“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which, indeed, appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
The above shows in what estimation the founder of Christianity held inhumation.
It seems Christ himself gave the preference to cave-burial, for so he was disposed of. He was placed (vide Matthew xxvii. 57–60) in the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, which was open in front, and the door of which was closed with a stone.
Christ was not buried in the earth, but was placed in a sepulchre because he was a Jew. Had he been an Egyptian, he would have been embalmed after the fashion of a mummy. It was merely a matter of custom, and is not necessarily a precedent to be followed. It is evident that to be buried as Christ was, Christians would have to be deposited in rock-hewn tombs.
The assertion of certain religious fanatics, that cremation interferes with the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, proves untenable enough when one but remembers that both interment and incineration lead to the same result; namely, to the total destruction of the body. In the case of cremation this takes place within an hour; in earth burial the process may last for centuries until completed.
Professor Max Müller, the famous linguist, in his biographical essays, writes:—
“I often regret that the Jews buried and did not burn the dead, for in that case the Christian idea of the resurrection would have remained far more spiritual.”
Cannon Liddon believes that:—
“The resurrection of the body from its ashes is not a greater miracle than the resurrection of an unburnt body. Each must be purely miraculous. Faith in the resurrection would have been as clear and strong if the Jews had burnt their dead, as it is when, as a matter of fact, they buried them.”
Dr. Le Moyne says:—