Less than forty-eight hours ago, U.S. Navy Seals confronted and killed Osama Bin Laden, the inspirational head of the al Queda terrorist network and mastermind of the 9-11 attacks. Bin Laden deserved to die. As they say in Texas, "he needed killing." His resume, after all, over the last twenty years or so, included an excessive number of intentional acts of mayhem and murder.
I was surprised Sunday night by the near instant outpouring of jubilation in response to news of Bin Laden's death. I was even more surprised by the demographics of the celebrants. They were mostly university students, twenty-somethings, who watched the announcement on their televisions, threw on some clothes (or off in the case of Ohio State students), and ran outside, gathering with other like-minded learners to emote over the demise of Osama. When I expressed to one of my sons some bewilderment over the age of the students and the effusiveness of their response, he explained: "It's because, being overwhelmed with things that are produced and manufactured, this generation longs for and responds to moments that are real, and that provide opportunity to be present."
Pretty insightful stuff. However, by yesterday afternoon, some people were beginning to wonder if all the celebration over someone dying was beneath us, and among Christians, perhaps even wrong: Aren't we to love our enemies? If we love them, should we be celebrating their demise? Is it right for us to rejoice when their blood is shed?
The answer to these questions is a solid, "It depends." If by "enemy" we mean our next door neighbor who keeps letting his dog do its business in our yard, or if we mean our co-worker who spreads some gossip about us around the office, or if we mean some politician who doesn't vote the way we think he should vote, the answer is "yes", we should love them. And "no", it isn't right to be celebrating their demise (see Proverbs 24:17; Romans 12:9-21 and much of Matthew 5).
But if by "enemy" we mean someone like Bin Laden, the answers come out differently. Bin Laden was the personification of evil. Check that, he was evil. And he was an unrepentant, stone-hearted enemy of the Lord Jesus. The avowed aim of his pathetic life was to destroy Israel and us. Forget about us for a moment, Israel is God's chosen nation, the nation through which God intends to fulfill His promises someday to restore the earth as a place where His rule is fully honored and obeyed. Therefore the existence of Israel as a nation is critical to God's credibility and the credibility of His plan. If Bin Laden had had his way, he would have proven God to be a powerless liar. To this end, Bin Laden's worldview was no different than the one Pharaoh once expressed: "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?"
By the way, when Pharaoh was killed, Moses not only rejoiced, he celebrated his violent drowning and the violent drowning of his soldiers by crafting a poem, which he then memorialized in Scripture in Exodus 15:1-18. Indeed, there is a long history of God's people rejoicing effusively over the demise of the evil and avowed, stone-hearted, enemies of the Lord: Deborah and Barak in Judges 5; David in 2 Samuel 22; Psalms 2, 3, 9, and on and on and on, not to mention the Feast of Purim in Esther. Even in the New Testament, we find evidence of considerable rejoicing among Christians when Herod the persecutor finally died. Note Luke's intentional, stinging juxtaposition of Acts 12:23-24: "Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him (Herod) down, because he dd not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied."
These are only a few examples. I could write for hours about the colossal celebration at the end of the New Testament, in the Book of Revelation, when saints are commanded to rejoice over the fall of Babylon and destruction of its inhabitants (see 18:20 and 19:1-10). Of course, Revelation also records the demise of the Beast out of the Sea and the Beast out the Earth (19:11-21). It's impossible to imagine no celebration at all taking place when they are destroyed.
So God's people historically have rejoiced when the avowed, stone-hearted enemies of God have fallen. And they will rejoice, to be sure, one day in the future when all of Jesus' enemies finally become His footstool. In the meantime, we must ask, what about someone like Bin Laden? Is there warrant to number him alongside Pharaoh, Goliath, Herod, Hitler, and others? Of course, there is. So why is there such angst over celebrating his death?
One possible reason is that his death meant his entrance into hell. But even that might not be sufficient for holding back a celebration. The reason why we feel so much pity for those headed for hell, or for those currently suffering there is because of our perceptions of their humanity, as witnessed by their bearing God's image during the time they lived on this side of death. Some suggest that people who go to hell lose their humanity there, they lose the ability to continue reflecting the image of God even a little. Thus they no longer excite any sympathy from lookers on.
