My Question to You on this Christmas Day, 2013: What Is Your Only Comfort in Life or in Death?

I usually take Sunday's off from my blog, My Gospel Project. This is especially true of my feature, Today in the News. But today is not Sunday, it's Christmas. And so I am working on finding news stories for this feature. And I was struck with the horror stories of tragedies that have taken place just the past couple of days. Here a just a few from today's headlines (I originally found these links on The Drudge Report. Thanks Matt!):

5 Shot, 3 Killed Outside Strip Club In Irvington - newyork.cbslocal.com

Christmas Day Bombings in Iraq's Capitol Kills 37 - hosted.ap.org
Looters Repeatedly Ransaked Home With Dead Stockton Senior Inside - sacramento.cbslocal.com
Woman Beaten Over Way She Parked Car in Lake Mary: Victim Was With Kids at Time of Attack - clickorlando.com
Family Christmas Nightmare After Theives Steal Kids Presents, Dog - myfoxtampabay.com
87 Year Old Man Known for 6 Million Christmas Light Display Shot Dead - breitbart.com

So how do you deal with tragedy, especially on 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year'?" To find the answer to this question, I would ask you to look back in history almost 500 years, to The Heidelberg Catechism.

Question #1:  "What is your only comfort in life and in death?"

Answer: "That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him."

Recommended sermon:

When Government Tries to Be God, by Dr. David P. Murray

What I Believe

I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe it is inspired and innerant in the original manuscripts and I believe those manuscripts have been faithfully preserved today in the Authorized King James version.

While I believe that only the Bible is inspired and innerrnat, I believe the following creeds and confessionsof the Reformed Churches faithfully reflect what the Bible teaches: 

The Apostle's Creed

The Nicean Creed

The Athanacious Creed

The Heidelberg Catechism (Audio: Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, by James R. Hamilton

The Belgic Confessions of Faith

The Canons of Dort

And to the extent that the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster Shorter and Larger catechism agree with the above doctrinal standards, I hold to those as well.

Also, see my post:

The Five Points of Calvinism