For this is what the LORD says: "Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people," declares the LORD.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” It is a testimony to our family and friends that we believe our deceased loved ones are not in the casket. You shouldn't feel wrong about not wanting to attend the funeral, especially if you have a legitimate conflict.
Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 New International Version (NIV)
It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
The overall purpose of a Christian funeral is to help the deceased's soul enter into Heaven, while offering comfort and support for mourners.
I am not familiar every religion on earth, there may be one that does consider it a sin. But mainstream religions in the US do not require attendance at a funeral. There may be social or familial issues that arise from non-attendance, but it does not constitute a sin.
A: In the Bible, cremation is not labeled a sinful practice.
There is no law that says you must have a funeral when someone dies. It's a personal decision and there are many reasons why it might or might not be the right choice for you or your loved one.
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.
Christian funeral services take place in the church, offering friends and family a chance to mourn and pray for their loved one. Death and mourning in Christianity focus on the afterlife and heaven, meaning the funeral service is an important time to reflect on faith and mortality.
The Bible does not clearly define about cremation as a means to dispose of the dead. However, there is no scriptural prohibition of cremation in the New Testament. The Bible neither favors nor forbids the process of cremation.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died."
Burying the dead was the usual practice in Biblical times, and until recently, the preferred method for most people when they passed. Even though many Bible passages see cremation as necessary in only dire times, nowhere in the Bible is cremation directly condemned.
May God give to you and all whom you love his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you, and remain with you this day and for ever. Amen.
Instead, we want to reassure those who aren't crying that it's okay. Crying isn't a required step in grieving a loss; it is not a measure of how much you love the person who died, and you can still grieve healthily even if the tears don't flow.
Don't feel guilty about saying or doing something that causes a loved one to cry or crying yourself. Crying is healthy. If, however, you find yourself weeping uncontrollably (you're causing a scene or making other mourners uncomfortable), it is polite to excuse yourself until you regain control.
"Talking or being on your phone during the service is one of the most disrespectful things you could do at a funeral," says Myka Meier, Beaumont Etiquette founder and etiquette expert. It's important to be as present as possible. " Silence your phone, shut off your phone, or even just leave it behind.
Until fairly recently, Christianity agreed with Judaism and Islam that cremation was antithetical to their belief and custom. Today, however, most Christian churches have changed positions, and the percentage of Christians who are choosing cremation as an alternative to traditional burial practices is growing.
The reunion of believing loved ones
When Paul writes to believers who grieve the loss of a loved one, he offers them this comfort: “We who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17, emphasis mine).
A Christian funeral service usually occurs from about two to three days after death, up to a week after the person has passed away. Funerals may take place on any day of the week, though they generally do not occur on Sundays in Catholicism.
The newest guidelines from the Vatican state that Catholic people can be cremated, but their ashes should not be scattered at sea, and the urn should not be kept in the home.
While Jesus told Nicodemus, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), he did not set baptism as a hindrance to salvation but just the opposite. We so often judge things by human standards, but God is not restrained by our standards.
In the book of Genesis 3:19 the reference to ashes and dust reads, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
During the pandemic, demand has risen for direct cremations, and cremations followed at a different time by a commemorative event, with 14% of all deaths in 2020 resulting in a cremation that avoided a traditional funeral service. Of the nearly 700,000 registered deaths in 2020, this represents around 100,000 people.
Do we have to have a funeral? There are no laws to make you hold a ceremony to mark someone's death. But there are rules around what you do with their body. See the Australian Department of Human Services' What to do following a death website for details on what has to happen when someone dies.