Question: President Bush recently said of someone who had just died, “May God rest his soul.” ...

Question: President Bush recently said of someone who had just died, “May God rest his soul.” What did he mean?

Answer: The only rest for the dead is in heaven—and whether one will be there or not is determined prior to death. If the person is not in heaven, he will never be at rest, and it is too late to ask God to “rest his soul”! If he is in heaven, then it is an insult to ask God, who has given him rest, to rest his soul. Maybe this is the politically correct thing to say, but it isn’t biblically correct.