Sunday, 01 May 2011
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The Death of Osama Bin Laden and the Christian Reaction
As I write this the twitterverse, facebook, news stations, and general U.S. public is buzzing about the reported death of a well known terrorist named Osama Bin Laden. To many this death means justice is being served, that the United states is the hero of the world, and/or that the war on terrorism is a good idea. I'd disagree with about all of these things. However, I'm not writing this to debate those issues. I have one simple message right now for Christians.We are to be a people of love who imitate Jesus Christ. Jesus loved all people so much that he died for all of them, wiping away their sins, calling them his children. He forgave all evildoers as they tortured and killed him. During the greatest of injustices he suffered and exampled perfect love, asking God to forgive those evildoers. In his teachings he told us to emulate our Father in heaven who is faithful to the wicked and the righteous, causing his rain and sun to fall upon both. He sent his son for all the sinners of the world. The public sinners, the private sinners, the violent sinners, the sexual sinners, the mental sinners. He did this in an effort to bring all people to him. He wanted all people, all sinners, all wicked men and women, to repent and join his kingdom. He gave us Jesus, the "Way", so that we would have unity with him.
That is what love looks like. In the book of Ezekiel God speaks to his people and twice makes it clear that he does not delight int he death of the wicked because his true desire is for them to change their ways and join him in his way. Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11. The second states, "...As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!..." Jesus commands us to forgive others nonstop. Paul instructs the Romans to never seek or invest in revenge but to be people of love who bless others and do good to their enemies. THIS is a huge aspect of the Christian life. The Christian is defined by love.
So when men like Osama Bin Laden die we should not celebrate their death (or killing/murder/whatever) but mourn for someone died without repentance (as far as we know). That is worth our mourning. That is worth sadness. If we are people of love then someone dying outside of love should touch us deeply and not cause us to throw our arms in the air rejoicing. The fact that people, even Christians, rejoice in the death of other men proves that this world is broken, sinful, fallen, and in need of true redemption. We know that God will judge all and justice will come to pass but right now, for us, mercy, compassion, grace, forgiveness, blessings, and love are our focus, duty, and supreme pleasure. Let us not get caught up in the "victory" of the United States (which is no victory at all to those of us who know the love and salvation of God, the meaningless of nations and the value of every human being who is created int he image of God) but let us mourn the sadness that penetrates the kingdom of heaven as a brother sleeps in sin and may not enjoy eternity with us and with God. How could we celebrate such a tragedy? Let us not think that bombs have brought redemption and justice but instead let us remember that redemption and justice was already brought in the greatest of ways through Jesus Christ dying on the cross, as a weak and seemingly defeated criminal. Violence is not the hero. Christ is the hero. Love wins, it never fails.
This death is not the depiction of God's justice. The cross is that portrait. This death will unite us in mourning and love or in revenge and hate. We can not be a people who support endeavors which consist of top priorities such as killing a particular man. We must support evangelistic and gospel-oriented endeavors that have goals of converting men into repentance. Our military belongs to heaven and not a specific nation. The terrorism we stand against is not made of flesh and blood but of powers and principalities. We must have a gospel based view of reality and no lesser view.
Therefore, let us invest in love, mourning this day, not celebrating the ways of violence and shallow justice. Let us align ourselves with the God who does not delight in the death of wicked men but desires that all men come to him and may he be a part of drawing others near. Today we can do that with how we approach this popular death. We can pray for the middle east and what may come as a result of this death. We can pray for all the people in various militaries that they find safety. We can set an example by mourning and speaking love. We can do many things to distance ourselves from hate, revenge, nationalism, and all the evil things that are floating around in our society at this very moment. It was once said that Christians are the reason the good flows on in this world. Let us live in such a way that this may still be true even if we are accused of loving too much.
Proverbs 24:17, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice"
How do you feel about the death of Osama Bin Ladin? Do you think God is happy that he is dead? How should Christians react to this moment in a way that will accurately reflect the love, compassion and message of Jesus Christ?
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Comments (147)
Well I'm not sure what to think anymore after reading Ezekial 33:11. But what do you think about Proverbs 11:10 that read's~ "When it goes well the the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is glad shouting." NASV. And I believe what Proverb's 24:17 is saying about "do not gloat over your enemy's that are still alive that stumble". Not death in stumbling because here he is talking about people that are still alive! I don't know for sure but maybe from God's perspective He alone does not take pleasure in seeing the wicked perish since he knew when Osama's Bin Laden's birth to death was already! But we as human's sure were surprized when we heard it and some wars are biblical in parts of the bible! Of course not ruling out that maybe Osama Bin Laden was saved at the last minute and gave his life to Jesus before he died! Who know's!
@sarahrahh - I did point this out to my parents...why can't they put him in prison....welll....thy said that putting him in prison would 1) cause anxiety among the US authorities because it would be inevitable that his followers and supporters will try to rescue him 2) Thus, it would lead to very very tense and tight security almost everyday and in order to hide him in a "secret prison" where it would be hard for his people to rescue him, it would cost heaps...where does the money come from? from the pockets of American citizens.
