No, we didn't already have this year's Seder and you missed it.
This is from last year. The photos remind me how much I have grown to love celebrating Passover with the Dusty Disciples.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Burial, Baptism, and Cremation
Several Sundays ago I had the opportunity to preach on “Baptism for the Dead,” a concept taken from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, (1 Cor 15:29). One particular religion has built an entire theology from incorrectly interpreting the words of Paul, while placing the passage in its proper historical and cultural context brings clarity to our understanding. In short,
1) Each person is created in the image of God. Human bodies retain their honor, dignity, and holiness even when the soul has left. The body of a person is not simply a container for holiness, rather it becomes sacred similar to a Torah scroll.
2) Burying a dead body is one of the 613 commandments, (Deut 21:22-23).
3) By example, Abraham bought the cave at Machpelah to bury Sarah (Gen 23:19), God buried Moses (Deut 34:6), and the disciples buried Jesus (John 20:42).
4) A body that is not buried is seen to be cursed (Deut 21:23) (Eccl 6:3) (Matt 24:29) (Rev 19:21). All that was left of the wicked Queen Jezebel when they went to bury her were her hands, feet and her head, (2 Kings 9:34).
5) Preparing a body for burial in considered a great mitzvah (good deed), but any person who touches a dead body becomes unclean making them unable to worship in the temple, (Num 19:13), i.e., approach the LORD.
6) Even walking over the grave of a dead body makes a person unclean, (Luke 11:44).
7) To be restored to a clean condition, a person must be baptized twice over seven days, (Num 19:11-12).
8) “Baptism for the dead” is simply the process of restoring those who have handled a dead body, in obedience to the commandments, back into a clean condition.
“Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?” (1 Cor 15:29)
- Who are the dead? = People who have died
- Who are baptized? = Those who have prepared a body for burial
- Why bother to prepare bodies for burial? = It is a commandment and a demonstration of faith in the resurrection.
A Demonstration of Faith In The Resurrection:
In addition to fulfilling a commandment, burying a dead body is a demonstration of faith in the resurrection. You might ask, “How is burial a demonstration of the resurrection?” In countries dominated by eastern religions that believe in reincarnation, such as Japan (Buddhists) and India (Hindus), cremation is the primary mode of handling a dead body, 90% and 70%, respectively. On the other hand, the Catholic Church banned cremation for over fifteen hundred years. “In general, burial followed the belief in one God and cremation followed the belief in multiple gods, or the weakening of belief in any god.” (Cremation or Burial?, Doron Kornbluth, 2010 Edition)
A belief that supports a return to life in a different body, does not require resurrection of the original body. Joseph is commended in the chapter of faith because he “gave orders concerning his bones,” (Heb 11:22). The orders Joseph gave were to return his bones back to Israel when the Exodus was over. Why back to Israel, because in Jewish belief the resurrection will begin in the land of Israel at the eastern gate of the temple.
In preparation for the lesson I gave at church, I ordered a book on Jewish burial practices, which, of course, arrived the week after the lesson. Doron Kornbluth, wrote the book “Cremation or Burial?” to argue against the current trend in America and Europe where 30% of Jewish deaths are being cremated. He argues effectively against all the typical non-religious myths: “Creation is not better for the environment, does not resolve mobility problems, and is often not significantly cheaper.” (Sentences shown in quotations are taken directly from the book.)
More importantly, Kornbluth argues the need for burial from a Torah perspective,
1) As already stated, burying a body is commanded by God (Deut 21:23), a body that is not buried defiles the land (Deut 21:23), and God demonstrated the importance of this commandment when He buried Moses, (Deut 34:6).
2) “Human beings contain a spark of holiness – and human bodies retain their honor, dignity, and holiness even when the soul has left…The body of a person is not simply a container for holiness…rather it itself becomes sacred…similar to a Torah scroll.” Jewish bodies are typically buried in a linen garment placed in a wooden casket. “Viewing the body is seen as disrespectful to the memory of the deceased.”
