Chapter Seven   Redemption and Salvation   Somehow Christianity turns hopelessness into joy. Most of us know people who have experienced this, but we don't understand it and sometimes think there's something wrong with the people it's happened to. How is this transformation possible?     After months on a waiting list for a heart-lung transplant, the wife of one of my employees died. She had been a violent and self-destructive person who used drugs and had run-ins with the law. In her last several years she joined a church and became a Christian. The funeral was held in her church, Daniel's New Bethel Church of God in Christ, which was housed in an aging former synagogue in a tough part of town. The sanctuary needed paint and was adorned by a cross that had been placed over the old Star of David behind the lecturn. Except for me and one of my employees, all of the attendees were very well dressed black people.   As the preacher spoke, his points were emphasized by trills from an electronic keyboard at the side of the church. The clear message was 'this is not a sad time, it is not a time for tears! This is Sister Betty's homegoing party!' And while the congregants had sympathy for Betty's husband, they were truly happy for Betty. It was the most upbeat funeral I had ever attended. Truth be told, it was the only upbeat funeral I had ever attended.   How could this be such a jubilant occasion? After living a decidedly un-Christian lifestyle until just a few years earlier, why was everyone so confident that Betty was in a better place? The answer is redemption and salvation.   Redemption means 'purchase.' An example of redemption is when God punished Egypt...   ...Life is a mixed bag of triumphs, failures, love, hate, honesty, duplicity and every other set of contradictory behaviors and emotions. Sometimes we inflict our flaws on the world and sometimes, probably mostly, the world inflicts its flaws on us. Some people are able to cope with this life and even thrive in it. Others, like Sister Betty, are swallowed up by life's difficulties and wander through it devoid of hope unless they find Christ.   The Christian promise of salvation knows no boundaries. No matter who we are, Jesus loves us and gave his life so we could be forgiven and spend eternal life in heaven, a place that extinguishes the hurt of earthly life and replaces it with bliss.   This was the focus of the funeral service that day at Daniel's New Bethel Church of God in Christ. It's the reason Sister Betty's passing away was the most joyous event in her life.