LDS Cremation view (as reported in The Provo Daily Herald Jan. 30, 2003 )

“There is a strong LDS culture here”, Larry and Susan Turpen ( local funeral home owners) said, noting that the perception is that the church seems to frown on cremation, however, that is not true.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be more understanding of cremations than people realize. Dale Bills, a spokesman for the LDS Church said, “For Latter-day Saints, normally cremation is not encouraged.  However, in some countries the law requires it. The family of the deceased must decide whether to cremate the body, taking into account any laws governing burial or cremation.” In other words, it’s not encouraged, but it’s not viewed as a sin, either. If an LDS person is cremated or has a member of their family cremated, the church maintains a nonjudgmental stance. “There is not anything in cremation that would cause a member of the church to be looked upon in disfavor in any way,” Bills said. And it won’t hurt that person’s chances in the afterlife, either. Some people may die in fires. Some may be lost at sea. Some may be cremated or buried. In all cases, LDS theology has the same view about the remains. “Our faith is that through Christ the blessings of the resurrection will be universal,” Bills said. “Body and spirit will be reunited for all who have lived.”

Joseph Fielding Smith in Answers to Gospel Questions 1957 Vol 2, pp.99-102  “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never taken a definite stand on this (cremation) question.  Presumably no edict in relation to it will ever be taken.  The matter of burial of the dead, as far as the Church is concerned, is an individual or a family matter.  If any member of the Church should state in his will, or make any general statement, that he wished to be cremated, the Church authorities would not step in and interfere but would consider it something with which they had no official concern.”

The General Church Handbook #1 p 156 Normally cremation is not encouraged or discouraged, however in some countries the law requires it.  Family of the deceased must decide whether to cremate, taking into account the laws governing such.  Where possible the body of a deceased person who is endowed should be dressed in temple clothing before the cremation…

I Have A Question Ensign Article 1991:  Cremation is a custom in various parts of the world. Do Latter-day Saints practice it?By Roger R. Keller, associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University (Condensed to get the gist of the answer)

It is true that many peoples practice cremation as a way of dealing with the bodies of their dead. It is an ancient practice….

Among the Jews, cremation was generally not practiced. The Mishnah forbids cremation as an act of idolatry.[7] …

Christianity likewise opposed cremation. This reluctance to cremate can basically be traced to the Jewish and Christian belief that when God created the body and all other things, he pronounced them “very good.” (Gen. 1:31.) The body was God’s creation and, according to Christians, it would rise with the spirit in the resurrection. Thus, to cremate it would be an act of disrespect before God.

A change occurred, however, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The unsanitary conditions of many cemeteries in western Europe caused people to reassess the way they treated their dead. Movements recommending cremation began around 1860, and in 1884 a judicial decision legalized cremation in Britain. France legalized it in 1889, and today it is legal in more than three-fourths of the world’s nations. The reasons are widely known—cremation is hygienic, requires little land, and is appropriate to rapidly growing urban areas.[9] Today, 10 percent of the dead are cremated in the United States, 20 percent in Canada, and 60 percent in Britain.[10]

Where do Latter-day Saints fit into this picture? We reaffirm the perspective that the body is good and, as a creation of God, is to be respected. But as the Church has moved into nations other than the United States, there has been recognition that cultural practices differ. Generally, Latter-day Saints in the Western world have felt that nothing should be done which is destructive to the body. That should be left to nature. Church leaders have counseled that only in unusual circumstances or where required by law should cremation take place.[11]

Ultimately, after consultation with the Lord and with priesthood leaders, the family must decide what to do. If the person has been endowed, some special instructions are available for the family from local priesthood leaders. Even if a body is cremated, a funeral service may be held… [12]

Where there is no overriding reason to cremate, burial is still the preferred method of handling our dead. In the end, however, we should remember that the resurrection will take place by the power of God, who created the heavens and the earth. Ultimately, whether a person’s body was buried at sea, destroyed in combat or an accident, intentionally cremated, or buried in a grave, the person will be resurrected.

