Body after Death

California just passed a law allowing for the composting of a human body in order to become fertilizer back to the earth (takes effect in 2027).  What?  WOW!!  You have to be kidding me!  Actually, four other states already allow such an ending for a human body [In CO, Natural Funeral is doing so now.  The body is put in an insulated box with wood chips and straw, rolled for agitation, after three months opened to remove medical devices and teeth (mercury), then another 3 months of composting.]

Then there is the process of liquefication of the body now legal in 21 states.  Here “alkaline hydrolysis” liquifies the soft tissue in about 12 hours and which is then poured into the sewage system then the bones are crushed into powder.

You and I are almost numb now to the rash of crazy ideas coming at us these days.  Only a few years ago one significant thing might change per generation, but now they seem weekly – if not daily!  The earth beneath our feet is “moving”!

Now a musing on these new ways of dealing with the body post death:  I wonder if we have not overly “worshiped” the body in past days and are now turning to openly “loathe” the body?

If we look into history, we find that when a person died their body was wrapped and placed in the ground within a few hours in part because decomposing flesh is terribly odious (Lazarus in John 11).  Today many around the world quickly return the body of their deceased to the “dust”.  A girl from India recently showed me pictures of the funeral for her Christian grandmother.  Within hours, her body was wrapped then carried to a prepared hole and she was lowered in to be covered by dirt.  She was “planted.”

Sometime back in our history, we decided that rather than a wrapping we’d embalm our loved one, dress them well and put them in a wood box for burial.  Embalming became important for families and friends scattered, due to work and pleasure, to be able to attend a funeral.  Then came the making of very elaborate burial boxes (coffins with mattresses with springs and silk sheets) and then to vaults for the box.  I wonder if we have gone too far in “protecting” the body.  I wonder if we have become too attached to the body.  Humm???  Just musing (thinking)!

And then “back lash.”  As we poured more and more money into funerals, boxes and resting “holes” (or mausoleums), some began moving in an opposite direction.  At first the move was to simplify the whole thing and save money.  Then came cremation.  After all, cremation is much, much simpler and cheaper – the mortician, box and hearse are eliminated and the rush back for a funeral is slowed.

And now – compost and liquefication!  Let’s just put the body into a container and let it decompose into a usable product for enhancing the plant growth or be chemically destroyed.

This newer side of the “deal with the body” issue is certainly a great concern.  It reminds me of what men often do, which is to slowly drift in one direction and what follows is a sudden jerking back across center to tilt the issue in the other direction.

There is a growing thought that at death the body is done – no future.  But the Bible both reports that Jesus came back for His body (the resurrection) and teaches that Jesus is coming back for the body – this is true for every person ever conceived.  Everyone!  Thus, the body does have a future!  That does not mean survivors are required to go to extremes to preserve the body.  No, treat the body with respect but plant it and mark the spot (Job 19:24).

The other side of dealing with the body can also be overboard when thinking that a nice box with comforts is a blessing to the body.  The body is “dirt”, asleep, awaiting its resurrection!

Let’s care for the body while it is in use and give it due at death – not too much, not too little!