Mental Health and the Church

I recently Not Quite Fine: Mental Health, Faith, and Showing Up for One Another, by Carlene Hill Byron, and following are several quotes worth considering:

22- Our conversation in the United states today suggests that we are living through a growing mental health crisis. But what if the crisis is less about our health and more about how we think about it? What if we’ve so dramatically changed our expectations about mental health that most of us can’t meet the new norm?

26- We understand that to be “mentally ill” is to vary from some standard of mental health. Easy enough. But what is an appropriate standard of mental health? …Ordinary is always whatever is expected or allowable in a given time or place. That means that changing cultural norms can redefine what was once normal as mental illness.

54- People with mental health problems seek help among the faithful for several reasons:

We hope someone can convince us that our suffering has meaning.

We want assurance that our difficult lives have purpose.

We want to experience ourselves as persons who have value—persons who have been assigned an importance that often feels intangible by a God we cannot see, and who desperately crave recognition as valued individuals within the physically present body of Christ.

We are looking for a place where we can belong, even when our mental health problems make us prickly and painful to be with.

We are, with all the faithful, looking for “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

89- Mental health problems also tend to isolate people. Many of us, including those with mental health diagnoses, are more likely to draw inward than reach out in our most difficult moments. Stanley Hauerwas writes, “The dangerous thing about mental illness is how it tempts those so afflicted to think they are completely on their own, isolated in their distress.” But we are also likely to be, in fact, more alone than many others.

98- People who can suffer silently and invisibly are welcome in any congregation… We’re even more happy to honor pain once it has been healed. Those of us whose long-lasting suffering limits our lives often have a different experience, in church as elsewhere. This is unfortunate, because when the body behaves as it is designed and called to function, our mental health problems can diminish to some degree. When people feel loved, cared for, and safe, our mental health symptoms may become less challenging. Sometimes the symptoms diminish. Sometimes they are just less overwhelming when we live in a warm community of people who care.

99- When we select as “high potential” members only those who could help quickly multiply the congregation, we risk filling the community with what pediatric epidemiologist W. Thomas Boyce describes as “dandelions”—the kind of people who, like the bright summer flower, do all right under almost any conditions. But we’re likely to miss what he calls “orchid” people—those whose lives are marked by extremely high potential for both outstanding contributions and catastrophic failure because of their extreme reactivity to their surroundings.

100- William Nash said that the people who are most likely to overcome mental health challenges are those who found relationships where “somebody listened to them, really listened… without becoming disgusted, without judging,” and still loved them. For the sufferer to experience that love as genuine, Nash said, “it can’t really be a helping professional like me who’s paid to come in and give you 50 minutes of an hour.” The love that heals is not for sale.

108- When we let ourselves define others by their difficulties, as if these are immutable, we excise God and ourselves from the transforming work God empowers people to do.

123- The quietness and rest that people with mental health problems need is also something we all need… Most of us require more stillness than our cultures are generally willing to give. For us to live according to the pace and drive of contemporary Western culture is for us to burn through our neural circuitry in ways that lead to disruptive and disorderly crises. For us to honor God with our lives, we need to live in ways that may seem out of step with many around us.

129- Successfully managing feelings requires knowing that feelings aren’t less than thoughts; they’re simply different from thoughts. Without feelings, we would miss some of the information God has encoded into our systems of gathering and responding to God’s world… Many feelings are at the core of what allows us to connect and bond in human community.

144-145- For an individual with mental health problems, the special challenge is to discern the useful feelings—those that come in response to a situation and give clues to personal values and purpose—from the feelings that simply come like storm surges. There is rarely any meaning to be found in the latter. All that can be done is to set the feeling aside and do the next thing. But without good discernment, a person risks either ignoring big feelings that have useful information or attending excessively to feelings whose only meaning is to show that one’s body is out of whack right now.

181- What people with mental health problems generally need from churches is not mental health treatment but Christian friendship and the kinds of caring that can emerge only among those committed to each other. Faith communities are designed by God as places where people can belong, find meaning and purpose in life, be recognized as valued persons in the sight of God and other people, and find hope for the days to come. These kinds of caring don’t require professional support. In fact, they happen most effectively when they are provided long term by nonprofessionals.