No clearer picture of God’s restorative powers can be found than Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (see Ezek. 37), in which he sees the bones gathered together and clothed with sinews and flesh by the power of God. Nothing that is done to the body will in the end prevent the purpose of our Lord from being fulfilled. Our bodies and our spirits will finally be reunited in the resurrection of the dead.

7. The Mishnah, trans. Herbert Danby (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 437 (Abodah Zarah 1:3).

8. V. L. Reed, “Burial,” The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), 1:475-76.

9. Kaplan, p. 172. 10. Robert Fulton, “Cremation,” The World Book Encyclopedia, 22 vols. (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1986), 4:904-

11. General Handbook of Instructions, March 1989, 1-5.                 12. Ibid.

Other Thoughts and Research:

Cremation can save the costs of a cemetery plot, vault, burial fees, and headstone or marker if you like or you may bury the cremains and save on only the vault and fees (since the plot is so much smaller).

Those who are financially unable to afford the costs of burying their dead may be considering cremation (should be about $750 but can vary greatly).  We certainly would not want to be judging them.   Congregations’ fast offerings sometimes pay for body disposition and sometimes government welfare pays so in either case the family weighs very carefully between cremation and full body burial, which costs at the very least three times as much.

Consider as well that when we choose full body burial out of “respect for the body” God created do we also think nothing of embalming which involves sending the persons blood to the sewer system?  Does cremation express any less respect for the body than the socially acceptable custom of embalming?  In light of the scriptures on blood it may be worth examining this issue: Lev 17:11-14, Lev 19:26-28, Deut 12:16, Psalm 72:12-14

Upon the death of Sarah, Abraham purchased a cave as a family burial site. (Gen. 23:2-20; 49:29-32) Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrews, attached considerable importance to the proper burial of a person. For someone to be deprived of burial was very bad. (Jer. 14:16) God cursed King Jehoiakim, prophesying that the king would receive “the burial of a he-ass,” that is, his corpse would be dragged outside the city and left unburied—Jer. 22:18, 19; see also Jeremiah 25:32, 33; Isaiah 14:19, 20.

With this emphasis on proper burial, you can see why it might have been considered disgraceful for someone to be refused burial and the corpse just be burned up as trash. In connection with some crimes the Law required that the criminal be killed and his body burned. (Lev. 20:14; 21:9; Josh. 7:15, 25)

Similarly, when Jesus was on the earth, the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem’s wall, was a garbage dump where fires were kept burning to destroy refuse. Some bodies of dead criminals viewed as unfit for a decent burial were cast there. Jesus used this as a symbol of complete destruction without hope of resurrection.  See Mark 9:47, 48; Matt. 5:22.

Deuteronomy 21:23 says that the body of a man executed and hung on a stake should not be left overnight, but “but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day.” So this shows a criminal’s corpse might be disposed of by burial as well.

There is a vast difference between the corpse of an ancient criminal being burned with refuse and modern funeral procedures involving cremation. While the former was intended to express rejection and shame, the latter is arranged as a dignified alternative to a person’s returning to dust.

When the bodies of King Saul and his sons were rescued from the Philistines “All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones (cremains before they are ground to smaller pieces), and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.” (1 Sam. 31:12, 13)  David did not consider their burning the corpses as shameful. It was part of a respectful disposing of the dead: “…And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.” (2 Sam. 2:4-7).

The early Christians continued the  Jewish custom of burial in the earth or in tombs. Cremation at that time was associated with paganism. There is no New Testament command for or against either burial or cremation. Nor usually does burial instead of cremation help to distinguish true Christians from believers in paganism (such as that the soul doesn’t escape the body unless it is burned.

. The Bible shows that whether a dead body is returned to dust rapidly by fire or gradually by decay it is still true that “From dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.” (Gen. 3:19)  Regardless of choice of disposition the scriptures show that the body of a dead loved one should be dealt with in a dignified, respectful way.