Thousands of people have died in this endeavor. People whose names and faces are all but forgotten except for the ones who've lost them. For whom is this a victory? Just because Osama bin Laden is dead does not mean all the terrorists are going to hang up their guns and say, "oops, my bad." And, because of the structure of al-Qaeda, bin Laden's death changes nothing in terms of the terrorists' agenda. It may be too soon to tell, but this death could very well mean that terrorists now have a new martyr to justify their cause. And we've given them pictures of Americans celebrating in front of the White House just as we had the awful visions of them celebrating 9/11.
I think, for me, the worst was reading comments from people who wanted to rejoice in bin Laden burning in hell. Now I am not going to go all Rob Bell on you, at least I don't think, because I have not read his book, but I do want to know- who are we to say that bin Laden is in hell? And I do not believe for a minute that if bin Laden did arrive in hell, that God is rejoicing over it. I don't think He rejoices over anyone going to hell, no matter how much they deserve it.
Some of my friends from church shared some encouraging Scripture on Facebook, and right now, I'm sitting with it and just letting God's word soothe my soul.
4 comments:
I feel the same way... I only heard the news a little bit ago and all the "hate" and "rejoicing" sort of grieved me. Not sure what I should be feeling, mostly feel nothing, but all the emotion out there definitely deserves prayer. Was justice served by his death? What is justice and who says if it's served or not? Only God, I believe. And to throw a wrench into the plan (cliche, I know) who's to say the government isn't...well, you can figure out the rest.
Danica,
Thank yo for this; it states my feelings exactly. I think God would want us to behave differently than we are by celebrating in the streets and planning rallies. I sure enjoy reading what you write!
I just said a prayer about this not two minutes ago so you summed up my feelings quite nicely. I simply cannot rejoice that anyone is burning in hell. I might feel differently had I lost a loved one in 9/11 but even then, probably underneath it all I could never truly rejoice.
Gina~I kinda wondered the same thing about the government.
I am not rejoicing that a man lost his soul (there is no indication Bin Laden was a Christian) but justice was served. The US cannot look the other way when attacked. Passivity only invites more attacks. It was necessary, but sad nonetheless.
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