The "body is just rotting meat, the soul is all that counts" idea is Greek Platonism, not Christianity.
You miss the whole point of the Gospel passage, which has nothing to do with funerals and everything to do with putting a priority on following Jesus.
I must not have expressed it clearly enough, because that is exactly what I was trying to say.
And check out Dick’s skeleton. You will notice the meat has rottted and been eaten by worms. Jesus’ body would have been rotting meat had he not been who he said he was. There will be a resurrection, of course, but if you check any grave anywhere on the planet where the burial is not fresh, you will find either rotting meat or no meat.
At the resurrection we will all be given a body. One will be given one long enough to go to everlasting destruction/death, the other to eternal life with the Lord. But earthly graves contain decomposing “tents”. All of them.
It is important to remember that you do not occupy the same body you did approximately seven years ago. Not one cell is left. Likewise with dead bodies. The Lord can reconstruct your body at the resurrection, if we even want to go there. It’s not the point.
As you say, the point is putting a priority on following Jesus. It is what I was attempting to say but must not have said it very well.
Many Christians are unconsciously neo-platonists. The doctrine of the General resurrection is little emphasized.
Many Christians are unconsciously neo-platonists. The doctrine of the General resurrection is little emphasized.