The Pope's Body

[Dr. Shane]

What I saw, it looked like they have the pope laid out on a table - not even in a coffin. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> Please don't do that to me when I die. At least put me in a box.

I heard someone talk about how the way they care for the dead body is so awesome. I guess being born into an Adventist family I am at a loss. Why does it matter what is done with the dead body?

[Amelia]

Well it doesnt matter to me what is done with dead bodies. Mine is going for organ donation and the leftovers cremated. I suppose whoever gets ashes when its all said and done can put in a dustbin for all I care.

What has been done with the pope is he has been dressed around a board and bolsters. The bolsters are to keep the body, arms and legs in position. I noticed that one leg/foot was dislodged during the procession this morning. I did nanny work years ago for a gentleman who was an undertaker. He had all kinds of books and catalogs for funerial dressing. The pope will be put into some kind of container before he is interred with all the other popes.

There is speculation that his heart will be sent to Poland.

[Doug]

I heard it is their policy to strike him 5 times in the head with a silver hammer to make sure he is really dead, then call his name out to make sure.

[Amelia]

I heard that too. Weird

[David_McQueen]

Never to be one to laugh at the dead, but what if he jumped up and said "Ow that really hurts!"

[K]

I do think that it is a very Catholic thing the way they deal with bodies. I think it is also an Italian thing too! My family tells stories of the days here in the US when they dealt with the dead in what I feel is weird. They used to lay the body in the living room for days while family and friends came by to say their farewells. Of course, the whole thing sounds horrific to me, but this happened during my grandparents day.

I hate the whole viewing of the body thing we do in this country. When I go to a funeral, I will not look at that dead body because I would rather that not be the last thing I remember about that person.

I have already let my children know that I want to be an organ donor. After they've taken out all the good stuff they can burn up the rest and throw my ashes over Hawaii since I have never been there and it might be the only way to get there

K

[Dr. Shane]

They can flush my ashes down the stool as far as I am concerned. When Jesus returns I am getting a new body - hopefully a little taller.

[David_McQueen]

This whole article raises a question about cremation. Is it avoided out of traditional or scriptural reasons

[K]

For people who believe you go straight to heaven, I think cremation is a big issue. My catholic family just hates the idea of me being cremated. The issue for them is no headstone to leave flowers upon as well as what happens when you get to heaven without your body.

I think you have the right idea Shane because our bodies will be so fantastic when they are made new. It is beyond my ability to even imagine how great that will be.

K

[bevin]

Quote:

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Well it doesnt matter to me what is done with dead bodies. Mine is going for organ donation and the leftovers cremated. I suppose whoever gets ashes when its all said and done can put in a dustbin for all I care.

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Me too.

It would be better if more people saw more dead bodies -

• teenagers might learn to be mortal
• everyone might learn to fear the living, not the dead
• people might waste a lot less money on undertakers

It is not always easy to distinquish between dead and unconscious - a 24 hour lying-in-a-warm-room period could easily have saved a few.

Banging on the head with a silver hammer makes sure they stay dead - especially if you hit hard enough...

/Bevin

[Ron Lambert]

I thought it was also a Catholic tradition to have someone move the corpse's foot so it kicks a bucket (hence the familar euphemism for dying).

Shane, not to cause you any trouble, but I was just wondering, if you are cremated and your ashes are flushed down the toilet, where will you be resurrected?

You know, we have this neat, logical picture of people being resurrected out of their graves. But the matter is not quite so clear when someone is cremated and their ashes are spread over the sea, or maybe they were crew aboard a submarine that went down. I think the Lord will find an appropriate place to resurrect His people, regardless of what happened to their bodies.

A friend of mine (Robert) has a box with the ashes of his brother sitting on his mantelpiece, because their mother and he cannot agree on how to dispose of the ashes. I guess when his brother is resurrected, he is going to say, "What am I doing on Robert's mantelpiece?"

[bevin]

Quote:

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Shane, not to cause you any trouble, but I was just wondering, if you are cremated and your ashes are flushed down the toilet, where will you be resurrected?

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Or if are left out in the open, and eaten by animals - then where?

Or buried, consumed by worms, and the worms eaten by birds - then were?

Or rot in the ocean eaten by fish, then where?

Or smooshed to powder in the World Trade Center and barged to some island - then where?

God does not need to use any of the material that made up your pre-resurrection body to create your post-resurrection one.

Nor does the fact that you were buried on Kratakotoa, which then blew your ashes over the entire globe mean God can't put you beside your wife who died in England.

/Bevin