I confess I don't know exactly how this works. I can only say that Osama Bin Laden was no sympathetic figure even on this side of death. He stopped being a sympathetic figure years ago when he took up the conspiracy of the devil as his own and began murdering people by the thousands. If the image of God is erased entirely now where he is on the other side, it was nearly gone altogether by the time the Seals burst through his door. I must admit, this reality hardly incites me to participate in a mob of wild jubilation. But it does admit to the legitimacy of rejoicing that ultimate justice has been served.
Interestingly enough, when John the Baptist was born, Zechariah, his father, under the control of the Holy Spirit, spoke a blessing over him, celebrating the demise of his people's enemies as evidenced by John's birth. He blessed God for remembering "the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days" (Luke 1:73-75). In the end, our celebrations of the death of someone like Bin Laden are legitimate; however, they are not ends to themselves. They are celebrations of relief from the oppression, threat, and despair of mass murder and Satanic conspiracy, relief than enables us to "serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days."
Our celebrations now point to an even greater purpose than simply ridding the earth of a pathetic collaborator with Death. They point to our collaboration with holiness and righteousness before the Lord, and to a renewed facility to serve Him, out from under the fear-mongering reign of one of His enemies, as well as one of ours.
For these reasons I rejoice over Bin Laden's death.
5 comments:
I unfortunately have to disagree with you pastor Randy. We should not celebrate the death of a man. Bin laden was no more evil then you or I. He shared in the same sin nature that we all share. Your examples in the Bible are inaccurate. Moses did not celebrate the death of Pharaoh and his men. He celebrated the fact that God delivered His people out of Egypt.The same idea applies to every example you gave. We Americans were not delivered from trials by the death of a man hiding from the strongest country on the planet. Look at Paul in the new testament. A murderer of Christians, the same crime Bin laden has committed. Yet, Paul turned into the most authored man of the New Testament. Only by God's GRACE. Only by HIS Grace did we not commit the same acts of sin as Bin laden. The proper response to Bin laden's death is a comfort that our God is a just God, and a reflection on the only death we should celebrate. The death of our LORD on the cross when he paid for every one of your sins and mine, as well as Bin laden's, before rising from the grave 3 days later conquering death once and for all!!!
I find it almost ridiculous to think that any Christian would celebrate the death of an unbeliever. As you clearly stated in the post, the celebration is over the final enactment of justice on a criminal that has evaded it. Is it unfortunate that Osama died without finding forgiveness in Jesus Christ? Yes, but how much greater should our sorrow and concern be over the souls that have met premature death because of this man's crime. I can tell you that the moment I heard of his death I celebrated unashamedly, because I know that a murderer of thousands has finally been prevented from committing greater crimes.
I also think it's important to remember that one of the main purposes of Jesus' exaltation as Lord is the defeat of His enemies. In my book, "Exalted Lord", I share that these enemies are Sin, Death, and Unbelief, along with their demonic and human champions. The point Nick makes about us all standing in need of grace is well-taken. We all begin on the enemy side. And, at the very least, we collaborate with sin, death, and unbelief. Still, some become hard-hearted champions of the same. The Bible illustrates how on occasion these people seal their own fate or, put better, they receive judgment that seals their fate while they are still alive. As they spiral further and further into collaboration with sin, death, and unbelief, they become their champions. As I indicate in the post, this moves them farther and farther away from God's original design for humans to reflect His image. As you write, David, it is a tragedy that they never repent and believe. At the same time, it is a glorious triumph for the Lord of Lords. In other words, His triumph over Death includes both the rescue of sinners and His vindication in the face of unbelief. As for OBL in particular, I believe now his fate was sealed through his own hard-heartedness. Had I ever been able to, while he was alive, I would have been happy to witness to him to plead for him to repent. Even then, he had to be brought to justice. And he had to be stopped from planning or from inciting any further acts of mass murder.
Again I bring up the point of Paul for you David. OBL was in no position to continue killing people. Do I feel it was right for him to be killed, yes. Do I feel that it was God's justice yes. Yet God doesn't take joy in sending people to hell, Its grievous to him. I'm not saying his death shouldn't of happened I'm completely talking about the fact that we are rejoicing it. We should take comfort that God is just and we should reflect on God's grace towards, us but rejoicing in someone's eternal punishment is to far. Look at Ezekiel 18 God is talking about judging Israel and then finishes up by saying "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." God doesn't want anyone to perish in hell, but HE is JUST! and it has to happen according to His will!
Thanks for your perspective Randy. And your son's insightful comments as well.
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