An important Christian analysis in Spanish about the funeral and cremation as burial of the late man on this earth was presented by Pastor Tzvetan Petkov, General Conference President at the IMS, on December 2, 2025, during the traditional Q&A session at the IMS and published via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0xSs5yZahE. Pastor Humberto Avellaneda, General Conference Vice President at the IMS, was the moderator of the event.
In his presentation, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov underlined that the funeral seemed to be the God’s will for the late man’s burial, according to Genesis 3:19. In addition, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov mentioned that cremation was practiced during the time of the Old Testament as well, for instance, as in the case of King Saul and his sons. Furthermore, Pastor Tzvetan Petkov emphasized the biblical truth that every person that touched the remains of the late human being was unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11). Pastor Tzvetan Petkov explained as well that the cremation of the living persons was used also as a punishment, on the one hand, via God’s judgment (Joshua 7:15) and, on other hand, as an ordeal for the God’s faithful servants like the reformer Prof. Jan Hus (1369 – 1415), but the burnt unrighteous at the end of their earthly lives shall be resurrected during the second resurrection (Revelation 20:5, first part), while the burnt righteous martyrs will be resurrected during the first resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 20:4, last part).
Written by Margarit Zhekov
Pastor Humberto Avellaneda and Pastor Tzvetan Petkov during the Q&A session.