***

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. Image courtesy of Amazon.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

In the Right Place

One sleepless night this week as I was mulling over a problem, I had the thought, “Maybe I just don’t have enough faith for this situation.” That led me down the self-condemning path of feeling inferior to other Christians. However, a visit to 1 Corinthians 12 corrected my thinking.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills” (vv. 4-11).

The gift of faith here isn’t referring to salvation but to a supernatural dependence on God for things that seem unlikely by human standards. We don’t all have this degree of faith, but we don’t need to feel bad about that, because it is God who gives the gifts as He sees fit. By the same Spirit, those who have the gift of faith may not have the gifts of wisdom or knowledge. So although they may believe that something is possible through God’s providence, they may not know if it’s not the wisest choice in a particular situation. Both perspectives are needed.

The Apostle Paul goes on to say that every body part is necessary. There are no unnecessary gifts or superfluous people in the church. Those who have the gifts of service or administration can’t say, “The church doesn’t need me.” Nor can those with the gift of teaching say, “We don’t need you here.” We are all needed for the proper function of the Body of Christ. (I won’t get into the issue of dispensationalism and whether all the gifts listed in Scripture are still active today, except to say that people in other countries seem to experience a lot more of that than we do in our Western, scientific mindset.)

At the end of chapter 12, Paul does seem to give a bit of ranking of the gifts and refers to “the higher gifts” (v. 31). Commentaries differ on how exactly to interpret this, but it cannot contradict the preceding verses that say there is no room for envy or contempt based on what gifts each person has. That can sometimes be hard in the church, where the more visible gifts tend to be valued more. We even hear it in our common lingo when we refer to someone having a “charismatic personality,” meaning that they tend to be visionary, influential, and popular leaders. But according to Scripture, all Christians have charisma, which is the Greek word for gifts used in verse 4 and in Romans 12:6. Personality is not necessarily related to spiritual gifts.

Those of us who are gifted for behind the scenes work in the church are no less important than the ones who are on the platform every week. Each of us with our unique gifts and abilities are needed for the church to flourish. So be encouraged in whatever role you can fill in your local church—God has you there for a reason. As Paul wrote in Romans 12:6-8:

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

What Does the Future Hold?

This is a post that may raise more questions than it answers, because the Bible doesn’t present clear explanation. Here’s where I’m coming from: I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently in the area of autism and neurodiversity, some written by Christians and some from non-Christians. One common feature between the two is that much of the world has a very limited and limiting view of “normal.” The “medical model” of disability attempts to define normalcy based on statistical prevalence, and then focuses on curing or normalizing the individual who doesn’t quite fit the mold. On the other hand, the “social model” of disability views disability as a difference that can be accommodated by how society interacts with the individual’s unique traits. (Other models have been proposed by some, but I’ll stick with these two for now.)

We could discuss biblical views of personhood, the image of God, the reason for suffering, and how the church should seek to love and serve “the least of these” (Matt. 24:31-46). Those are all worthy topics. However, I want to zero in on just one aspect of so-called disabilities: what is eternal life in the Kingdom of God going to look like for those who are considered disabled in this life? We aren’t given a lot of details in Scripture, but here are a few things we do know:

“So [Jesus] fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and He healed them” (Matt. 4:24).

“But someone will ask ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ …what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other gain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each seed its own body… For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:35-38, 53).

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side… Then He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:19-20, 27).

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Rev. 21:4-5a).

There are illnesses and handicaps that God will completely remove. Those things that cause us pain and tears will be changed. However, Jesus’ resurrection body still bore the marks of His crucifixion. What might that imply for our new bodies? Perhaps, following the grain/plant metaphor, our new bodies will be so radically different that there’s no comparison. However, it seems to me that the fact of a bodily resurrection indicates some continuity between the bodies we have now and those we will have.

What about genetic traits that have radically shaped our experience? Some researches and parents have noted that people with Down Syndrome tend to be happier on average than other people. Will God recreate all of us with the “correct” number and type of chromosomes? Or will some retain an extra chromosome but no longer have any detrimental effects from it? Will those born with dwarfism then be six feet tall?