I appreciate the point you're driving at, but I think the verses you cited are talking about something very different than what we saw with the death of Osama bin Laden. He wasn't a personal enemy. He was a corporate enemy of the world, and specifically the United States, in a similar way to what Pharoah was to the Israelites. By your logic, the Israelites should have mourned the death of the unsaved leader, but instead they wrote a song about it in Exodus 15. To not celebrate God's deliverance would be then, and is now, to place oneself in a position of being more holy than God. He executes justice on the earth, and we should honor, revere and thank Him for it....Not mourn because He didn't save someone when we think He should have.
I read a blog post that explains this much better than my feeble attempt here. I highly recommend you read it. http://biblearchive.com/blog/2011/human/should-christians-rejoice-over-the-death-of-the-wicked/comment-page-1/#comment-29609
How do I feel about it? I am glad!
The same God who does not delight in the death of the wicked, also seems to have no problem meting out this punishment when people stay unrepentant! Look for examples in the old testament where God told various leaders (like David) to put to death the various infidels, under his direct command.
So same with us, the death of Osama bin Laden had to happen, if not to meet out justice but out of necessity for humanity.
You do make very valid points, but he was behind the killings of thousands of innocent people. People from our country and other countries and he even killed his own people. I'm sure God is unhappy with the way in which we acted but when it comes to our safety, it had to be done. There is always going to be criticism for taking the life of bin Laden, but if we had not killed him, then there would be criticism for not taking action as well.
@lufman - based on what i've proposed, yes, i have experienced God's justice, since i've experienced his love. if however, you mean to ask if i have experienced death for the sins i've committed, assuming that's what you mean by justice and assuming you believe me to be a sinner (which, tho i am among the worst, you have no right to judge me...not saying you are, just saying you don't have the right to, as the Lord forbids it)... the answer is still yes. i have experienced death because of the sins i've committed. while i still physically live, each and every time any of us sins, myself included, we experience a spiritual death. our friendship with the Lord dies. now, of course, not all sin is deadly, as John the Beloved writes in his letters. thus we can say that some sins do not directly kill our relationship with Christ, but only weaken it. (this is in fact a basic way of understanding why the Catholic Church distinguishes venial and mortals sins.)
furthermore, did not God say that if Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that they would surely die? He did! did Adam and Eve die? no, not physical deaths, even tho physical death is now a consequence of sin. if i'm correct, you're assuming that as soon as we sin we deserve to die, as many Scripture passages indicate. i'd agree with that, but then why did Adam and Eve not immediately be struck down like the sons of Aaron did after approaching the Lord in an unclean manner? I'd suggest that it's by God's mercy that He spared Adam and Eve, and it's by that same Divine Mercy that He spares us, giving us the opportunity to turn back to Him by way of the sacraments of His Church established by Christ on the marriagebed of the Cross. that, in my humble opinion, is truly just while truly merciful and thus encompasses the Lord's unending Love for all of us: me, you, hitler, mother theresa, ghandi, osama bin laden, pope benedict xvi.
so, for anyone of us here to be able to be so bold as to think we're safe to assume that hitler or bin laden or any evil person to have walked the face of this planet is in hell, despite how evil he or she is or was... well you simply don't have the authority to say so. would i like hitler or bin laden to be in hell? probably, but that's only because i speak from my limited understanding of the final things: death, judgement, heaven, and hell. thus, i repeat my bottom line: stop judging everyone else's state of their immortal soul. let Jesus be the harbinger of Divine Justice and Divine Mercy: 2 sides of the same coin of His Love
in that spirit of charity, pray for all souls, even those who have gone before you.
@lufman - you bet! i had some long drawn out super theological responce, but my computer whacked out and i lost it. lol if you want to ask anymore questions of me, please simple message me.
pray and do!
oh... it still posted anyway... regardless, feel free to message me if there's anything with which you disagree
I wonder whether Sahtahn would feel the slightest sense of loss at the mere neutralisation of a replaceable minion? Should he have been deprived influence over such a devotee however, and to the extent that his evil interests were instead afforded greater opposition, then in that case I might expect Sahtahn to have had cause for concern. I didn't see much of a win in the causing of Bin Laden's passing, but will be pleased to see support for Sahtahn's divisive ideologies conclusively displaced. The realisation that we all (Christians, Muslims, etc.) commonly face this iniquitous adversary together, may be hugely empowering in our quest for his annihilation. I think that's something we can ALL peacefully work with each other towards achieving, and you don't need a weapon to be involved.
@WasaiWarrior@xanga - I wasn't trying to reference Bell. He just so happens to have a book titled after a popular saying. Thanks for the positive feedback.
