One of the first things that came to my mind the night I tuned in to the breaking news about the demise of Osama Bin Laden, was that song from the Wizard of Oz when the house lands on the wicked witch. All people of the land festively sang and danced with great joy and relief. Although entirely non-graphic in nature the fact remains that I have never had even a moment's pause in letting my kids watch this celebration of violence. In fact I've never even considered it violence until writing this blog right now.
It's interesting that there are some things in this world that seem to personify pure evil so absolutely that we don't feel a bit of empathy when we witness their destruction. Sunday night May 1, I saw Americans spontaneously dancing and singing and chanting all around our country and I wanted to join in. These were natural responses that came from deep within many of us. Yet, were they Christ-like? That's the question His followers are always asking ourselves.
We know that our human instincts often aren't the best guides to our decisions - the sinful nature has marred much of our perspective and attitudes. Our feelings and emotions need to be examined through the grid of Scripture and compared with the life Christ lived. Surprisingly, when Jesus was being treated unjustly and abused relentlessly on the day of his execution, he still prayed for those who were propagating the violence against him. We also know from the Sermon on the Mount that we are to pray for our enemies.
Honestly, I have to admit in the 10 years since I watched on live TV as the Trade Center Buildings crumbled in a heap and then admired from a distance as our military pursued Bin Laden and his network of evil people, I never took the time to pray for him. So, I now have to wonder if my attitude would have been different had I been praying for him... perhaps not. More on this topic (including a look at the Imprecatory Psalms) soon to be posted in "Part 2."
This is such a great point Steve! SO many Christians were celebrating the death of this man's life, instead of celebrating the relief that a man of pure evil had been stopped. I still struggle with where the line of us playing God stops, why is it ok to take another humans life, evil or not? Abortion is murder and we as Christians believe that wholeheartedly, but really what is the difference in Gods eyes in us taking a life weather it be a man of Evil, or an innocent baby. Who are we to say that he didn't deserve a chance at redemption, and chance for repentance. We ended his chances to go to heaven. And that is heartbreaking to me.
ReplyDeleteLike Stacy, I've had a hard time reconciling the relief I feel that he can no longer harm others and the fact that he was killed, deservingly so or not. So...I googled "Imprecatory Psalms". ;) The Imprecatory Psalms are equally hard to swallow. How does wishing someone dead, cursed, etc show the love of Jesus? If a sin, is a sin, is a sin...don't we all deserve the same punishment? As humans, where are we given the right to punish someone by death for their sins? Are we playing "god" by doing that?
ReplyDeleteLet's say the answer is yes, God allows us to punish others by death for their sins - should we feel joy when their sentence is carried out? I just have such a turmoil in my soul to celebrate the fact that someone Jesus died for is going to hell. I get that he (more than likely) chose to deny Christ, but I can't imagine that Christ is happy to see someone go to hell...