3) Kornbluth takes a page from Paul’s play book to say that “Judaism teaches that our bodies don’t actually belong to us. They belong to God and are on loan to us.” Since your body is not your own (1 Cor 6:19) , you do not have a say in how the body is handled after death. That decision is God’s call and He has commanded that a body be buried.
4) In Jewish thinking, the body and soul are united like husband and wife. Burying a body gives the soul of a person time to separate from the body. Some Jewish circles believe that the soul remains near the body until it sees the body start to decay (about the third day). Realizing that the body will not regenerate itself, the soul leaves the body to go toward the place of souls with God.
5) In scripture, the flesh is seen as the embodiment of sin, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh,” (Rom 7:18). The decay of the flesh is a natural process and seen by the rabbis as a picture of the final and complete removal of sin from a person’s life. When a person is embalmed, the natural process is slowed down and will greatly lengthen the time for removing sin. To cremate a person accelerates the process potentially bringing additional suffering to the soul.
6) The dead are a part of the community of the living because they laid the foundation of the world where the living reside. Cremating a body eliminates a person from the presence of the community. It’s a way of “sanitizing death,” making the dead as if they never existed. “Cremation reflects and promotes a worldwide view of death denial.” “By burying our dead together in communal cemeteries – rather than scattering one person’s ashes alone in nature – we declare to others and remind ourselves of the importance of community.”
7) “Eastern religions and ancient pagan Greeks viewed fire as a type of purifier…In monotheistic thought, it is water that purifies (mikveh). Fire punishes.” In scripture, fire is used for judgment: Moses commanded idols to be destroyed by fire, (Deut 7:25). Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire, (Gen 19), the prophets of Baal by fire on Mount Carmel, the future destruction of Babylon (Rev 17:16), the place of eternal torment (Rev 20:10). “Burning has historically been a primary means of eliminating Jews (the Inquisition and the Holocaust are only two examples.)” For the Jew, “Choosing burial declares that the forced cremations of the victims of the Holocaust were an unforgivable attempt to destroy the identity of millions of Jews, declaring that they – and thus we – had never existed.”
The question that naturally comes up, "What about the people who die in fires or where burned in the ovens of Auschwitz?" Like the thief on the cross who did not have the opportunity to be baptized, the exception should not be taught as the rule. Some individuals are not given the choice. To the ability we do have the opportunity, we should follow the pattern set forth for us in the Bible.
Scott
1) Each person is created in the image of God. Human bodies retain their honor, dignity, and holiness even when the soul has left. The body of a person is not simply a container for holiness, rather it becomes sacred similar to a Torah scroll.
2) Burying a dead body is one of the 613 commandments, (Deut 21:22-23).
3) By example, Abraham bought the cave at Machpelah to bury Sarah (Gen 23:19), God buried Moses (Deut 34:6), and the disciples buried Jesus (John 20:42).
4) A body that is not buried is seen to be cursed (Deut 21:23) (Eccl 6:3) (Matt 24:29) (Rev 19:21). All that was left of the wicked Queen Jezebel when they went to bury her were her hands, feet and her head, (2 Kings 9:34).
5) Preparing a body for burial in considered a great mitzvah (good deed), but any person who touches a dead body becomes unclean making them unable to worship in the temple, (Num 19:13), i.e., approach the LORD.
6) Even walking over the grave of a dead body makes a person unclean, (Luke 11:44).
7) To be restored to a clean condition, a person must be baptized twice over seven days, (Num 19:11-12).
8) “Baptism for the dead” is simply the process of restoring those who have handled a dead body, in obedience to the commandments, back into a clean condition.
“Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?” (1 Cor 15:29)
- Who are the dead? = People who have died
- Who are baptized? = Those who have prepared a body for burial
- Why bother to prepare bodies for burial? = It is a commandment and a demonstration of faith in the resurrection.
