Should Jesus-followers celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden?

By now, most have heard and even moved on from the news that US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden, the master mind behind the 9-11 terror strikes. It's possible that you missed this news, but I doubt anyone has not heard of the event nearly ten years ago that led to this news.

Probably everyone reading this remembers exactly where they were when they saw the news on TV or got the phone call. We all stood in one united deafening silent moment of shock and horror at our devastating loss and exposed vulnerability. We mourned like never before at the irrational and unjustifiable loss of innocent life.


Regarding yesterday's news of bin Laden's death, I've heard a wide range of responses both by US politicians, mainstream media, and Christians alike. By some media and Christians, I'm disgusted. So, I've tried to lay out a biblical and Christian response to both bin Laden's death and those like him (think Hitler and Stalin). Allow me to answer a few questions that I've heard regarding this news.

1. Was it right for the US to attack and kill him?

A better question might be to ask if it is right for the government of any nation to have a law against murder and that the consequence of murder and worse state-terror is death. Biblically, yes.

For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Romans 13:4.

Osama bin Laden is a mass murderer and a terrorist. Both him and those like him, and the nations that sponsor terror are justly attacked and either annihilated or at least uttered powerless to attack again.

2. But doesn't politics and US agenda cloud the "righteous" mandate of such attacks? What if it is only about oil?

Like you, I've grown both skeptical, even jaded to any political allegiance or quick support for every US "cause". I've seen the US manipulate situations, politicians use Christians for their own agenda, and allowed the media to abuse their responsibility by reporting only what they want us to hear.

However, in this incident, it is apparent to all law abiding people that bin Laden was evil. How can I make such a statement. The Bible makes it clear that killing innocent people is evil (Exodus 23:7; Psalm 10:8; 64:4-9; 94:21; Proverbs 1:11). It's a one of the things God hates (Proverbs 6:17).

War is necessary to protect human life and the cause of freedom. It seems paradoxical to take life in the name of life. But so long as evil exists on earth (until Christ's triumphant victory at the end of time), there will be a need for righteous leaders to gain national safety and peace through military strength. We do NOT glamorize or celebrate war, but mourn it's necessity. We don't celebrate the mass death of enemies. We grieve the need to defend freedom from tyranny and long for a day when God rights all wrong. Until then, we are comforted in the profound words of Abraham Lincoln nearly 150 years ago,

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

3. Is it right to celebrate when people are killed?

Probably more than the other questions, this one seems to stir the most debate. It's born from our own horror at the jubilation and dancing in the streets by masses of Muslims around the world on 9-11. They celebrated at the death of thousands of innocent lives, non-combatants, women and children. Bin Laden plotted and armed Islamic terrorists, and evil people celebrated our destruction.

And now, the US has killed bin Laden and we celebrate. Aren't we doing the same thing?

First, let's go back to previous point and restate the question: is it right for Christians to celebrate the death of wicked people?

The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires. 7 When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing. 10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. Proverbs 11:6–10. (italics added)

Whether Solomon was mandating the celebration or stating the obvious, there is something right about evil being punished. We should celebrate justice and rejoice in the victory of good over evil. While bin Laden was a human, he was clearly unrepentant, purely motivated by evil, and desirous of destroying innocent lives. Bin Laden wasn't an innocent person murderously attacked by big-bad-mean Navy Seals. He was an evil militant.

Also, other Christians have warped passages of the Bible to suggest that bin Laden deserves the same treat as David gave his father-in-law Saul. Most remarks like this are given by individuals with a very poor understanding of the Bible and proof-text Scripture to justify their own views rather than God's. David didn't kill Saul, not because he wasn't evil and evil deserved destruction, but because he had been "God's anointed" and David did not want to be responsible for taking the life of someone God had anointed. This clearly does NOT apply to bin Laden.

Final, but sobering thought:

We understand that wickedness, evil, and terror should and MUST be judged and punished. We celebrate the destruction of evil and evil people. And it is right!

The only place for pause on a day of celebration in the death of the wicked is to recognize that while we too are wicked. No, certainly not evil in the vein of Osama bin Laden. No, we are not terrorists, mass murderers, or busy plotting the destruction of innocent people. But we are living under judgment, rightly deserving of righteous punishment, because our desires are evil and selfish. God is right to pour wrath against sin, and through our celebration at bin Laden's death, we all agree.

However, we recognize that every person, both mass murderers and little-white-liars will be judged by God, and everyone will be found sinful and deserving of judgment (Romans 3:23; 6:23), and not just death on earth but forever death (Revelation 20:11-15) for all who did not place their faith in the salvation offered through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We are all sinners deserving of godly judgment. We will all stand before God and be judged for our life and actions (2 Corinthians 5:10). Those who throw themselves at the mercy of God through the grace offered in Jesus find a "covering" for their sins and are made righteous in God's sight.

So, let's celebrate at the good news that justice prevailed over evil. Let's celebrate that, through Jesus, mercy prevails over justice on our behalf through the cross of Jesus.

Discover the Man's Role in Love - Tomorrow

Is this the image of what a man should be? Most guys think so, and so do the women.

Come out to Lifehouse Church East tomorrow at 9am or 10:30 and discover what the Bible says about the role of men in love, marriage, and community!

Prepare to be challenged as we continue our series "Love & Other 4 Letter Words".

Does what upsets me upset God?

I was jogging recently and thinking and stressing about a few issues that were upsetting me. So, I did what any God-fearing, super-spiritual pastor would do- I complained about them to God. I let Him know what was upsetting me and why and then asked Him to fix them. Sounds good and right?

While I was praying, er... complaining, a thought (maybe the Holy Spirit) struck me,

"Does what upsets me upset God?" Doh! That hurt. Do the things that stress me out, preoccupy my thoughts, attention, and energy also upset God? Is God sad over the things that make me sad?

