Death, Dying and Burial

Dear Pastor Ken:

I am a lifelong Catholic, but my husband is Baptist. Is it ok for a Catholic to be buried in a Baptist cemetery or any other, and does it matter as long as it is blessed?

Mrs. E.

Miami, Florida

Dear Mrs. E,

That's a good question and thanks for your email.

For a Christian, death is not the final chapter as we have the evidence of a resurrection because of Jesus resurrection from the dead. While many fear death, we are reminded in the Bible that we actually have eternity ahead of us and that Jesus has gone to prepare a place.

Just before Jesus was to be crucified, his disciples became anxious as he told them what was about to transpire. In John 14:1-4 Jesus tells them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going”

So for the Christian, one who has believed and embraced the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our future is secure regardless of the cause of death or the place of interment.

While the medieval church introduced many elaborate burial rites including a mass, prayers and specific consecrated burial sites, it has no impact on the fact of eternal life with Jesus Christ.

Baptist, Catholic and other denominations are just that...denominations. If you look in your purse or wallet you likely have some US currency, some money. US currency comes in many denominations - $1, $5, $10 and even coins. However, it is all backed by the full faith and confidence of the US government.  In like manner, our Christian denominations should not divide us as we all agree in the essential beliefs in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Virgin Birth, Jesus death at Calvary, his Resurrection and Ascension and also in his Second Coming.

Have confidence that if we are in Christ, we are in Christ for eternity, regardless of what happens to our body or where our remains may be buried.

Blessings!

Pastor Ken

What is the Gospel?

In many of our churches there is a particular time when the Gospel is read.  The people typically stand and the Bible is open and the Gospel is read.   However, what is actually read are some verses from one of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.  

If people are asked, ‘what is the Gospel?’  there would undoubtedly be many different answers.    I know that for a long time I would reply that the Gospel is the “good news” as I had learned that the word gospel was in fact a translation of the Greek word for ‘good news’.

However, "What is the Gospel" is an all-important question and the reason I’m mentioning it is not to criticize any particular answer, as there are many ‘right’ answers to the question, but to remind us all that it is the Gospel that is the essential truth that actually unites all believers as the Body of Christ.

Paul tells us what the Gospel is

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth in response to what appears to have been a number of questions that they had regarding not only beliefs but practices and the structure of the church.   In his first letter to these Christians at Corinth he defines the actual gospel that he had preached to them as well as well of all the other churches that he founded:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15: 1-6)

The Apostle Paul recounts the essential truths that he identifies as the Gospel: Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures had foretold, he was buried and then rose on the third day also as the Scriptures had foretold.

This gospel truth is fortified when Paul talks about the witnesses of these events; that the apostles had seen the risen Christ but also there was five hundred at one time. 

Development of our Creeds

The early church took these truths, encapsulated and developed them in what we know now as the Nicene Creed and also the Apostles Creed.  These Creeds contain these essential truths that to this day are the identifying marks of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

When we embrace these truths, this Gospel that the Apostle Paul recounts, we not only experience unity within the diverse Body of Christ but we also experience revival.

Preach the Gospel, live the Gospel, share the Gospel. 

Belief in the Resurrection

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall
we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Most people in America believe in heaven.  A recent study by Ligonier ministries that was reported by my friend, Bob Smietana and LifeWay research stated that in a survey of 3,000 Americans, 67% agreed that Heaven is a real place. 

If a similar survey had been taken in the first few centuries of the church the questions would have been worded a little differently.  Most scholars agree that the early church clearly was anticipating both the physical return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the saints.  These two events in the eyes of these early Christians were not only closely linked but also likely at any moment.

The writings of the Apostle Paul, the Revelation of Jesus Christ written by St. John and the gospel accounts include much detail on the resurrection including the order of the resurrection and the events preceding it.

Based on the teachings we find in the New Testament on the resurrection, it is apparent that the early church did not spend much time contemplating the intermediate state of ‘heaven’ but were waiting for the return of Christ and the resurrection.   Like the Apostles, most early Christians expected that Jesus would return soon and the hope was that the departed saints would be resurrected.

The Apostle Paul addresses this issue in his letter to the Thessalonians 4:14-16

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Of the two Jewish religious groups at the time of Jesus, the Sadducees, who were the powerful ruling party, did not believe in the resurrection and tried to trip Jesus up in their question about the seven brothers. Jesus not only showed them how they were wrong but also gave some information on how in the resurrection people would neither marry or be given in marriage but be like the angels. (Mark 12:18-27). 

Like the early Christians, we need to again embrace the wealth of scriptural teachings on the resurrection.  This is the true hope of the believer.  While Christians have been waiting for almost 2,000 years for the return of Jesus, we are closer today than ever before. Many look at the events in Jerusalem and around the world including signs in the sky as an indication that the time is near.  For the believer, the promise of Jesus that he was going to return should be more than sufficient.

I believe that the teaching of the resurrection was emphasized in the early church to clearly show the victory that Christ had over the finality of death in His resurrection.  If Jesus was just “heaven-bound” it would be not much different than the testimony we give about our departed grandmothers and grandfathers.    It is also in the teaching of the resurrection that the prophecy of Jesus as the coming King, the restoration of Israel, the wrath of God on the ungodly, the new heavens and the new earth all come into focus and bring clarity and hope to those of us alive today. 

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Rev 22:20)