the rapture, because it is very inexpensive, no need for a burial plot, and there is no mandate in scripture to avoid cremation. We can spread ashes anywhere we like and it's done in one day.
I do not subscribe to the "closure" idea for people to have to see a body, see the casket going into the ground, etc. I am a firm believer in allowing people to grieve their own way without cultural rules. Some people actually give formulas on how a person is to grieve and the rituals they must do for that ever-coveted "closure."
I don't even know what is meant by "closure", am I destined to never get over something I am going through unless I use that word; "closure." In my estimation it is psycho-babble that has little if any meaning.
When we have Jesus Christ we have no need for human rituals or formulas to get us through hard times, the Holy Spirit goes through with us, He is all we need. Complicated rituals and rules wear me out, and make me frustrated and discouraged, the simpler the better.
When we place rituals at the forefront of all our interactions we have placed burdens that do not help they only prevent healing and moving on with our lives.
It is wonderful to have a good friend to talk to about our trials and even more wonderful when we have Christ in us to guide us through anything. This is different from cogitating and massaging the sad feelings to perpetuate them ad-nausium.
All we need to discuss our trials is our good friend and Jesus Christ, no one else who is a stranger can know us well enough to help us through hard times. Psychological counseling more often than not keeps people ill, a sort of job security for the psychologist.
Also in the testimonies of friends down through the years, I hear that they never seem to get over anything and are even told they never will conquer their losses.
Perhaps this is true for unbelievers who have no hope other than life experiences they wish they could have. But we have Christ as born-again believers, we do not grieve as the unsaved grieve and we have a counselor who created our own bodies Who knows us infinitely more than any human could know us.
We have a hope far greater than anything we might want in this life.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Those Who Died in Christ
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words."
We can depend on the Lord because He knows what we need before we ask. There is no need to continue to grieve over a loss when we know that Christ has a purpose in all things. Our rituals have no value in the sight of God, they are dead rituals, only evoking feelings without substance. Doing things because the culture expects it is vanity.
Matthew 6:1 “Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they will be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your charitable giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."
Mankind does not have the answers, they only have meaningless rituals that message temporary feelings. The real substance that has meaning is God's Word which gives us all the instruction we need without human religiosity.
The day we seek Christ ignoring the cultural rituals is the day our freedom sours to new heights.
