No Great Day for America

The news broke last night. Announcements of an upcoming important press conference had everyone speculating. President Obama would be speaking, but about what?

We were then informed that Osama bin Laden had been killed. An intelligence tip led the US military to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where an ensuing brief firefight found bin Laden dead, having been shot in the head. The US supposedly took possession of his body and later buried him at sea.

In the aftermath of Obama’s announcement, people all across the country began to gather and celebrate. American flags waved as cheers and chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A! ...” rang out over the sound of people reciting the pledge of allegiance and singing the Star-Spangled Banner. Videos from Ground Zero and the White House flooded the social networks and the news. Certainly this country was jubilant and proud that one of the top missions for the past decade had finally been completed.

And this is when my heart sank.

The more I've read and seen, the worse I've felt. Go to any article online about bin Laden's death and you'll find comments similar to these (taken from the comment section below a CNN.com article, spelling and grammatical errors kept in tact):

Hard to face Mec ca when you're spinning around on the ocean floor! Beautiful!

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A VIDEO OF HIS DEATH AND VIDEO OF HIM BIENG CUT INTO PIECES AND THROWN TO THE SHARKS PLEASE

FInally, to the one man who just devastated the image of Muslims and Arabs to the world, go burn in hell you murderer!

God Bless America!!

Well the stock exchange is doing better for the killing of that piece of crap I guess we should be asking the stock exchange who we should kill next to make the market better!

I lost 2 of my best friends over in Afghanistan because of Osama bin Laden and I'm glad he's dead just like the rest of Al-Qaeda will be very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should have poured some pig blood on it, then shipped it back to New York so it could be slapped in the face with shoes and spit upon.

about time we got that monster,and yet i'm kinda jealious at the same time.i wished in a way it was me that pulled that trigger that rid the world of him

I hope the Sharks have a feast dear friends of ours lost their beautiful Daughter in 9/11 I do not hate people but this one Justice was served.

America Rules! Osama didn't stand a chance. Get Some MARINES!!!

Thank you CNN. "Breaking News" says USA has the DEAD body of 0sama Bin Laden. Bring out the champagne. Party time! Rot in hell Osama. Hahahah

Watch the Mets-Phillies game on ESPN. The whole crowd is chanting "USA! USA! USA!"

finally someone killed this murderer.

rot in Hell you Monster

Now let's bury him with a pig!!

USA.,we are the best !!!!!!!!!! Yeah

I hope it was a long, drawn out and painful death.

AMERICANS! DANCE IN THE STREETS THE WAY THEY DID ON 9/11!!!

I will not debate that Osama bin Laden was a terrible man, and one responsible for the loss of many innocent lives, but the response that has been seen in America, as shown in the above comments, is disheartening on many of levels. Here are a couple of the larger issues I see emerging.


There Is No Pleasure In Death

First is the jubilant celebration that is happening over his death. I will certainly rejoice that many lives were likely saved. The protection of life is something worth pursuing and I only see it appropriate to take a life in dire circumstance. A time when it is appropriate would be when a person takes the lives of innocent people, refuses to change, and violently resists arrest or incarceration. In this situation we are forced to take desperate measures and perhaps kill, but such a task should be approached with a remorseful, somber, and humble heart. It should never bring joy.

Ezekiel, a prophet, tells us the story of the Word of the Lord coming to him. In this message, God tells of the imminent destruction coming to Israel, but says repeatedly that He takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked" or anyone else (Ezekiel 18:23, 18:32, and 33:11). For followers of Christ, our goal is to align our hearts with God’s heart. If His heart takes no joy and finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked, why should we be any different?


True Biblical Perspective

Many people are celebrating that "justice" or, even worse, "God's justice" has been served. I find this to be an extreme distortion of what the Bible proclaims. First of all, it is a bold and dangerous claim to say that the actions of the US Army exact the justice of God. If you truly believe this, there are some far deeper theological issues that we need to address. Second, the Bible, specifically the New Testament is filled with a message of redemption and restoration. Not for some, not for the almost pure, not for those who haven't screwed up too much, but for EVERYONE. God's love and grace has no limits. It applies the same way to Osama bin Laden as it does to me and to you.

