Monday, 19 December 2011
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The Death of Kim Jong Il: A Christian's Perspective
Kim Jong Il's death is worth mourning because he, as a human being who was created in the image of God, was worth loving. God himself does not desire the perishing of wicked men because he is love and has concern for all his creation and thus reaches out to them so that they may seek communion with him (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11). I pray that Kim Jong Il rests in peace and that God has mercy upon him, a sinner. I pray that Christians would set the example of loving the enemy even in that enemy's death. I pray that the absent are safe within the body of Christ on earth. May we know nothing but Christ crucified (which is love in it's greatest form) so that we may love others to point of our dying ourselves rather than seeing them take the fall. May we not scoff at the tragic consequences of Adam's sin in any person's life, for ours is the same story.All are wicked. All need grace. All need God. All must love.
We must remember that we have all sinned. If we have hated and kept anger we have murdered. We have oppressed. We all have been aligned with the world, darkness, Satan. We were saved by the grace of an all loving God and reconciled to him through his son.
Kim Jong Il, Muammar Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, you, the neighbor, and me were meant to be servants who love others. If other's on the list are not doing that then the need for us to do so grows and does not decrease. Government authorities, by God's design and command deserve our honor. Let us be God-honoring in being authority honoring. Let us not speak unloving words of the dead, of the leader, of the wicked. Speak truth but only in love, only with the fruit of the Spirit.
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor (1Peter 2:13-17).
There may be justice in his death, God knows well, but there must be love in our hearts, words, and deeds. Celebrate that less wickedness may now occur (supposing that's true) and mourn the loss of a sinner, praying for the mercy of God, for we've lost a human brother whom we have been told to love. Let us not dance on graves but plant flowers there.
How do you feel about the death of Kim Jong Il? How are people reacting around you?
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Comments (34)
Most people are cracking jokes and wondering what will happen next. The man is responsible for millions of deaths and deserves no respect.
I once read that when a horrible person dies we must cry. Not for them, but for what they could have been.
The country of Korea and its culture surely reproduced many cult like figure, for example, Kim Jong il and moon sun myeong( unification church founder) etc..The Korean culture barely allows people basic freedom of speech or free nothing in the name of one race. Cos they are 100% xenophobic and extremely exclusive against diversity and foreign source. To north Koreans, Kim Jong il wasn't only their dear father, he was also a mother and god everything saving the whole entire race.
While I do not think I can justifiably rejoice in Kim Jong Il's death, I cannot say that I pray he rests in peace either. To ask that such a man would rest in peace without repentance would be to ask that those who scorn the redemption of Jesus Christ be spared punishment. We must have integrity in our view of justice; neither applauding the death of others nor asking that the gospel be unequally applied. That said, I would have to ask the same for my dearly beloved non-Christian friends: that they be dealt with in the full view of God's justice. It serves as an encouragement and a warning to me to continue to urge them to be reconciled to God so that they can escape the fate that will surely befall Kim Jong Il.
I prayed for him while he was alive. It would have been nice to see him reform, but I have no reason to think that he did. I will not miss him.
righteous. he, as one of ten thousand, I will not mind standing up for my right to not give a fuck about.
You are right and Jesus also said let the dead bury the dead.
It is one week before Christmas so, peace and good will towards men.
There are a lot of living people in Korea and outside who could do with some peace. It may be hoped that this represents some sort of chance for change. But it really will take a lot of good will.
"Government authorities, by God's design and command deserve our honor. Let us be God-honoring in being authority honoring."
That implies that rebellion is anti-God. This that something you agree with?
I don't care about him, I care about those poor brainwashed people that he left behind.
@written_conversations@xanga - I agree with you about not really caring about him. I never saw him as much more than an eccentric fool. The term 'wicked' applies, I guess, because he had nukes and was eccentric and foolish enough to possibly use them.
Also did you happen to see the news when they showed the people all gathered together standing and (supposedly) grieving and sobbing? It looked completly fake! Brainwashed, indeed.
@Lovegrove@xanga - Rebellion can be honoring so I don't agree that rebellion against authorities is absolutely anti-God. If we are good citizens it is because the will of God and the will of the authorities have aligned. If we are bad citizens then it should only be because the will of the authorities does not comply with the will of God and we must follow God rather than men. Also, please note that I'm not talking about obeying the law in this post but about how we treat people. This is an issue of heart and human relationships not law.
@TheGreatBout@xanga - How do we know when the authorities and God are aligned? The bible allows that the "hitlers" of the ancient world were used to chastise the Israelites, so the authorities being bad even evil is not a biblical reason for rebellion, although one would have hoped it is.
It demeans Christian teachings to make a big deal out of forgiving and morning a mass murdering maniac who never hurt you personally.
Even a non-believer can forgive someone who never hurt them.
Jesus did not preach the international politics of morning the death of a cruel dictator who starved millions of his citizens to death.
Jesus preached the personal forgiveness of people who actually damage or hurt us. Authentic Christianity teaches us to do the hard things that truly make a difference, not theoretical things that have no bearing whatsoever on reality.
I think this is a great post because it points to the central fact that God does not rejoice in the demise of the wicked. He would prefer that they be restored! As Children of God, we shouldn't rejoice in their downfall either.
I am also in agreement with others who pointed out that, in his death, there is no reason to pray that he find peace and mercy because we have an absolute guarantee by God's word that no one apart from Christ will find such things- praying for them upon men who did not repent in the name of Christ is not only useless, it is actually unwise.
When Osama was "taken out" (as many put it), I was very disheartened by the reaction everyone gave- there was rejoicing among Christians. To me, it was a tragedy because he was not reached. It's the same thing here. Who reached out to him?