You're dead on. I really like you and I think you're a very respectable guy, and one of the few Christians who actually try to live what they preach. You restore my faith in people of faith, hah. :)
Yea before I realized anyone could be sharing the same feelings as I did, when I heard the news of his death, I was wondering what the big fuss were all about. I did the research for the news of his death and suddenly saw a picture of people celebrating his death, the only feeling I had was disgust.
I was disappointed at how America celebrated his death as a big event. Because in my mind, I was thinking that even if Osama was a bad guy, why should we like the fact he died? Then you added more reason why I felt sadden by his death. I don't really care much for him or anyone else that are evil, except to have love as God asked, it also occur to me that since we killed him, what is there to stop his followers? I can imagine right now they are plotting another way to get back at us. Destroying one enemy does not end all enemies. i guess that is why God asked that we love our enemies than to hate. Because in the long run, it does better to love than to hate.isn't it better to have one enemy than to collect more?i do hope there are more people feeling this way as we do, too. Because now I do feel concern for the safety of America, more than I ever did before.What I don't understand is why they didn't just arrest him and put him on trial like they did with Saddam...am i missing something here? Obviously Saddam ended up getting the death penalty in the end but the U.S. troops immediately shot Osama down upon finding him. Unless Osama threatened the troops/tried to kill them, this doesn't make much sense.
@Kampj@xanga - i agree with you...a lot of people in the U.S. feel "safer" now that he is dead but I am actually even more worried about his followers plotting revenge against the U.S...this is exactly why i don't believe in the "eye for an eye" justification of death, it just causes even more trouble and war. if we ended this peacefully we could have set an example for the rest of the world...but instead we are reverting back to violent ways to resolve conflict. i admit to being one of those people who blessed the nation when i first heard of osama's death, but the more that i think about it, the more i start to question it...
I didn’t do any kind of celebration for his death, not only because I did not feel any kind of extreme emotion, I am also actually somewhat skeptical if his death is true. But either way, I don’t think there’s any “shame” ( as some mention) on America for putting him to death. If others try to kill us, we need to defend ourselves. Of course I don’t know what is the best political or military tactics to deal with all this, but I don’t think being happy that a leader of a mass murderer is dead is anything to be ashamed of.
@rusty0505@xanga - I think we agree on more than we disagree about.
My point in my initial posting is that we do poorly to forget the love of God, or if we think that we ourselves don't deserve to be destroyed by his Justice.
I propose that if we are quick to celebrate the destruction of others, it is because we have forgotten that we also deserve destruction. All of us have violated God's law; we should grieve when we see that others haven't yet known his Love.
Does it bother anyone that you're consulting a something other than your own feelings on how you react to this situation? Listening to other people, past or present, tell you how you should feel about this simply makes your feelings fake. I'm an atheist, and I personally found the whole situation to be appauling...but not because anyone said I should. I don't say this to sound better than you guys, I promise. I say this because until you are honest with yourself about how you actually feel, rather than taking someone else's (yes, even the bible's) word for it, you won't be able to grow into a functioning adult capable of making your own decisions.
@lufman - we probably actually do agree on a lot more... as well we should. we're both Christians... and while you might not be Catholic, like me, there is so much more in common amongst different "sects" (even tho that and similar words are, in my opinion, don't do the Church Herself justice) than we realize. it's times like these that give me hope for true ecumenism resulting in total Church reunification! In other words "...that they may all be ONE!" -Jesus
Thanks for your good article and these thought-provoking comments. See my page for another well-written response from "Taki's Magazine".
http://roland.revelife.com
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I don't rejoice the death of Obama Bin Laden.But, this would remind us that God makes his own way to fight evil and Obama's death is the last resort to stop his evil practices.
We must not ignore the truth that Jesus supports the capital punishment (A.K.A Death Penalty) as stated in these bible verses:
Leviticus 24:17–22
17 ‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.
18 Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.
19 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as she has done, so shall it be done to him
20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him.
21 And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death.
22 You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”
Also from Genesis:
Genesis 9:6
“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God
has God made mankind."
It is clearly stated in verse 17 and 21 that Jesus supports execution of murderers. Again, from Genesis 9:6 it shows that one of His commandments is the death penalty and Jesus never contradicted the old testaments and so as His Father. One of the ten commandments which is "Thou shall not kill" actually forbids murder, not killing.
Also, while Christ was on the cross, there were two men who were sentenced to death next to Him and He never said anything in defense or against their crucifixions. Yes, they were forgiven but the bottom line is, the two men right next to Him are justly punished.
With this, Obama is justly punished but it doesn't follow that Jesus is happy with it. He is just doing what is righteous because He our Lord is righteous. Execution of murderers is not optional nor a maximum penalty and without capital punishment, lawlessness will reign and much worst, many innocent lives will be put at risk by those who practice evil, those who shed blood from the innocents for their selfish reasons.
For a better understanding, please read this article at http://www.theologyonline.com/DEATH.HTML
Thanks for reading this post of mine and hopefully, this would help.