Then, an even more disruptive thought raced through my mind like a run-away train about to dramatically change my day,

"Do the things that upset God also upset me? Or do I even think about the things that upset God?"

Maybe you're thinking, "God, upset?" Yes, certainly there are plenty of examples biblically of things that upset, anger, preoccupy the attention of God. Want just a few? People going to hell. Care for the orphans and the widows. The health and beauty (holiness) of the Church (Bride of Christ). Yea, those things are important and should be on my mind and when they are not given proper attention or care, they should upset me.

So, what I'm praying now, "God, break my heart with the things that break yours. Upset me with the things that upset you. And remove from my awareness or conscious thinking worries and stress of this life that matter little in the scope of eternity."

Are the things that upset you also upsetting God? Do they matter for eternity?

Are the things that break God's heart also breaking your heart?

Paradigm shift

This is a challenge to think greater than you have in the past. We all have governing rules (paradigms) that put boundaries on what we believe is possible, acceptable, advisable, and even achievable. These paradigms provide the framework (rules and limitations) for our dreaming, thinking, and working.

Look at the two pictures. What do you see?













In both images, there are two different pictures. In the first image, you may see either a duck OR a rabbit. (hint: the ducks bill becomes the rabbit's ears). In the other: either an old woman or a young lady (hint: the check line of the young woman is the nose of the old woman).

What if the things that you've been told were impossible, became possible?

• what if running 26 miles was nothing compared with the hundreds of miles that some people regularly ran in Africa a century ago.
• OR when the clock revolution went from standard dial to digital
• OR when the Wright brothers challenged popular thinking to suggest and prove that man could fly

Often we're letting others define the rules, set by their own limiting thinking, dwarfed dreams, and personal convictions.

In ministry and leadership, what if we had a paradigm shift and broke the rules:

• truly lived like their is only ONE true Christian Church,
• this Church shared resources and cooperated together to fulfill the single purpose of sharing God's message and love with everyone in all of the world,
• in local churches, we chose to support the whole Church and refuse to compete,
• instead of counting how many people are coming to church, we counted how many are not and kept our focus on how we can reach more, i.e. not the 300 we do have, but the 60,000 we haven't reached yet,
• we saw every believer as a minister of the gospel and invested into their lives so that they would be fully empowered and trained to truly testify for Jesus,
• we invested more into the souls (Peter calls us "living stones") of the Church than we do into the brick and mortar of the churches,
• we worked urgently everyday, recognizing that the time is short and the night-fall is at-hand,
• rather than competing for the "best" program, sermon, video idea, we shared our ideas, training, leadership, and finances, so that the whole Church was strengthened!
  

We might just see a paradigm shift in how ministry in the local church happens if we started thinking differently and started breaking the rules.

Struggling with our WHY

Both those who attend and who don't are questioning the relevance of the Christian Church.

• why does it exist?
• what should her energy be most focused in?
• where is her greatest impact?
• why is she declining in the US?
• how should the resources of the church be best used to make the greatest difference?
• what difference should the Church be making?
• what efforts are worth her time, energy, and money?

I realize that some are "sorta" repeats. But I'm struggling because I hear opposing thoughts both from leaders within and talking-heads outside.

Here are some varying thoughts:

• the Cause of the Church is the greatest in the world. (Hybels) The Church is the ONLY organization/ organism in the world that can bring hope and healing to the human heart.
• if everyone in the US who attended a Christian church tithed (gave 10% of income to the church), the Church would have the greatest financial resource in the world, and would be able to finance every major social injustice in the world.
• the Church is the largest organization in the world, and is strategically placed around the entire world as a center of education, medical help/ disease control, and health resource (food, clean water, AIDS prevention, etc).
• the Church is the largest voting block and, as such, should stand up, speak out, vote values, and take lead of electing politicians that are most aligned with biblical values.
• the Church shouldn't get caught up in politics. It's a waste of time and energy, and she is better suited to lead and transform hearts rather than changing people's politics.

For some reason, I struggle with how much of the Cause of the Church is in truly reaching our communities, cities, and world for Jesus, and how much of it is in earning rapport through meeting felt needs. If we spend all our time meeting real needs will we be a powerful Messenger of Jesus' love and life to our world? On the other hand, if we don't meet real needs, do we have any credibility to share Jesus?

How would you answer these questions:

• what efforts are most worthy of the Church's efforts?
• where should the bulk of the Church's resources be allocated (time, volunteers, money)?
  

Hard Questions

Many people feel the need to apologize for asking hard questions about Christianity, the Bible, God, the Church, or Lifehouse. But here's the thing, if we stand on TRUTH, questions and scrutiny should never intimidate or scare us.

It's similar to the idea, "only liars need good memories". Only dishonest or deceitful organizations, religions, etc need to be scared of honest questioning and scrutiny. Why do you think cults have "all" the answers to what they believe? They want to appear intelligent, polished, and as though they have it all figured out. If they have an answer to every questions, then there's no reason for you to doubt.

But faith includes a component of doubt and questioning. Unquestioned faith isn't faith at all- it's blind allegiance. I'm confident that the TRUTH of Jesus and the power of the gospel have, are, and will continue to endure all scrutiny, critique, and critical analysis. We have the TRUTH so we don't need to be frightened by the investigation of it.

Invite questions. Ask hard questions. Wonder! Think! Ask, "what if?" God is big enough for our ponderings. Besides, if you/ me can explain everything there is to know about God, maybe we're not following a very big God. I want to believe in a God that I can't entirely explain. I like moments when I'm caught off guard by God, or confused by what He does or amazed by His mystery.