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We were talking about memorials in my Religious Studies class today. I think a key feature of memorials is hope and joy. Death must have meaning. And not by itself. There's two ways this goes: First, you can have a notion of "salvation by death." That is, if someone dies, they're automatically in a better place. This is really popular these days. No one likes to hear that their loved ones either stopped existing, or they are in Hell. Your second choice is earthly existence only. This one is dumb. Our hearts cry out how unfair that is. Read the aforementioned Psalm 73. "The wicked better get theirs!," we cry. You may be wondering, "Jason, why can't people just believe anything they want? Aren't all religions the same?" If you can seriously look at the testimony of history, and current events, telling me they're all the same, you're bold indeed. Now, I know how they love to focus on witch hunts, and Inquisitions to avoid the plainly obvious Truth. Those unfortunate incidents have more to do with political power and liars than anything else. The fact is, everywhere the Good News is taught and believed, peace and justice reign. (At least among adherents) What is that good news? I refer you to the Apostles' Creed. For all you folks who don't like creeds, too bad. "I believe the Bible" isn't all that helpful. Yet, remember that no creed has authority in itself, but that it restates clearly the testimony of Scripture.

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