{"id":42276,"date":"2022-01-21T16:45:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T22:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=42276"},"modified":"2022-01-21T16:45:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T22:45:24","slug":"will-i-be-aware-of-my-body-decomposing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-i-be-aware-of-my-body-decomposing\/","title":{"rendered":"Will I be aware of my body decomposing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I have a random question about death that I was hoping you could answer. When I die will I be aware of my body decomposing? I’m afraid of that and afraid of bugs and worms eating my body. Will I truly not be in the grave? And is cremation wrong?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

Your body is not you. Your body is a vessel that contains you. You are a spirit temporarily residing in a physical body. When you die, your spirit returns to God. “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Thus, in the account of the rich man and Lazarus, “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom<\/em>” (Luke 16:22). This does not mean Lazarus physically went to Paradise. He left his body behind because it was no longer needed.<\/p>\n

Paul points out, “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:50). Our physical bodies aren’t going with us to heaven. Who wants a body that decays in eternity?\u00a0“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:1).<\/p>\n

Regarding cremation, see What is God’s view pertaining to cremation?<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I have a random question about death that I was hoping you could answer. When I die will I be aware of my body decomposing? I’m afraid of that and afraid of bugs and worms eating my body. Will I truly not be in the grave? And is cremation wrong? Answer: Your body is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[109],"class_list":["post-42276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1590,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-to-you-when-you-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":0},"title":"What happens to you when you die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happens to you when you die? Answer: The Bible teaches us that human beings are made in three parts. \"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-ecclesiastes-say-our-spirits-return-to-god-but-jesus-says-the-spirits-go-to-hades\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":1},"title":"Why does Ecclesiastes say our spirits return to God, but Jesus says the spirits go to hades?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the Bible say that when we die our spirit returns to God (in Ecclesiastes) and we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus that seems to be in a different location? Answer: \"Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/questions-about-the-body-soul-spirit-and-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":2},"title":"Questions about the body, soul, spirit, and death","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Jeffrey, I listened to your Bible lesson on the body, spirit, and soul, and it was very helpful. I have some questions and thought I would like to run them by you (my Bible quotes are from KJV): The Body, Soul, and Death Genesis 2:7 breathed into his nostrils\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-people-physically-go-to-heaven-or-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":3},"title":"Do people physically go to heaven or hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where is paradise? Is it above the earth or below? When Jesus was raised, how can he be lifted up in the flesh? By flesh, will a man go to heaven or hell? When Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus in what form did they appear, flesh or spirit?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25195,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-god-delay\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":4},"title":"Why Does God Delay?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford At some point in their lives, all Christians have to deal with the disappointment and frustration of God not answering their prayers on their timetable. They want something that is godly and good, they pray for it, and. . . nothing. When we are wrestling with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/stopwatch-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-jesus-soul-between-the-time-of-his-death-and-his-resurrection\/","url_meta":{"origin":42276,"position":5},"title":"What happened to Jesus’ soul between the time of his death and his resurrection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happened to Jesus' soul between the time of death and the time he arose? Did it stay\u00a0with him\u00a0and if so is there a period of time that our soul will stay with us before leaving our body? Answer: The concept of death is the time when the spirit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}