Take 2...

Some of you may have read my initial post about Bin Laden's death, which I have since deleted. I jumped to some initial conclusions and the more I thought about it, I really found my self on both sides of the issue and don't think that was accurately reflected. So, here's the short, much less copy/pasted post about how I feel. I'm going to try to keep in simple even though it's a complicated issue. I thought a Q&A format would make it easier for me to explain my thoughts.

Am I glad he's dead? Yes

If I had lived in NY or DC, would you have seen me out in the streets with a poster about him now burning in hell? No. I cringe in disgust when I see the radical Muslims on TV celebrating the death of Americans, so you wouldn't have seen me out there celebrating his death.

Why not? No matter how evil someone is, I can't be excited that a soul goes to hell.

But he was so evil, why not? I don't think God is happy when any of his children forsake him and choose to lead the kind of hate-filled and violent life that Bin Laden did. HOWEVER, God allowed justice and good to prevail and our brave servicemen and women have ridded this world of a great evil. A man, if you can even call him that, who made it his mission to torture and kill innocent people is now gone. God be glorified for allowing our military to prevail. I am so thankful that this man can no longer personally carry out evil in the world. A BIG thank you to our military! This part, I can certainly rejoice in.

So, you seem a little confused about how you feel? Sort of, yes. I think celebrating "death" and only "death" is wrong; however, celebrating 'mission accomplished' of our military and the defeat of one of the most powerful evils in the world, which happened to be an individual, is okay. In order for good to prevail, someone had to die. Hmm, that sounds familiar. The BIG difference is that JESUS was the only death that can bring true peace to our hearts. Unfortunately, I know Bin Laden's death is not the end. I certainly don't think it will bring much more peace because now they are just mad that their leader was killed. There are still so many terrorists out there, and I'm sure one is just jumping at the opportunity to assume Bin Laden's position. To them, this is just a setback, but they will come back.

I do think that we need to continue to pray for these radical Muslims, and even harder, try to love them.

Jesus taught us: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. . . . If you love only those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (Matthew 5:43-45, 46).

In summary, as a Christian I didn't think it was right to rejoice in anyone's death. Then I realized that what I was "happy" about was not his actual death, because I knew it was God's job to judge him in the end. He would get was he deserved in this life or the next (well, in this case, looks like BOTH). The reason I was "happy" was because it was the end of a great evil. It was the sense that justice prevailed for those impacted by 9/11. It was a long-awaited military success. It was knowing that this mastermind could no longer personally put his evil stamp on the world. It was was what so many of our brave soldiers were putting their lives on the line for everyday. Bin Laden's death was just a means to an end. Well, like I said above, it's not really an end. Sadly, I think there will be more men following in his footsteps, which is all the more reason to pray that God will change these people's hearts. I do have to say, I've seen the bumper sticker that it's God's job to forgive (or judge, I forget), but it's a Marine's job to arrange the meeting. I know it was the SEALS here, but I thought that was clever.

Do I make sense?... yeah, didn't think so. :-)

I am re-posting the link to a website, God Issues, that I thought had a good perspective on the whole thing.