With so much coverage of this topic in the news these days, I wanted to post a wonderful response I recently read reagarding Osama's death and also give a chance to hear what you have to say...so below I have posted an article by Matt Slick, which brings up some great scripture references as we process these current events.
The death of Osama Bin Laden
by Matt Slick
On May 1st, 2011 U.S. forces killed Osama Bin Laden in a 40 minute attack upon a compound in Pakstan. This ends a ten year hunt for the world's worst terrorist who masterminded the attack on U.S. soil where the Twin Towers in New York were destroyed and 3000 people were killed. But, what should the Christian's attitude be about his death?
The Christian response should be two-fold. First, we should be sad that he has died and entered into his eternal condemnation. This judgment is indeed horrible, and as Christians we should be saddened for any unbeliever who has denied the true God as Bin Laden did in his Islamic beliefs. Second, we should rejoice that justice has been carried out.
On the one had God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
•"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord God. "Therefore, repent and live," (Ezekiel 18:32).
•"Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked . . ." (Ezekiel 33:11).
We clearly see that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. That is, it is not his desire that even the wicked die. Yet, on the other hand we find...
•"And it shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you. . ." (Deut. 28:63).
◦The word "delight" here is the word "soos" in Hebrew and it means to exult, rejoice, display joy.
•"If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death," (1 Sam. 2:25).
◦The word "desired" here is the same Hebrew word, "chaphets," used in Ezekiel 18:32 and 33:11 ("pleasure") above. It means "to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with."
◦ Likewise, the word "chaphets" occurs in Isaiah 53:10 where it says, "But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief."
In the above verses you can see that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, yet he delighted in destroying wicked people. Is this a contradiction? No. Because God can be saddened by the death of the wicked but also delight in executing his righteous judgment upon them because it is in accordance with the holy Law (do not murder, etc.) which he himself has given us.
If God executes his righteous judgment upon the wicked, then we have an obligation to follow his lead, to carry out righteousness, to deal with the wicked, and to guard the safety of others. We need to do this carefully, with caution, and only after proper laws have been followed.
Way of the Pastor,
Joe Drew
Thank you for posting this. I don't understand how rejoicing in his death makes us any different from those on the other side of the spectrum who rejoice in the death of our soldiers. Am I glad that his reign of terror is over? Of course I am, but I have a hard time seeing how celebrating his death is Christian in any sense of the word. Hate the sin, not the sinner. He was a lost soul that never found the light. Did I want to join hands with him and sing kumbaya? Yeah, probably not. This issue is so big and confusing, but I am terrified at how hardened we're all becoming.
ReplyDeleteHe was said to have 'really' died ten years ago. So, maybe the focus is more what the truth is instead of "How we think we're suppose to think or consider this!"
ReplyDeleteYou can do a search on this and find that Bin Laden had serious health concerns even around 911. Was he the only 'master mind' involved here or were we "hoodwinked" again to believe more lies?
Did this lying Admin. use the timing of a fake assassination to boost falling approval ratings? Why shove the evidence (corpse) into the ocean, which wasn't even the correct procedure?
Is May 1st of pagan significance and that was the reason for this to be the selected day?
Things like this may be beneficial reasoning the facts in God's Reality and Truth, rather than our thoughts about righteous judgment.
Thanks though!
death of a killer is a happy thing. but using religious concepts in this matter is not so good
ReplyDeleteNone of us knows God's final conversation with another person.
ReplyDeleteEven Osama could be, much as many shudder to think it, a family-member waiting in Heaven to welcome us.
Not by any of his works, but by the Blood of Jesus.
This is as gracious as it gets, and woe to the preacher who forgets it.
No funeral should ever be full-on lamentation, for we do not judge. We celebrate the Resurrection. This way, even the suicide...or rather, his survivors, hold out hope in the grace of our Sovereign Lord.
This is not to say that hell will be empty! It is just to say that we don't put people there.
We'll see...