A sense of deep satisfaction came over me. A man had paid for his crimes. Justice was served. And in some small way, there was vengeance for the evil things Bin Laden had done both here in the United States and around the world.
My wife's reaction was different. She caught me off guard when she said, "I feel sick to my stomach. I mean, I know he's an evil guy, but are we really celebrating the killing of another person?"
I kind of wrote off her response, thinking How can anyone not be happy this guy is gone?!
The Conflict
As the blogosphere exploded, it became clear that my wife and I weren't the only Christians split by these two responses. On one hand, there was rejoicing. On the other, a questioning of that rejoicing. Christians began throwing out Bible verses like candy at a parade, each verse intended to dictate how we should respond. Or better, how God responds to things like this. Christianity Today put out a list of the most common Bible verses that started to show up on Twitter. That article - 'Do Not Gloat' vs. 'Joy to the Righteous' - pretty well describes the discussion.
The pacifists say that killing is never the answer. And in so doing, they spit on the graves of those murdered and sign the death warrant for those Bin Laden would have killed in the future. Likewise, there are those who clearly lavish in his demise from a position of hate and unrighteous, un-Godly anger.
The pacifists say that killing in any form is foreign to the God of the Bible. But in so doing, they ignore vast portions of that Bible. And those who out of hate and anger relish in a man's death do so in direct opposition to love.
It seems my wife and I are experiencing the same tension as others. The more I've thought about it, though, the more I understand where the conflict is. If all of those Bible verses being thrown out there did any good (and that's a huge 'if'), it was to show that God, in the demise of evil, is both satisfied and saddened. He is satisfied in justice done. He is saddened that a person whom He loves has rejected Him, and this for the final time.
My hope is that Christians embrace any response that lies somewhere between those two ends. Personally, I don't feel much of the sad/we-shouldn't-be-happy-about-this side of things. But, I think that those in tune with the heart of God realize that there is, in fact, room for both responses. My encouragement is simply that we recognize the object of our reactions.
What do we celebrate? And what do we grieve?
We don't celebrate the killing of a man. But we do celebrate justice. We celebrate the fact that a viscous killer will kill no more. We celebrate that the head of an organization of terror has been destroyed. We celebrate that the world is a somewhat safer place. We celebrate the lives saved.
We don't grieve the removal of an evil killer from the world. But we do grieve the loss of a life for whom Christ died. We grieve the sinfulness of mankind. We grieve the damning effects of sin on this one individual. We grieve that Satan has claimed one more. We grieve an unredeemed soul. We grieve another who will spend an eternity in hell. We grieve that it had to come to this. That it ever has to come to this.
But it did have to come to this. And I think everyone, if they are honest with themselves, knows in their heart of hearts that this is true - no matter how uncomfortable they might be with it.
We don't grieve the removal of an evil killer from the world. But we do grieve the loss of a life for whom Christ died. We grieve the sinfulness of mankind. We grieve the damning effects of sin on this one individual. We grieve that Satan has claimed one more. We grieve an unredeemed soul. We grieve another who will spend an eternity in hell. We grieve that it had to come to this. That it ever has to come to this.
But it did have to come to this. And I think everyone, if they are honest with themselves, knows in their heart of hearts that this is true - no matter how uncomfortable they might be with it.
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