While we watched and waited for the president to speak a couple thoughts kept running through my mind. How am I supposed to feel right now? What should my reaction be? Now I knew what my initial reaction was - a mixture of satisfaction and joy sprinkled with a small measure of relief. What I didn't know was whether it was the right reaction or the best response as a Christ Follower. Then I began to wonder if my brain was trying to over analyze the situation. It does that occasionally.
After the president spoke I consulted the Twitter world and my Face Book friends to see what others were thinking. I thought about tweeting myself but after composing a couple different statements and deleting them I decided to wait a bit to pray and process what we were all experiencing. So here I am - the next day - sorting through a variety of thoughts and feelings and forming a few opinions in the process:
- Justice has been done. America's most notorious enemy has been defeated. What made Bin Laden's behavior so evil in the eyes of the civilized world was that many of his murderous acts were against the most innocent in society. 9-11 was the biggest but certainly not the only example of that. Not only did he indiscriminately kill civilians including women and children, but he used women and children as human weapons to do it. War is one thing - murder is another entirely. He was a self-confessed, global mass murderer on whom society appropriately imposed the ultimate penalty.
- One of the primary responsibilities of government is to protect its people. Logic follows and history confirms that the best way to do that is from a position of strength. When an enemy attacks a society that society better respond and be able to impose significant consequences on the enemy. Otherwise they invite more attacks from other enemies and will eventually fail in that primary obligation. This doctrine of deterrence has proven throughout history to be an effective strategy for maintaining peace and keeping societies safe from invaders. Bringing Bin Laden and his cohorts to justice is a part of that on-going effort.
- Heaven does not celebrate the death of any person who dies without the hope of Christ. Therefore, as a follower of Jesus Christ, neither can I. Now I can't know Bin Laden's heart. But his words and actions indicated that he didn't know the one true God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible is crystal clear on this point. Without Christ we are all lost to God for eternity. That's why God is incredibility patient and not willing that any should perish but that all should come to know Him through repentance (2 Peter 3:9). I know the Bible is full of stories of God bringing judgement and even death on the enemies of His people and those who oppose Him. But no where in those stories do I see God celebrating those deaths. Heaven does not open and angels don't burst into dancing and singing when people die without Christ - regardless of who they are or what they've done. In fact, I believe that Heaven morns the loss of another soul to Satan and Hell for eternity.