I hope we can change things with his son.
@Shadowrunner81@xanga - yeah, I followed it on the news. It seems that these people really were heartbroken that he died. I've read stories about people who have escaped North Korea, and who realised within a few hours of being in a new country that their entire life was a lie :-/ I mean, the extent of what this man and his father have done is pretty shocking.
A Christian perspective on this guy's death is if he was a sinner he's going to hell and will suffer in accordance with his crimes. If he was a mass murderer and torturer of people like Saddam Hussein and that ilk, we can only wish that God would have ended his life earlier than He did. Suggesting that God loves all men equally is complete nonsense. God only loves and saves those that He chooses. No need for us to feel sorry for him. God is always Just. He lets the sun shine and the rain fall on the fields of the wicked and the righteous. Don't try to compare a person being angry to a murderer; you make yourself look foolish and do disservice to the Bible. We aren't obligated to speak well of evil people.
@Rocky "Don't try to compare a person being angry to a murderer; you make yourself look foolish and do disservice to the Bible"
Matthew 5:21-22 records Jesus saying - "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire."
In 1John 3:15 the beloved Apostle John writes, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."
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I think it's one thing to forgive someone who did you wrong. It's not my place to forgive someone who did wrong to someone else. God can forgive that person, sure. The victim can forgive the wrongdoer, but it makes little sense if it's from someone outside of that. What does that even mean when you forgive someone who didn't do you wrong? Grace is given by those who have the ability and the right to do so, otherwise is it grace?
@TheGreatBout@xanga - Paul commanded: "Be angry and sin not". Jesus Himself expressed anger on numerous occasions. God's anger and wrath are part of His holy character. Anger, righteous, justified anger is not sinful. Wrath and vengeance is wrong for us, since we are to let God repay the wicked for personal wrongs against us. If they have violated civil laws, then God's ministers, the State, will execute His wrath upon the guilty. (Jesus also called men Fools more than once and James called people "Vain or empty", so obviously this verse has a limited application, not general)
In regards to that limited application, your translation left out the qualifier "without a cause", which was likely and explanatory remark in a margin before it crept into the KJV. Nevertheless, it helps put the teaching in context: that there are times and occasions when anger is good and justified. There are times when anger is wrong. There are times when its right to call people Fool and vain, and times when its not right. Another qualifier in both passages is the words "his brother" which would explain the times when Jesus was angry and called people fools, they were not his brothers. Hatred is a different matter and though there are passages that teach us to hate God's enemies and that God hates all sinners, I don't believe hatred is appropriate in our lives. It speaks of a deep seated anger and resentment with intention to actually harm.
But, I would still contend that though these negative emotions are the root of the sin of murder and God warns us to not harbor these feelings, they still are no comparison to actual murder. God doesn't judge murderers the same as He judges angry people. There are degrees of punishment for degrees of sinfulness.
Barnes on Matt. 5:22 http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/23257/eVerseID/23257/RTD/barnes
Thanks for having me and for your invitation.
I was somewhat elated when I heard of his death. Not because I believe he deserved such a death, (even though he probably did), or that I hated him in real life. I was relieved because of the potential implications for the Korean people of North Korea. Whatever his punishment will be in the afterlife is not for me to decide, just that God will deal with him accordingly.
I certainly do not morn his death, perhaps maybe his life and what he choose to be or become. I don't have the authority to forgive him, only those who he killed, tortured, and brainwashed, can forgive and make a difference.
I just pray for the reunification of North and South Korea, for peace for both countries. I pray for a system of government that represents the best interests for both North and South, and better relations with the wider world, including China. That is my greatest hope for the death of Kim Jong Il.
i have no feeling on the matter. i feel bad that the north koreans are grieving over a leader who starved and brainwashed them.
i don't think anything is going to change because i believe is son is the next in line and has the same agenda as he.
God is love, and we are created in His image. Therefore if we live to love, we have life.
I think the anger and bitterness people carry against Kim Jong-il is in actuality a sign of love and a desire for righteousness. We react because there is injustice, pain, suffering, and unfairness. We hate the man because he seems to the devil's MVP.
But by allowing the anger to consume us, it creates the hypocrites in us. We trash talk the man, but majority of us will live on minding our own business. We call what Kim Jong-il did a major injustice, yet the majority of us do nothing to make a difference regarding this "injustice". I mean, how many of us go out of our way to even make a simple donation to help the refugees that survived escaping North Korea, only to be left deserted in the hands of evil Chinese human traffickers?
Furthermore, the majority of us will go around spreading our selfishness in the world just like Kim Jong-il, only in minute subtle traces that even ourselves don't recognize that we are actually all in the same damned boat.
In the big picture, we just need to seek grace from our own sinful destructive selves. And yes, if I were God, Kim Jong-il will remain alive in hell for centuries, castrated and disfigured. But I'm not, and thank God we don't have to carry that burden.
So yeah, God knows best so let's leave it to him. For us who can't help feeling anger (myself included, especially after reading about refugees and all the lost lives), perhaps it's more the reason for us to let go and let God.....
I honestly can say that I am not sorry to see the man gone. He's met his Maker; he's receiving his just compensation now. That's all there is to it.
@WasaiWarrior@xanga - You know religion is messed up when it can make its followers believe that people deserve eternal punishment for apostasy(non belief), especially in light of that there is no physical or even reliable evidence for your god or any god for that matter. Also when believers will say that the only way to god is through personal experience, which billions of people will never have and panders to the idea that even though you do good to others, your ultimately still a bad person cause you were born into a "sinful" world.
He is not the enemy, Satan is.