A Demonstration of Faith In The Resurrection:
In addition to fulfilling a commandment, burying a dead body is a demonstration of faith in the resurrection. You might ask, “How is burial a demonstration of the resurrection?” In countries dominated by eastern religions that believe in reincarnation, such as Japan (Buddhists) and India (Hindus), cremation is the primary mode of handling a dead body, 90% and 70%, respectively. On the other hand, the Catholic Church banned cremation for over fifteen hundred years. “In general, burial followed the belief in one God and cremation followed the belief in multiple gods, or the weakening of belief in any god.” (Cremation or Burial?, Doron Kornbluth, 2010 Edition)
A belief that supports a return to life in a different body, does not require resurrection of the original body. Joseph is commended in the chapter of faith because he “gave orders concerning his bones,” (Heb 11:22). The orders Joseph gave were to return his bones back to Israel when the Exodus was over. Why back to Israel, because in Jewish belief the resurrection will begin in the land of Israel at the eastern gate of the temple.
In preparation for the lesson I gave at church, I ordered a book on Jewish burial practices, which, of course, arrived the week after the lesson. Doron Kornbluth, wrote the book “Cremation or Burial?” to argue against the current trend in America and Europe where 30% of Jewish deaths are being cremated. He argues effectively against all the typical non-religious myths: “Creation is not better for the environment, does not resolve mobility problems, and is often not significantly cheaper.” (Sentences shown in quotations are taken directly from the book.)
More importantly, Kornbluth argues the need for burial from a Torah perspective,
1) As already stated, burying a body is commanded by God (Deut 21:23), a body that is not buried defiles the land (Deut 21:23), and God demonstrated the importance of this commandment when He buried Moses, (Deut 34:6).
2) “Human beings contain a spark of holiness – and human bodies retain their honor, dignity, and holiness even when the soul has left…The body of a person is not simply a container for holiness…rather it itself becomes sacred…similar to a Torah scroll.” Jewish bodies are typically buried in a linen garment placed in a wooden casket. “Viewing the body is seen as disrespectful to the memory of the deceased.”
3) Kornbluth takes a page from Paul’s play book to say that “Judaism teaches that our bodies don’t actually belong to us. They belong to God and are on loan to us.” Since your body is not your own (1 Cor 6:19) , you do not have a say in how the body is handled after death. That decision is God’s call and He has commanded that a body be buried.
4) In Jewish thinking, the body and soul are united like husband and wife. Burying a body gives the soul of a person time to separate from the body. Some Jewish circles believe that the soul remains near the body until it sees the body start to decay (about the third day). Realizing that the body will not regenerate itself, the soul leaves the body to go toward the place of souls with God.
5) In scripture, the flesh is seen as the embodiment of sin, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh,” (Rom 7:18). The decay of the flesh is a natural process and seen by the rabbis as a picture of the final and complete removal of sin from a person’s life. When a person is embalmed, the natural process is slowed down and will greatly lengthen the time for removing sin. To cremate a person accelerates the process potentially bringing additional suffering to the soul.
6) The dead are a part of the community of the living because they laid the foundation of the world where the living reside. Cremating a body eliminates a person from the presence of the community. It’s a way of “sanitizing death,” making the dead as if they never existed. “Cremation reflects and promotes a worldwide view of death denial.” “By burying our dead together in communal cemeteries – rather than scattering one person’s ashes alone in nature – we declare to others and remind ourselves of the importance of community.”
7) “Eastern religions and ancient pagan Greeks viewed fire as a type of purifier…In monotheistic thought, it is water that purifies (mikveh). Fire punishes.” In scripture, fire is used for judgment: Moses commanded idols to be destroyed by fire, (Deut 7:25). Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire, (Gen 19), the prophets of Baal by fire on Mount Carmel, the future destruction of Babylon (Rev 17:16), the place of eternal torment (Rev 20:10). “Burning has historically been a primary means of eliminating Jews (the Inquisition and the Holocaust are only two examples.)” For the Jew, “Choosing burial declares that the forced cremations of the victims of the Holocaust were an unforgivable attempt to destroy the identity of millions of Jews, declaring that they – and thus we – had never existed.”
