breaking news

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:44

‎"Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his way and live? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye." Ezekiel 18:23, 32

After ten years of fighting, and hundreds of thousands of live lost on both sides - some innocent, some not - I know the world in rejoicing in this step toward a terror-free world. I admit that I am tempted to join them in that, feeling a tingle of American pride along the way.


What shocked me though was this: it made me sad. Not sad that Osama Bin Laden is dead (we can all agree that, like the fall of Sadaam Hussein, the world is now a "better place" with him eradicated) but sad that the world is uniting in a joyful celebration of death. What makes me sad is knowing that we are justified in this celebration, knowing that I am essentially "right" in being thrilled to hear this news. 


I reposted the above passages from the Bible after reading it from my old friends Nathan and Kalle, respectively. As Nathan put it, "I'm so sad when I read... [Facebook] right now. I see rejoicing instead of solemnity, joking and laughter instead of pain that justice with 'served' with such a heavy hand."


I am eternally grateful for the lives of those who have suffered to achieve this. But sadness that the world has come to this at all, that's what I think we are talking about. There is no doubt the world will be a better place without him, but I second Nathan - solemnity, and the reminder that redemption is always possible, right to that last breath of life. We will never know, but there is always the hope.


I'm genuinely relieved to see that these two have echoed my feelings on this because I admit that it did startle me that my initial reaction was sadness. But it was not a sadness or mourning of this particular life lost (again, I remember what he has done, please do not misunderstand me), rather that the lessons Christ himself taught us, that we are ALL His children and ALL have the potential to repent, are seemingly lost in a sea of "justification".


We all ask the classic question: What would Jesus do? And yet, in so many arenas the world over, that concept is pushed aside for what we consider "justice" and "the right thing to do". 


Christ did not judge, did not turn anyone away, did not draw a line in the sand condemning people to one side or the other because He simply loved. Even when He was not loved in return. He saw possibility in every human soul and loved them regardless.  This is why He was the man He was. Of course I also understand that for mankind to continue doing that, and to the extent that Christ did, is hardly a possibility. There are certain "necessary evils" in the real world. 


I truly believe though that if Jesus were alive, in the human form He took millennia ago, He would not be rejoicing and laughing at this death. There would be a sadness looming because, though we don't know for sure (but the odds are not in Bin Laden's favor), another soul has left this Earth without knowing Love and Grace. 


So, sweet readers, I beseech you - do not let this bring joy to your heart, rather remember the sacrifice of so many lives and understand the true cost of what it has taken to bring us one step closer to "winning" this war. 


(photo taken from my computer screen as President Obama spoke to our nation on this matter)