Particularly IsaiahIsaiah is a masculine name of biblical origin. It comes from the Hebrew: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, Yəšaʿyāhū, Yeshayahu, meaning "Yahweh is salvation." The best known Isaiah is a prophet, in the Book of Isaiah.https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Isaiah_(given_name)
One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes from Isaiah 61:3 “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”.
Many of us are familiar with the phrase “beauty from ashes.” It evokes a sense of comeback, of a phoenix rising from destruction, of finding something good in the midst of so much evil. Throughout history ashes have represented loss and mourning.
Job was a broken man because the Enemy chose him, but God knew Job's heart. This man would teach Evil a lesson. In the end, Satan discovered that Job was “blameless and upright” Job 1:8 and God gave him “beauty for ashes.”
In the Bible, there are no passages that prohibit or encourage cremation and scattering of ashes. However, many Christian sects believe a burial funeral aligns with best end-of-life practices. As a result, some Christian clerics may discourage cremation or prohibit it entirely.
No matter what a person's preference is, from the Christian perspective, cremation does not prevent one from going to Heaven. So there's no need to worry, if God can create life from dust, surely he can restore life from ashes.
Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. For instance, in the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes, 485-464 B.C.) of Persia to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1).
More generally, ashes have long been associated with sorrow, purification, and rebirth, which all play a role in the story of Easter Sunday (the end of Lent). Tradition holds that Christians wear ashes on the first day of Lent in order to mourn and acknowledge the suffering that Jesus endured.
The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday. On this special day of reflection, Catholics wear a marking of the cross in ash on their foreheads. The ashes symbolize our mortality – “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” But you might be wondering, where do the ashes for Ash Wednesday come from?
The placing of ashes on the forehead is a tradition with roots in the Old Testament. “I turned to the Lord God, to seek help, in prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” (Daniel 9:3).
Cremation and the Catholic Church
Catholics were to believe that man, created in the likeness of God, could not experience resurrection at the end of time unless their bodies were “intact.” Cremation was also banned to counter Roman pagan beliefs, which involved burning deceased bodies.
While most Catholics keep them on at least throughout Mass (if they receive them before or during Mass), a person could choose to rub them off immediately. And while many Catholics keep their Ash Wednesday ashes on until bedtime, there's no requirement that they do so.
The Bible neither favors nor forbids the process of cremation. Nevertheless, many Christians believe that their bodies would be ineligible for resurrection if they are cremated. This argument, though, is refuted by others on the basis of the fact that the body still decomposes over time after burial.
As we scatter his (her) ashes, we commit his(her) body to you and pray that he finds eternal rest for the glory of your holy name. Lord, forgive us where we have strayed during this grieving season. Fill us with thanksgiving for his well-lived and full life. In Jesus' name, we believe and pray, Amen.
The ash cross marking observers' foreheads is meant to represent mortality and penance for their sins. It is applied by a priest during a morning mass, often along with a small blessing: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." Many choose to keep it on all day.
“Whether it's a body in a casket or remains in an urn, the body is sacred because it's part of the whole human being,” said Allan Deck, a Jesuit friar and professor of pastoral theology at Loyola Marymount University.
The truth is, there is an essence of your loved one that lingers with the cremation ashes. While it may not be a consciousness, it is a little of their energy that stays behind, almost like someone's perfume that lingers in the air even after they have left the room.
Wood ash has been used to clean wounds, and modern studies have shown that it actually significantly speeds wound healing. The ash is also effective as an antiseptic. I've been told that wood ash is also used to treat some topical skin conditions.
Ash Wednesday – officially known as the Day of Ashes – is a day of repentance, when Christians confess their sins and profess their devotion to God. During a Mass, a priest places the ashes on a worshiper's forehead in the shape of a cross.
From a Christian perspective, people who have been cremated can certainly go to Heaven. First, the soul never dies, and when one accepts Christ as their personal savior it is the soul that receives eternal salvation and not the earthly body.
HAVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH SPOUSES, LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN
A. Yes to both. The reunion will take place, but not as husband and wife. We learn this in Jesus' explanation to the Sadducees: "When people rise from death, there will be no marriage.
What's really returned to you is the person's skeleton. Once you burn off all the water, soft tissue, organs, skin, hair, cremation container/casket, etc., what you're left with is bone. When complete, the bones are allowed to cool to a temperature that they can be handled and are placed into a processing machine.
Dividing up the ashes among family members is also forbidden. These injunctions are serious enough that, should a person “notoriously” request cremation and scattering of ashes, they are to be denied a Christian funeral.
According to canon law: "The ashes of a cremated body should be reverently disposed of by a minister in a churchyard or other burial ground in ... or on an area of land designated by the bishop for the purpose ... or at sea. The ordinary position therefore is that ashes are to be buried.
When Abraham talks to God in Genesis 18, asking him to spare Sodom, he says, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” In summary, the Bible uses dust and ashes to refer to mankind's humble origin, feeble composition, and temporal nature.