I copied all of my friends' Facebook statuses over these past few days concerning the death of Osama Bin Laden, because I wanted to gauge the reaction of those in my social network. I thought the variety of responses was interesting, and surely most of these perspectives are worth looking at and considering. I think it's important to understand the general reaction of our country, the Church, and our loved ones- it says a lot about us. How did you FB friends react to the news? What do our reactions say about our character/values/priorities?
As Mother Teresa said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." What a tragic state of humanity that the death of any person would elicit joy and celebration.
big deal osama bin laden is dead. its not goin to end the war. it brings a small piece of justice but other than that its not a big deal at all.
Glad America can put this to rest. :)
Don't rejoice when your enemies fall; don't be happy when they stumble. [Proverbs 24:17]
Jesus loves Osama Bin Laden.
The Crucifixion = redemptive violence–– right? With all this celebrating you would think so. I don't post prayers on facebook often––actually ever––but Father please teach us, through the open body of your Son, what it means to be hospitable.
"As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." - Ezekiel 33:11.
LOL I hope none of you Osama celebrators are pro life. LOL @ ur hypocrisy.
Let us not forget our humanity, though he may have forgotten his. Evil is not extinguished through death and celebrated hatred.
God bless America. It doesn't matter if one man is dead. This one man was responsible for 3000 innocent us civilians deaths. Our troops will continue to fight and this night shows us what were fighting for.
It's a great day for our country! President Obama's speech was clearly heartfelt and brilliant!
I am getting off facebook for the a good amount of time because I'm tired of everyone justifying hate and murder and war with a flag and a cross. Excuse me, but that's disgusting. Damn America, you've let me down. Again.
“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." - Martin Luther King Jr.
good riddance Osama Bin Laden, your cowardice and inhumanity will follow your name through the rest of history.
Call me a skeptic, but I'd like proof that Osama Bin Laden is dead.
I would love to drag his body through the streets of New York behind my horse. You know who I mean
Bin Laden has been killed. How do we feel about this? Hey wait a second...my Bible says: Psalm 10:12-18, Exudus 20:13, and 1 John 3:15; contrasting ideas in the same book! Eeek. It's very easy to comment on this event when we sit huddled safe in the US. How would our perspective shift if we did not have the luxury of talking about war in a classroom? but rather had to live in its brutality everyday? Food for thought.
It's so sad to me how fast we fall into celebration for the death of a person. What happened to the love and peace that Jesus showed us through his life?
Finding truth in God's Word. Ezekiel 18:23. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Praying for peace. Night all.
"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." MLK Jr.
Am I reading a different Bible? Are we supposed to be gleeful about taking a life; no matter whose life it is? Aren't conservative Evangelicals supposed to be pro-life?
It disturbs me how everyone and their mother is putting *like* to posts about a person's death. Not sure that death ever deserves a *like*..... no matter who it was.
Lets be clear!! Obama did not or initiate the assassanation of Osama Bidladin, a American Soldier that volunteer's to protect you and I and the Freedoms in which America stands for and that Obama wanted to freeze the pay of did!! God bless the USA wich was found under Him!!
Idk about this Sarah. There is a difference in celebrating that he is dead and celebrating that our troops, our country made a step forward. Celebrating that the thing that started this war and caused so many other deaths has been eliminated. And war is completely and totally biblical. There are way too many times to name that god ordered people to go to war or go kill someone.... Are there not?? It's a mile marker for American history, maybe people were simply recognizing that.
ReplyDeleteI agree, there is definitely a difference between those things. Some of these statuses were quite obviously doing either one or the other (I think advertising that you'd like him to burn in hell or drag his body behind your horse is more savage than patriotic). I think that some people are simply recognizing what may be considered a mile marker, but I think this needs to be balanced with a sobering recognition of not only Bin Laden's humanity, but of the tragic consequences of the whole situation: not only his death but the deaths on 9/11 and the thousands of deaths that came about because of this war. I would agree that war is in the Bible, but I would not agree that war is "biblical" in the sense you're using it. I think it comes down to a person's view on how much historical/cultural influence is in the Bible. I personally believe that God is gracious enough to work within someone's culture, even within the bad parts- but He also moves us forward into a better future (which is why I think Jesus' words so radically contradict so much of the Old Testament- he is redefining, reinterpreting, making clearer). Jesus is the best look at God we get ('cause he is God) and the best look at perfect humanity we get (since he is sinless human) and he refused to participate in the violent practices of the powers that be. I definitely respect your opinion though, and I know it's a fuzzy topic that's hard to pin down. Which is why there are so many differing reactions, as can be seen by all the different statuses.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was difficult to swallow that men in my church that I have an awesome respect for were so happy that one person had been murdered. One of them said we should bury his body in a trench filled with pig blood, clearly because of the Islamic ban on pigs. It was hard to see people I respect sink so low.
ReplyDelete:( That is hard. It's hard to know the line between voicing your opinion and protecting relationships.
ReplyDelete