Food for thought....maybe

This is going to be an interesting topic for me to tackle, and I dare say, maybe a controversial one.  But I want to write this post because I find that, in doing so, I often come to a better understanding of what it is I believe and why I believe it.   That being said, I'm obviously sharing my opinion, and you are free to agree or disagree.  

I want to talk about Osama Bin Laden’s death.

I think I can categorize most of the reactions I've seen into two distinct categories:

1. Triumph that a mass murderer has finally been brought to justice after ten long years of evasion. 
2. Refusal to celebrate the taking of even one human life, no matter how evil.

I can see both viewpoints.  I think a lot of people struggle with falling somewhere in the middle of both viewpoints.  And I think that's okay.  I'm not about to tell you how to fell or what to feel, but I am going to try and untangle how I feel and why I feel that way.  So, bear with me.

As a believer in Christ, I find myself drawn to this interesting dichotomy.  And yet, personally, my heart aches not for the life taken yesterday, but rather for the thousands of others that died a horrible, fiery death on September 11, 2001.   To me the two aren’t even comparable, and yet, I understand the conflict.  And in a lot of ways, I applaud it.  So it's time for some self-reflection.  I’m all about dissecting what I believe until all I’m left with is a refined and truly reflective image of the person I'm becoming in Christ, because in doing so, I can rid myself of a little more me in favor of a little more Him. 

And so tonight, I pose the question:  What reflects the heart of Christ?  Is it wrong to celebrate the triumph of justice, even when it results in the taking of a human life?  What if that life is inherently, unquestionable, absolutely evil?

Undeniably, that’s a hard one.

As I was letting this post marinate in my brain over the course of the day, I kept coming back to one, absolute truth: I serve the Lord God of Heaven.  He is merciful and mighty, His love surpasses all understanding, and yet He is also the God of absolute justice.

Absolute justice.  I had to let that settle for a while before wrapping my brain around the rest of it.

I believe there is internal conflict over what to feel in the case of Bin Laden’s death because we live in a world devoid of absolute truth.  We've gotten rid of the black and white.  Eliminated the right and wrong.  We want to accept anyone and everyone so badly that we've allowed ourselves the freedom to live by an ever-evolving sense of “morality”—what may be deemed "situationally acceptable" given the current sway of public opinion or public thought.  How do we do this?  Gosh, in so many ways. 

We legalize the killing of babies through abortion, and yet we scratch our heads and lament that Bin Laden was not taken alive.  It just wasn’t humane, we say.  But what about the innocent lives being taken through abortion?  Surely those are worth more than the life of a mass murderer.  What’s really going on here?  Abortion has become a social “norm”, and we accept it as such. It’s situationally acceptable.

And yes, I’ll say it.  We have babies through in vitro without fully understanding or considering the sanctity of life and the precious gift that each embryo represents.  Our attitudes can be flippant.  As I type this, there are over 300,000 embryos waiting for a shot at life in frozen nurseries all over the United States.  Why is that okay?  It’s become situationally acceptable. 

Pornography is rampant, and legal, and yet we point fingers at each other and wonder why our kids are so sexually aware and sexually active at such a young age.  I’ll tell you why: because it’s become situationally acceptable.  

We herald assisted suicide as death with dignity and then turn around and mourn and cry foul at each life ended through non-assisted suicide.  The only dignity in death lies in the assurance of eternity, but somehow we've tricked ourselves into believing the lie.  It's become situationally acceptable.  

As a society, we're so confused.  So lost.  It kills me.  I want to reach out and love on these precious hearts that are aching for meaning all over the world.   The answer is here.  He's here.  We've just lost sight of Him.  

These are only a few examples, and yet each one kills me, because in trying so hard to accept these societal migrations in morality, we’re actually destroying the very human dignities and freedoms that we hope to gain.   I don't believe that there can be  human freedom or human dignity without law or justice.  There is a right and a wrong, and we simply cannot relegate God to a spectator role in human history.

So now here we are.  A lot of people find themselves torn in looking at Bin Laden as a human rather than just as a terrorist.  And it’s so hard to wrap our brain around, because we’ve given ourselves the freedom to see things in shades of gray.  Yes, he was a terrorist, but was that all?  Truthfully, we may never know. 

So what do we do?  I look to the God of absolute justice.  I read His word.  I refuse to quote famous men or make God into what I would have Him be; rather I choose to examine His word to unveil the picture of Himself that He has already given us.

I look at passages like Romans 13:1-7, which teaches us that God uses governments to carry out His good plan of justice, and 1 Peter 2:13-15, which upholds the right of earthly governments to punish criminals, and in all of these I see the common thread of justice.  I believe that the Bible emphasizes the dignity and freedom of man; asserting that every man is free to do what is right and good by God’s absolute standard.  But I also believe that the Bible is clear on the right of human governments to punish the unjust.   I take this specifically from Romans 13:4, where Paul talks about how God uses the punishment of earthly authorities for the good of the people.  In this way, punish for the wicked is not vengeance for the act, but rather justice under the law. 

So what am I saying?  Honestly, I don't know.  I think it's a decision we all have to make for ourselves, one that we come to in appreciation of the relationship that exists between man and God.  I may not have the answers here, but I sure do like the questions.  I like them because it’s in the asking that the human goodness separating us from them shines through.  We want to look deeper, to see more than just the man who blew up the twin towers.  Is that wrong? I can’t say that it is.  But for me, I choose to meditate and prayerfully consider my God as the God of justice and righteousness.  And I believe in black and white along with forgiveness, because I believe He does too. 

And so I applaud that justice was carried out in the death of Osama Bin Laden.  I trust that he met the Lord God Almighty and was held absolutely accountable for his actions.

And I’m comfortable with that.