My mother is more inline with the Baptist or maybe southern Baptist (she wont say but it is always some kind of Baptist church).
I have read several of the threads the best being reply #22 on
http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,8352.0.htmlThere are basically two reasons that the church does not currently allow cremation (Except in Japan where it is required by law):
1) Cremation traditionally was done by those who denied the physical resurrection and thus to cremate the body was to deny eternal life (a heresy).
2) Today,  an additional argument against cremation is the brutality and basic disrespect that the body is treated during and after the cremation. Orthodox converts who have worked in funeral homes  have described it to me.  The body is unceremoniously put into an oven that is meant to burn the flesh, blood, and organs.  When it is cooled with luck most of the flesh, tissues , etc are dust but not always, what ever is left is scraped off the bones and put into a garbage bag to be disposed of with the other waste byproducts of a funeral home. This dust is not saved to be placed in the urn with the cremains (we will see what the cremains are later) but instead disposed of as one would dirt. The bones will still exist either whole or melded together. These bones are then placed into a crushing machine that will pulverize them into the white/grey "cremains" that are returned to  the family.  Once the box/urn is full the rest of the cremains are brushed into a box with other cremains and Will be sold to porcelain makers to make bone china. As can be seen Cremation is neither respectful to the dead body nor gentle but disrespectful and violent to the shell that once contained the soul of a living human being, the image of God.
In Christ,
Thomas
But my original question is not why the orthodox dont like cremation but why do protestants desire and accept cremation?
Maybe there is a scripture verse that they are using to encourage cremation?
