There’s so much talk about Bin Laden’s death, so much celebration and excitement, that I thought it was a worthy topic to blog about.
When I heard the news – or, rather, when I read the news – on Facebook two days ago, my initial reaction was, like most of us, “Wow, they finally got him!” But the more I thought about it, and the more posts I read – posts that said “rot in hell” or other things of a similar nature, posts of rejoicing over a man’s death, it grieved my heart. Not because I liked the guy – I obviously don’t. Not because I felt sorry for him – I believe he has reaped what he has sown. But because these friends of mine, these CHRISTIAN friends of mine were, for all intents and purposes hooting and hollering and having a party about his death. And all I can think is that if it wasn’t for God’s grace and my belief in His son, Jesus, I would suffer the same horrible fate as Bin Laden.
I’m not here to minimize the fact that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for hundreds, even thousands of deaths, including the deaths America suffered on 9/11. I’m not here to argue that his death is unjust. I’m not here to say our military should have captured him alive so he could stand trial like Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden is culpable for murder, among other things, and I believe our military did its job and did it well and we should be grateful for their service. And I completely believe that his end is a just end.
What I am here to say is that it is wrong, regardless of the person, to rejoice over and revel in a death – most especially the death of a person who is obviously not going to Heaven to be with Jesus. No matter what I think of a person, whether good or evil, death is a thing to be grieved. And the knowledge that a man or woman died unsaved, having lived a life filled with deception by the Enemy, is not a joyous thing. And the Father’s heart, which desires all men to be saved – the Father’s heart that so loved the world that He sent His ONLY Son – is not happy about Bin Laden’s death, or the death of any man or woman who has rejected Christ. God’s justice prevails, because death without Christ is eternal rejection of the Father, the consequence of which is Hell. But His heart, which beats only Love, His heart which runs out to meet the wayward son, is grieved by the loss.
The problem we face is that as humans we put grades on sin. We say one sin is worse than another sin. Cussing isn’t so bad. Telling a lie is worse, but not by much. Stealing is wrong, much worse than lying. But what’s really bad is murder, rape, child molestation. Those things are despicable. So, we think that because Bin Laden’s actions led to the deaths of so many people, he is somehow a “worse” sinner than the rest of us.
But God doesn’t grade on a curve. God doesn’t even grade on an “A” “B” “C” “F” scale. With God, it’s either pass or fail. It’s either 100% or 0%. And without Jesus, we all fail. That’s just a simple fact. Without Jesus, that lie you told yesterday…or that bit of gossiping you did in the break room at work…or the cheating you did on a test in middle school would send you packing, right alongside Osama Bin Laden, to that Hell you want him to rot in.
The fact of the matter is that Osama Bin Laden did deplorable things. He was a terrorist responsible for more deaths than I could count. But he is only a man, and his death does not end the war. His death does not end the trouble. Because he was just a man – and men are replaceable. And Man is not our true Enemy. Satan is our true Enemy, and now that one of his henchmen is dead, he’ll simply use another instead. And it doesn’t matter how many bullets or bombs or missiles we have, none of them do any good in the real war that is being waged. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” And our enemy is not a man that he can be killed with a bullet. But he uses men through lies and deception to attack us. So we believe a man is ultimately responsible for the devastation and we rejoice in his end when it comes…not realizing the Devil has a hundred men lined up behind him to take his place.
I guess what I’m trying to say in all this is that we need to take stock. We need to examine ourselves. Are we behaving the way Christ would behave in the same situation? Or, are we behaving the way the enemy would behave? Would Jesus cheer over the death of a man destined to eternal damnation? Or would Satan?
It is a sobering thought: that a Christian would cheer and be excited over a Muslim’s death in the same way an extremist Muslim would cheer and be excited over the death of an infidel.
I know I don’t want to be guilty of that. So, I will not rejoice in Osama Bin Laden’s death – but I will rest in the knowledge that a little bit of God’s justice has been meted out to the wicked. And I will pray that the wicked repent and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus.