Undoubtedly, people will point to the Israelites and the Old Testament for an example of “God’s justice” and to passages where God is on Israel's side as they are engaged in wars with other nations. The problem here is that circumstances were drastically different. God was specifically directing an entire nation and leading them through purposefully placed leaders and prophets. He hasn't been in the habit of operating in that manner since Jesus died to offer salvation for everyone, not just a specific people group. This means we need to look more to Jesus than to a nation that repeatedly failed and was brought into captivity by God as a result for a moral example of how to live our lives.

Christ, fully man and fully God, came to earth specifically to set the record straight. He came to offer the infinite grace and love of God to everyone. Not just to the healthy, but to the sick. To those with terrible pasts, to those who think they are unlovable, and to you and me. Jesus faced many situations in which people could have been condemned according to the old law, but not once does He do it. He never condemns. Instead, he loves us, offers second chances, and reminds us that we are not perfect either.

Paul writes in Romans that the wages of sin is death, that all have sinned, and that all sins are equal. We say it all the time, but do we actually embrace the reality of it? It means that passing judgment, failing to do the good you ought to do, hoarding material possessions, gossiping, slander, sexual immorality, lust, pornography, etc. are on the same plane as murder and hatred. That means that our continual battles with these things that we think petty make us no better than bin Laden. God has placed an obvious price tag on our sins, a tag that we can't pay. But Christ came down and bought us with His own blood. For everyone. God loves Osama bin Laden every bit as much as you and me. Difficult to swallow? Perhaps. True? Absolutely. And the same thing that is tough to swallow is the very thing that should be a great source of hope.

America the Self-Absorbed

The last problem on display in the aftermath of bin Laden’s death is the extreme pride, ignorance, and arrogance shown by the American people. We tend to see ourselves and our country as the proverbial “golden child.” We think we are incapable of doing anything wrong, let alone being on the same level as someone like bin Laden. But what if we really step back and see ourselves from an unbiased perspective?

I have been fortunate to travel outside of America’s borders and learned a lot as a result. One of those things is that the rest of the world seems to have a better idea of what America is doing than its own citizens do. They keep up with our foreign policy, where we have troops stationed, what laws our government is passing, and who the people are in power. We can’t even point to their country is on a map (this is not an exaggeration - before going to New Zealand, most people I talked to had absolutely no idea where it was). As a result, we have no idea just how much the rest of the world is frustrated with out foreign policy, no idea that we aren’t well-received everywhere around the globe. Worse yet, when we’re informed of that, what is our response? “Well, we’re the greatest country in the world, so f*** them.” Awesome.

It is precisely this attitude that has made so much of the world upset. We take what we want from who we want when we want it, and we ask nobody for permission. Have we even for a second considered that there may have been a reason for the 9/11 attacks? That at some point, perhaps we did something to enrage an entire people group? Perhaps we had, dare I say it, ourselves to blame? We keep a military presence is too many countries to keep track of, leave behind a trail of destruction, and have the blood of countless thousands on our hands. All the while, we complain about gas prices and our greed allows millions to die every year while we drive nice cars and by expensive houses. We don’t give a second thought to those dying of hunger and preventable illnesses as we spend $25 on a meal, but when 3,000 working, middle to upper class Americans die and we are outraged. For just a moment, step back and imagine what this must look like to the rest of the world. No, those people didn't deserve to die, but they also weren't any more valuable than every other life that we take or simply allow to die and goes unnoticed. America, put down your pride. It needs to die. There is an entire world out there that would be better off if we would.

Finally, the joy expressed at bin Laden’s death shows once and for all that we are no better than him. We are caught red-handed, practicing the same carelessness with life about which we were supposedly righteously angry. I understand that he needed to be stopped. I understand that since he refused and resisted being taken into custody, there was no other option than to use force. But such actions should be taken with a remorseful, somber, and humble attitude. The task of ending a life should never be a point of pride or joy; never lead to saying, “Look what we did!” And yet that is what we do, unknowing pointing to a mess that we have created that does not end with bin Laden’s death. We hope to find “justice” or peace in it, but the only thing strong enough to overcome evil and bring peace is love. There was only one death that could ever bring peace, and it is celebrated every Easter. Until we learn these truths and begin to choose love and forgiveness over vengeance, over violence, and over pride, we will continue to pay the price for our sins. For those following after God’s heart, today was a not a day of celebration, but of weeping.