Question
Dear Gramps,
I was raised a member of the Mormon church, but have been inactive for several years. I am going to church services every week in another church. I am considering cremation when the time comes. How does the Mormon Church feel about this and “IF” it is the only way to heaven, will the cremation alone prevent me from joining my family in the hereafter?
Rita
Answer
Dear Rita,
I’m a little confused by your question. Apparently you were baptized a member of the Mormon Church, but you have been inactive in the Mormon Church for several years and are affiliated with another religion. Then you ask a question about whether noncompliance with a particular Mormon doctrine would keep you out of heaven IF the Mormon Church were, as it claims to be, the only true and living church on the earth. I assume that is a purely academic question, because you apparently do not believe that the Mormon Church is true church or you wouldn’t be attending a church that you knew had not the power to provide for your salvation. If the Mormon Church were true, that position alone would keep you out of the highest degree of glory in the eternal worlds, and the mode of burial would be inconsequential in that regard.
However, to answer your question, let me quote from the 1980 Priesthood Bulletin of the Mormon Church—
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints counsels its members to bury their dead in the earth to return dust to dust, unless the law of the country requires cremation. However, the decision whether to bury or cremate the body is left to the family of the deceased, taking into account any laws governing the matter.”
Gramps
