Do dead bodies really turn into soil?

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ehymw
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08 Feb 2015, 2:38 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
I used to work in a funeral home. I'm very sorry to hear about your grandmother, I'm assuming she died. If so you have my condolences. If not and you are just asking for future reference, I'll explain burial and cremation to you. I'll also put in my two cents about the resurrection, but I'll give you facts and logic based on where you are coming from, not to argue religion with you. Hopefully this will ease your mind.

When somebody is cremated, their flesh and organs are burned to ask. Parts of teeth and bones that have not burned are put into grinders to grind them down to fine powder and are mixed with the ash and given to the family or placed in a burial spot for cremains. When they are spread outside or at sea, as some people like to do, they become part of the environment and mix in with whatever they land on, usually the ground itself, or trees and then fall to the ground over time. It becomes part of the soil but it's not soil by itself.

When someone is buried, they are buried in a casket which is placed inside a metal vault or a concrete graveliner with a bottom, sides, and lid. They decompose inside the casket, and whether or not they have been embalmed is a factor in how long this takes. Embalmed people do decompose, it just takes longer. The casket may decompose sooner or later, depending on whether it is wood or metal, and what kind of metal and what kind of liner you have. Concrete liners allow water in and some caskets do too, so that is also a factor. The liner or vault may deteriorate as well over time, again, depending on how long it has been there and what it's made of. People have found caskets hundreds of years old, still sealed and opened them to find bones, so it can take a very long time for a casket and liner to detoriate to the point where the body touches and mixes with the earth to become soil.

Soil is not made up of the planets surface and the organic matter that is on the planet. There are many things in soil.

As for the resurrection, if she couldn't be resurrected on the last day because she was cremated, then that would mean two things. It would mean God is unable to do so or it would mean that he denies that to those who have burned after or during death. Now, since you believe in God, you would have to completely disagree with the first answer that He is unable to do so because He is omnipotent. He can do everything. So we are establishing that within your belief system, He is able to resurrect those whose bodies have burned, so don't worry about that. On to the second answer, that He would refuse to resurrect those who are burned either during or after death. Would He refuse to resurrect someone who was a good Christian and had been hit by a drunk driver and burned to death in a car accident? Would He refuse to resurrect someone who had been in a plane crash and burned to death? Someone who died of the plague in the Middle Ages and was burned because they felt they should burn the dead bodies to stop the spread of disease? No. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God would not resurrect you unless you were buried whole, in a grave somewhere. Even back when it was written, people died and their bodies may not have been found or were eaten by animals or were in fires. God didn't say that He wouldn't resurrect anyone if their body was burned.

The Catholic church used to ban cremation for it's members because of the resurrection, but the Pope said that unless you sought cremation to deny the resurrection, then it's not a problem. A person who seeks cremation so that they won't be resurrected is either someone trying to prove to others that they don't believe in the resurrection or someone who does believe in it but is afraid that their body will be reunited with their soul in Hell so they try to stop the resurrection that way. So, even the Catholic church says it's ok. Unless your grandmother had asked for cremation because she didn't believe in the resurrection or because she wanted to keep her body and soul from coming together in eternity, she's good to go.

Either way, if Christianity is correct and there is a resurrection, then no matter how your body is or where it is after death, it will come back. Even the bodies of those who have turned to dust and been mixed in with the soil and scattered or consumed by animals will have them back. I have no idea how that would be done, and didn't even when I was a devout Christian. So, don't worry about what God can do, just believe that He can do it and leave it to Him.

Unless you want to change your beliefs, and in that case talk to Fnord about it ;-). Or some others here. I'm content to let people believe what they wish.

I hope that eases your mind about your grandmother.


Ummm.

Thanks for all the info.

Is a simple yes about bodies becoming soil in there? :lol: