My computer was in my lap as I awaited the important announcement from President Obama on Sunday night. Before the president even spoke, news broke that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a military operation. Given the startling magnitude of the news, I wanted to follow peoples' reaction in the world of Facebook and Twitter. What transpired was like nothing I had ever witnessed in social media. It began with people simply posting the breaking news. Then statements of celebration followed. However, not too much longer came the posts chiding those who were celebrating for failing to love their enemy. Then full fledged debate and the throwing of scriptural hand grenades were underway!
How Christians should respond to such momentous news that involves the death of another human being is a complex matter. I hope here to articulate a Christian response, but am not claiming to have the Christian response. The fact is that there a lot of tensions in Scripture, and the death of Osama Bin Laden seems to fall right into the middle of such a tension. On the one hand, the Bible clearly contains dozens of passages that call on God for the downfall of the violent and those who oppress others. On the other hand, other passages declare that God himself does not delight in the downfall of the wicked and Jesus called on his followers to love their enemies, exemplified most powerfully in Jesus forgiving his executioners from the cross. For example, compare Ps. 58:10 and Ezek. 33:11. These were just two of the passages being used for the scriptural hand grenades I mentioned above!
Those who were adamantly against the celebrations that broke out on television and the celebratory comments made by their fellow Christians on Facebook look to Jesus as the ultimate example of how to respond to our enemies. So, even if dozens of Psalms and other Old Testament passages seem to give the okay to celebrate the demise of the wicked, such passages are trumped by Jesus and the cross. While I agree that we interpret Scripture with the cross at the center, I am not fond of any interpretative method that simply dismisses the value of large portions of Scripture outright. Besides, even the martyred saints of Revelation--living in a post-cross reality--are portrayed as calling for the vengeance of God upon their enemies, “"How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Rev. 6:10).
Once I was in a jury pool and was asked by the D.A. if I cared about the defendant who was accused of murder. As a Christian, even if he had been found guilty, I would still care about him as a human being made in the image of God and would hope for his eventual redemption. This I suspect is how Jesus would have us love our enemies like Osama Bin Laden. We don't hope for their destruction, but for repentance and knowledge of the truth. My answer to the D.A. got me dismissed almost immediately, because she assumed that my concern for the defendant was primary. She never considered my concern and love for the victim and his family as well and therefore my value for justice.
In the case of Osama Bin Laden, we cannot lose sight that while his destruction is tragic because of how sin had so badly warped him, his killing also brings justice and closure to the suffering of thousands. A Christian response will both mourn the tragic consequences of sin that made such a killing necessary, but also rejoice at the arrival of long awaited justice for thousands around the world.
P.S. Some have objected to the use of the word 'justice' in connection with the killing of Bin Laden. Their problem is with viewing America as the purveyor of justice when we (speaking as an American) have our own evils to answer for. But I am not claiming America has the moral high ground nor that America is the ultimate bearer of justice. I would have the same feelings about the matter, if Pakistan had killed Bin Laden. The country who actually brought justice to Bin Laden is immaterial to the point of this post. Justice belongs to God and one thing the Old Testament Scriptures make clear is that God can bring justice through many means, including through nations that may be even more evil than the one he is punishing. The book of Habakkuk especially explores this issue. In any case, there is no hesitation on my part at speaking of the demise of Osama Bin Laden as the justice of God, and therefore he gets the glory. His simple death may not convince all that justice has been served, but we leave matters of justice in the afterlife to God as well.