What about the traits that cause a person on the autism spectrum to notice the tiny details of some object, or the savant that has trouble communicating but creates beautiful music? Why would God remove anything that points out or contributes to the glory of His creation? Wouldn’t those traits be retained, but probably without the difficulties in communication or tendency toward meltdowns when overstimulated?

How about personality traits? I don’t think introverts will become extroverts or vice versa, but perhaps we’ll all become ambiverts—able to respond in the appropriate way in every situation. I see no reason why the diversity of God’s people should become muted and monotone. If anything, I think we’ll see how truly creative God has been in making us each unique. We can retain our own interests, abilities, and gifts, but without any of the sinful tendencies that may be associated with them.

If we look back to Genesis 1-2, God created Adam and Eve, put them in Eden, and gave them meaningful work in tending the garden. We tend to forget that fact when we read Revelation and its descriptions of the New Jerusalem. I know I’ve read that and thought “I don’t want to live in a city forever.” I think we can be assured that the “new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13) will be far better than anything we can currently imagine, like our favorite vacation spot enjoyed not only with our favorite people but with our Creator and Redeemer—the One who chose us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), knitted us together in our mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13), and knows us each by name (John 10:3). Since we know that, we can trust Him with all the details of our future bodies, homes, and the universe.

“To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7b).

***

A few resources I’ve found interesting:

“Wheelchairs in Heaven” -Joni Eareckson Tada

“God’s Power in Disability” -Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

“Is Disability Normal?” -The Gospel Coalition

 

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Remember This

In a recent episode of the Russell Moore podcast he interviewed Scott Sauls, who shared about a time he was out for a walk and heard himself say aloud, “You suck.” As he reflected on what had led to that declaration, he realized he was remembering something he had done in high school that hurt a friend, and for which he had apologized repeatedly. His experience of self-condemnation for past actions is probably one that many of us can relate to.

The Apostle Paul gives us an interesting panorama of human experience. On one hand he makes statements like this:

“I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:12-13, 15).

But he also says:

“…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

But what exactly is it he says he is forgetting? The first part of Philippians 3 is the recitation of his Jewish “pedigree” as one who can claim “as to righteousness under the law [I was] blameless” (v. 6). It was stuff that most of the people who knew him would consider admirable. When you compare Philippians with 1 Timothy, Paul doesn’t really seem to be saying, “Just forget everything about your past and live in the present.” I’m coming to understand it more as “Remember your past but keep it in proper perspective.” That fits better with his statements in Ephesians:

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh… remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promised, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12).

When we consider the past, there are several things we need to remember:

1) Apart from Christ, any good that we have done or accomplishments we’ve achieved are likely to be tied to pride and self-righteousness. Therefore we need to remember that our good works cannot save us and are in fact nothing compared to Christ’s perfection.

2) If we are now Christians, any sin that we have committed (past or present) is forgiven and covered by Jesus’ death on our behalf. Therefore we can remember that we are loved, accepted, and free from condemnation.

3) God uses our sin and weakness to remind us of our need for Him. He uses all things for the good of conforming us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:28-29), and in our weakness His grace becomes evident so that He gets the glory and not us (2 Cor. 12:9).

I often remind myself of Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” However, I don’t always remember that it follows after Paul’s description in Romans 7 of the struggle:

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from his body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (7:21-25).

Theologians disagree as to whether this is referring to one’s experience before conversion or after conversion. (I agree with John Piper that it is post-conversion.) However, I think the greater point is that only in Christ can we find freedom from condemnation. It takes a lifetime of learning and growth to “put on the new self” (Eph. 4:24) and to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). In the meantime, shame and guilt will continue to rear up in us—from painful memories, from the influence of the world, or from the accusations of the devil. When they do, we can cling to the truth that our sins are forgiven and God still loves us. “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Heb. 8:12 quoted from Jer. 31:34). His love will never fail.

“My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:20-23).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Chance or Chosen?

