Dealing with death.

[floo]

I would sooner dead bodies were used for something useful like medical research rather than being buried, which I consider a waste of space, which could be put to better use. If cremated the energy created should be used in an environmentally friendly way to heat public institutions like hospitals.

[ad_orientem]

That's heathen.

[Robbie]

It's sensible Ad-O. I can't see any Christian grounds for objection.
Crematoriums already divert the heat they generate towards heating places, should be done more.

Thinking about it a bit more, Ad_o it's not that bodies are burned deliberately to generate energy, if they are cremated anyway might as well make good use of the heat produced.

[Gordon]

I would sooner dead bodies were used for something useful like medical research rather than being buried, which I consider a waste of space, which could be put to better use. If cremated the energy created should be used in an environmentally friendly way to heat public institutions like hospitals.

The problem is that the energy used to cremate a body, between 1400-1800 degrees F, uses more energy than would be released by the body if corpses were used as fuel. 'Since it takes two to four hours at temperatures ranging from 1,400 and 2,100 F, or 760 and 1,150 C, the estimated energy required to cremate one body is roughly equal to the amount of fuel required to drive 4,800 miles, or 7,725 kilometers.'

https://www.desmogblog.com/cremation-ignites-global-warming-atmospheric-conflagration

[Robbie]

Wow! Never knew that. Back to the drawing board then.
Eco-friendly burials with biodegradable coffins maybe.

[Rhiannon]

That's what I've opted for, in a woodland burial ground.

My friend told me this evening that her dad has just died. He asked to leave his body to scientific research but they can only take so many and apparently there are more people who ask for their bodies to be used in that way than they can take so he's being cremated.

[Nearly Sane]

Wow! Never knew that. Back to the drawing board then.
Eco-friendly burials with biodegradable coffins maybe.

If we still have cremations, it makes sense to use the heat so it isn't wasted, but it's not in itself a green approach.


http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/Dead-Bodies-for-Renewable-Energy.html

[Robbie]

That's what I've opted for, in a woodland burial ground.

My friend told me this evening that her dad has just died. He asked to leave his body to scientific research but they can only take so many and apparently there are more people who ask for their bodies to be used in that way than they can take so he's being cremated.

I would like a woodland burial ground for myself too,not that I'll be around to appreciate it  . Pushing up daisies appeals.

[ad_orientem]

It's sensible Ad-O. I can't see any Christian grounds for objection.
Crematoriums already divert the heat they generate towards heating places, should be done more.

Thinking about it a bit more, Ad_o it's not that bodies are burned deliberately to generate energy, if they are cremated anyway might as well make good use of the heat produced.

Burial facing East. That is the Christian way, expressing our hope in the resurrection.

[Sassy]

The thread has dealt more with the 'seeing the corpse' after death than dealing with death.

I have seen  the deceased bodies of the babies, teenagers and elderly and not so elderly in our family.

I chose not to see my brother who died in January because I wanted to remember him alive.

It is the coldness and emptiness that I find real - I know the person has left the body and the shell of whom they once were
is now all that is left.

I did not go to see my nephew who was murdered. He was in the same hospital where my sister died when she suffered a brain haemorrhage. He died from head injuries after a beating. 
I think the worse part of living is losing loved ones.

It is life force of whom the person was I miss most and whilst the body death it is just missing them.

The man loved his wife and did not want to let her be manhandled by strangers and that I understand.
Death has taught me that life is for living. Whilst we mourn our loss we should make the most of the time afforded us and live
it to the full. I have no doubt life does not end with the physical death.
 

[floo]

Burial facing East. That is the Christian way, expressing our hope in the resurrection.

A silly superstition!

[Anchorman]

Burial facing East. That is the Christian way, expressing our hope in the resurrection.

It wasn't always the Christian way, having never been advocated in Scripture.
There are whole cemetaries of Coptic - Orthodox - Christians from the second to the fifth centuries who were mummmified and placed in elaborate cartonage coffins with a few bits and pieces - There was one next to the dig I was engaged in at Tanis - in fact we had to rebury a few who were buried on top of a foundation deposit, and they did not all face the same direction.
Also, in the Saxon and Celtic traditions which existed till the sixth century throughout Europe - and parts of Norway and Sweden, when they were evangelised - Christian burials were found facing various points of the compass, and evidence which confirms Christian cremations have been found in Byzantium dating to as late as the ninth century.

[Robbie]

The bereaved must be able to decide what they want to do with the remains of their deceased loved ones taking into account any wishes expressed by the person who has died. Anchor's post is  informative about what Christians did over the ages but as he says there are no hard and fast rules.

Your post sassy is quite moving.

[floo]

My husband has always reckoned a used potato sack is good enough for my corpse!

[Robbie]

 
I think that would be biodegradable too, good idea floo.
There are cultures bury their dead wrapped up in cloth,think it isn't allowed here.

[floo]

I think that would be biodegradable too, good idea floo.
There are cultures bury their dead wrapped up in cloth,think it isn't allowed here.

I am happy to be chopped up and fed to carnivorous animals.

[Nearly Sane]

I think that would be biodegradable too, good idea floo.
There are cultures bury their dead wrapped up in cloth,think it isn't allowed here.

http://shrouds4all.blogspot.co.uk

[Robbie]

Excellent!

[floo]

I don't fancy the idea of being buried.

[Robbie]

You can be cremated in one of those shrouds floo,you'd be doing the wild animals out of some meat but there's always a down side  .

[floo]

You can be cremated in one of those shrouds floo,you'd be doing the wild animals out of some meat but there's always a down side  .

Well when I kick the bucket my kids will have the final say as to what is done with my remains. I don't want there to be a wake or any fuss when I go. I want them just to remember how I was in life and giggle!

[Sassy]

A silly superstition!

It isn't about superstition?

The Temple in Jerusalem had an eastern gate and it is believed the Glory of God the  Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) would appear through the eastern gate.  There is a lot more to it and you can read up on it. Even our church alters are usually facing East. Because they believed the Messiah replaces the gate  you have to enter by him.

Ezekiel 44:1-3King James Version (KJV)

44 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

2 Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

Christ became the gate by which all men enter into the presence of God.  So there is a lot of reasons why a person would be buried facing the east. I am sure you can look it all up.

[floo]

It isn't about superstition?

The Temple in Jerusalem had an eastern gate and it is believed the Glory of God the  Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) would appear through the eastern gate.  There is a lot more to it and you can read up on it. Even our church alters are usually facing East. Because they believed the Messiah replaces the gate  you have to enter by him.

Ezekiel 44:1-3King James Version (KJV)

44 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

2 Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

Christ became the gate by which all men enter into the presence of God.  So there is a lot of reasons why a person would be buried facing the east. I am sure you can look it all up.

Just because something is in the Bible doesn't make it credible or sensible.

[Robbie]

It does show Ad-o's position to be understandable from his point of view though.

[floo]

It does show Ad-o's position to be understandable from his point of view though.

But it still can be questioned.