The question that naturally comes up, "What about the people who die in fires or where burned in the ovens of Auschwitz?" Like the thief on the cross who did not have the opportunity to be baptized, the exception should not be taught as the rule. Some individuals are not given the choice. To the ability we do have the opportunity, we should follow the pattern set forth for us in the Bible.
Scott
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Seek First the Kingdom - Part 1
“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3)
The books of the prophets begin with a statement in Joshua on the Law of Moses, “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful where ever you go,” (Josh 1:7). The last book of prophecy concludes with a similar statement from Malichi, “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel,” (Mal 4:4). From these two passages, the sages understood that the purpose of the prophets was to illuminate and reinforce the teachings of Moses.
The Book of Acts begins with Jesus “speaking things concerning the kingdom of God.” Twenty-eight chapters later, Acts concludes with Paul, “preaching the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:30-31), from his rented quarters in Rome. Following the pattern of the prophets, we can suggest from the book of Acts that the primary work of the Church is to teach "the kingdom of God."
Despite this pattern in Acts, mainline Protestant denominations more often focus on "faith" and "belief" to the detriment of teachings on the kingdom and related principles conveyed in scripture. A simple word comparison from the NASB will show that the kingdom is mentioned in the gospel accounts far more often than salvation, faith, or even more than belief.
Subject________ Total_____ Gospels/Acts_______ Epistles
Kingdom_______ 165_________ 136____________ 28
Salvation________ 51_________12_____________ 39
Saved__________ 51_________ 30_____________ 21
Savior_________ 24__________ 5_____________ 19
Believe________ 245________ 124(81-John)______ 121
Faith_________ 308_________ 53_____________ 255
The word comparison suggests that a fundamental change of emphasis occurred in the Greek Text as the story moved from the gospel accounts to the epistles. “Faith” came to displace the prior emphasis of Jesus on the kingdom and obedience to the commandments that reveal the kingdom. In an effort to provide balance to the teachings of Paul James wrote, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead," (James 2:17).
The Church has long attributed the change in emphasis found in Paul's epistles to the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. While the death of Jesus on the cross stands as the pivotal event in history and fundamental to the foundation of the believer’s faith, it did not change the message spoken by Jesus Who continued “speaking…things concerning the kingdom.” The priority of Jesus remained unchanged after the cross as it had been before the cross, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” (Matt 6:34).
With great caution and inadequate research, I suggest the following. The perceived change in emphasis with Paul’s epistles might better be explained by a change in audience, not doctrine, as the Church moved from a Jewish audience into the Gentle world. While the average Jew had knowledge of God, having been “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Rom 3:2), Gentiles were largely “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,” (Eph 2:12). Many gentiles who heard the preaching of Paul simply had little or no prior foundation in the world of God.
The Roman world was far different than the world of the first century Jew. The Roman Empire was a polytheistic pagan world, which made the direct transition to faith in Jesus as the Messiah a much broader and more difficult step than for the Jew. A testimony to this difficulty is recorded in the book of Acts where Paul preached to the men of Athens about the one true God, the need for repentance, and the coming judgment, (Acts 17:22-31). Scripture does not record if Paul talked to the men of Athens about Jesus or the kingdom. I believe that such a discussion would have been to difficult in the beginning as some dismissed Paul after they heard him preach about the resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:32).
The books of the prophets begin with a statement in Joshua on the Law of Moses, “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful where ever you go,” (Josh 1:7). The last book of prophecy concludes with a similar statement from Malichi, “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel,” (Mal 4:4). From these two passages, the sages understood that the purpose of the prophets was to illuminate and reinforce the teachings of Moses.
The Book of Acts begins with Jesus “speaking things concerning the kingdom of God.” Twenty-eight chapters later, Acts concludes with Paul, “preaching the kingdom of God” (Acts 28:30-31), from his rented quarters in Rome. Following the pattern of the prophets, we can suggest from the book of Acts that the primary work of the Church is to teach "the kingdom of God."