I was listening to a podcast that happened to include two Jews and a Christian. The Christian made the comment, “I’m a Christian because they got to me first. If I’d been born in some other culture, who knows what I would be.” Perhaps he was just trying to be avoid being antagonistic. But while there is a small grain of truth in what he said—we are each born into a specific time and place and are influenced by our culture—it seemed like he was Christian in name only. If he truly believed that Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life, I don’t think he would so quickly write off his faith as a cultural coincidence. If we believe that God chose us “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), then our faith is not simply a cultural artifact. Unfortunately, his perspective is all too common. We who have grown up in a relatively Christianized country may be inclined to adopt a cultural Christianity that has very little relation to faith in God and obedience to His will as revealed in the Bible.

Not long after hearing that podcast I was reading my Bible and found myself in Ezekiel 3, where the prophet is told by God:

“If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul” (18-19).

In other words, “If you know the truth and don’t warn people, you will suffer for their condemnation.” While we might wish to apply that just to prophets or pastors, every believer has an obligation to share the good news of faith in Jesus Christ with those we love (Matt. 28:18-20). Failure to do so won’t make us lose our salvation, but it will certainly bring us grief when friends die without knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Those who do know Jesus in this way will not glibly say, “The Christians got to me first.”

The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (2:1). Jesus said that some who hear the truth will immediately reject it, others may initially seem to respond but later fall away, some let the truth get choked out by the stresses of life, but a few go on to bear great fruit (Luke 8:4-15). Then Jesus goes on to say that those who have received the light of truth will not hide that light from others (16). “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away” (18).

There are those who call themselves Christians who have no clue what it means to live by faith in Christ alone or to desire to follow Him as Lord. What faith they think they have will be taken away, because it is a faith in themselves or in their cultural upbringing, not in God. The Apostle Paul wrote,

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them… So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:19-21).

Although we can’t save ourselves by our works, we can choose to reject God’s offer of salvation and live in denial of His authority over our lives. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10). Part of the good work that God has prepared for us is to bear witness to Him and to give a reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet. 3:15), not just attributing it to an accident of nature or nurture.

Let us give credit where credit is due and not neglect to give credit to the God who chose us.

“For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Organizational Pride and Shame

As I’ve read the various reports coming out of the Southern Baptist Convention (including the 288-page report from Guidepost Solutions), it has struck me how many of their decisions were based on the image they wanted to present to the world. Up until recent years, the SBC might have been described as growing, influential, mission-minded, and reaching the world for Christ. And yet under the surface there was abuse, deception, and decay. The safety and security of vulnerable men, women, and children was sacrificed to the idol of the institution. Many Protestants, while watching similar events play out in the Catholic Church in prior decades, knew that the story wasn’t going to end there. Similar themes of the abuse of authority played out in the Mars Hill Church downfall. Russell Moore commented in the July 2022 issue of Christianity Today,

“[I]nstitutions seeking to protect themselves will take on the name of Jesus to say that victims, survivors, or whistleblowers are compromising ‘the mission’ or creating ‘disunity in the body’ when they point out horrors. But God will not long abide the misuse of his name for those who worship their own twisted appetites.”

Satan has expertly warped people’s priorities in order to undermine the influence of the Church as the Body of Christ. Some have no doubt concluded that if the Church can’t be trusted, then neither can the God it claims to represent. There are a number of things that I think we can learn—as individuals, churches, and denominations.

1) No human being besides Jesus Christ is infallible. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). When we put our pastors, elders, and denominational leaders up on pedestals, they will be sure to disappoint us in some way. We need to look for ways to guard against sinful actions through true accountability, and we need to have plans in place for when someone does fall.

2) No human institution is infallible. While the universal Church is not manmade, many of our existing programs and polity are created through human ingenuity and consensus. None of us have perfect knowledge or foresight to predict every possible outcome or prevent any possible abuse, but we should endeavor to do our best. “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (2.Cor. 4:1-2).

3) The Church can only have one priority. Up until the past hundred years, the word priority had no plural. The Church exists to glorify God by obeying His Great Commission and Great Commandment. We cannot “prioritize” people, pastors, buildings, money, or statistics. To do so is to remove God from His throne. “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:13).

4) The Church and its leaders will have to give an account to God. We should desire to do whatever it takes for each person to have a clear conscience before God. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your soul, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things” (Heb. 13:17-18).

5) When any segment of the Church has failed, we should seek to make amends and hold sinners accountable. We are called to confront sin in the local church (Matt. 18:15-17), and to come alongside those who have been wounded by the sins of others (Rom. 12:15-17). Those who seek to cover up sin by showing partiality are just as guilty as those who have sinned. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:8-10).

Sometimes that may mean removing a person from church membership or leadership and sometimes that may require dismantling the manmade institutions that have been corrupted (1 Cor. 5:1-13). The glory of God requires that we do not seek to protect the reputation of sinful individuals or institutions. “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).

“And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:17).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Six Feet Under

A few years ago I wrote some thoughts on cremation and burial for my pastor. I was reminded of that by a recent podcast from Russell Moore and Stephen Prothero, which I would recommend. My own views have changed over time. I once would have preferred cremation, largely because of the lower cost involved. However, now I would press for burial so long as it can be done simply and as inexpensively as possible.

I have read arguments both for and against cremation. In some cultures, cremation is tied to pagan religions. But how a body is handled after death is less important than how the person lived. This is not an essential point of doctrine. Faithful Christians can come to different conclusions. I agree with Russell Moore’s comments in this article:

“We are put away in sleep in order to be awakened, in order to see the resurrection of the entire body one day. And so, it’s not so much about what happens to the person as it is what we are communicating. And we care what we communicate about death because of the very high view that the Bible has of the body. The body isn’t just a disposable container of the person.”

The physical body when we are alive is important. We (collectively) are in fact “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:19) and should treat our bodies accordingly. Joseph made provision for his bones when he died (Ex. 13:19, Josh. 24:8). This may say more about his faith in God’s promise of a new land than it does his theology of the body or eternal life. The Bible speaks often of burial; however, the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were burned and their bones were buried (1 Sam. 31:12-13). When Jesus was put in the tomb, the women intended to honor Him by anointing the body with spices (Mark 16:1). The bodies of the dead were treated with the honor or dishonor due to them from the way the people had lived (2 Chron. 28:27, Jer. 16:5-6, et al).

The early church had to refute the claims of the Gnostics who said in part that our goal is to get rid of our physical bodies. Gnosticism has gained ground in recent years. Prothero makes the comment that the increasing frequency of cremation even among Christians may be an indicator that we are adopting our culture’s view that the body is not essential to who we are. If the body is merely a temporary container for the soul, then it doesn’t really matter what we do to it either in life or in death. But that is counter to Scripture. The fact that Jesus became incarnate reflects the high value God places on our human bodies. If the body is irrelevant to who we are, then the idea of a bodily resurrection is absurd.

First Corinthians 15 reminds us that the perishable must put on the imperishable. Our final bodies are not dependent on the continuing existence of our earthly bodies. Those believers whose bodies are lost in fire or ocean are still eternally secure. The atoms that make up our bodies today have dwelt in other humans, animals, and plants before us. God can make new creations by His Word. He needs no existing entity.

Some of our modern “traditions” may reflect a fear or denial of death and an idolatry of life, though there are legitimate concerns for health and the time needed to gather family together. Draining the fluids and pumping in unnatural chemicals (that are bad for the environment) is an attempt to delay God’s natural process of decay. It’s ironic that Scripture states “the life of flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11ff), and yet we try to preserve an imitation of life by removing the blood. Sealed caskets are another invention to slow natural decomposition, perhaps trying to avoid seeing the “great equalizer” that death really is. “They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them” (Job 21:26, cf. Eccl. 3:19-20).

Burial expenses often seem excessive, which leads many families to choose cremation. A sealed casket and vault may not be essential, though some cemeteries require a vault. Embalming may not be necessary depending on timing of services and whether or not there will be a public viewing. Churches might consider ways to help people with limited finances, whether through financial assistance or directing them to lower cost alternatives like natural caskets.

While the word cemetery comes from the Greek for dormitory, cemeteries tend to exist more for the living than for the dead. It is a place to visit and remember their loved ones. For Christians, the cemetery should also be a reminder that this life is temporary but eternal life is coming. Churches should consider carefully what message is communicated by providing a columbarium or, conversely, by refusing burial of ashes. How can we best promote a scriptural view of the value of the human body and of the coming resurrection?

The day will eventually come for each of us unless Christ returns in the near future. Funeral planning is important, but it’s even more important to be prepared for eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Are you ready?

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.