Despite this pattern in Acts, mainline Protestant denominations more often focus on "faith" and "belief" to the detriment of teachings on the kingdom and related principles conveyed in scripture. A simple word comparison from the NASB will show that the kingdom is mentioned in the gospel accounts far more often than salvation, faith, or even more than belief.
Subject________ Total_____ Gospels/Acts_______ Epistles
Kingdom_______ 165_________ 136____________ 28
Salvation________ 51_________12_____________ 39
Saved__________ 51_________ 30_____________ 21
Savior_________ 24__________ 5_____________ 19
Believe________ 245________ 124(81-John)______ 121
Faith_________ 308_________ 53_____________ 255
The word comparison suggests that a fundamental change of emphasis occurred in the Greek Text as the story moved from the gospel accounts to the epistles. “Faith” came to displace the prior emphasis of Jesus on the kingdom and obedience to the commandments that reveal the kingdom. In an effort to provide balance to the teachings of Paul James wrote, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead," (James 2:17).
The Church has long attributed the change in emphasis found in Paul's epistles to the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. While the death of Jesus on the cross stands as the pivotal event in history and fundamental to the foundation of the believer’s faith, it did not change the message spoken by Jesus Who continued “speaking…things concerning the kingdom.” The priority of Jesus remained unchanged after the cross as it had been before the cross, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” (Matt 6:34).
With great caution and inadequate research, I suggest the following. The perceived change in emphasis with Paul’s epistles might better be explained by a change in audience, not doctrine, as the Church moved from a Jewish audience into the Gentle world. While the average Jew had knowledge of God, having been “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Rom 3:2), Gentiles were largely “strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,” (Eph 2:12). Many gentiles who heard the preaching of Paul simply had little or no prior foundation in the world of God.
The Roman world was far different than the world of the first century Jew. The Roman Empire was a polytheistic pagan world, which made the direct transition to faith in Jesus as the Messiah a much broader and more difficult step than for the Jew. A testimony to this difficulty is recorded in the book of Acts where Paul preached to the men of Athens about the one true God, the need for repentance, and the coming judgment, (Acts 17:22-31). Scripture does not record if Paul talked to the men of Athens about Jesus or the kingdom. I believe that such a discussion would have been to difficult in the beginning as some dismissed Paul after they heard him preach about the resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:32).
Some of the men of Athens did believe at Paul's preaching, (Acts 17:34). Belief in the One True God became the necessary first step for Gentiles who had been immersed in a pagan world. Teaching about the kingdom and obedience to the commandments of the kingdom had to be proceeded by belief in the Father and Jesus as the Christ. Belief became the foundation on which the kingdom could be built.
Paul’s primary calling was to turn the hearts of polytheistic pagans into people who believed in the one true God. Once belief was achieved, it was reasonable to expect that new believers would begin to learn about the kingdom, “for Moses from ancient generations…is read in the synagogues every Sabbath,” (Acts 15:20-21). The words of James suggests that learning would continue. As strange as this suggestion might first appear, once a person believes, the emphasis of their study should move toward understanding the kingdom so that the principles of the kingdom might be lived out in their life.
An even more radical thought follows. Once a person comes to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the the gospel accounts and Acts should be studied in equal measure, if not greater measure, than the epistles of Paul, which is not the case in most mainline Protestant churches today. The gospel accounts present a clearer picture of the kingdom, as it is frequently written, "The kingdom of heaven is like...." Paul himself demonstrated this priority of teaching the kingdom when he arrived in Rome and was received by an audience that was primarily, “the leading men of the Jews,” (Acts 28:17).
“When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.” (Acts 28:23)
As Paul had the opportunity and time to minister to the Gentiles, he preached the kingdom.
“He stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.” (Acts 28:30-31)
Notice the sequence of Luke’s words indicate that Jesus was taught by Paul, both to the Jew and the Gentile, in the context of the kingdom and not separate from the kingdom.
“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matt 6:13)
Scott
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