I’m finding that I am not reacting as I thought that I might. I’m glad he is dead, but the images that I see on the news of people celebrating, are really starting to bother me, and I wasn’t really sure why. Then I saw an interview with a high ranking FDNY representative, and I began to understand from his comments why I feel the way I do. Here are a couple reasons that I won’t be throwing a party today in honor of the death of a terrorist.
First of all, our memories of September 11 should not be about Osama Bin Laden. As we celebrate and dedicate inordinate amounts of focus on his death, we reinforce what he was trying to do, and that is get America’s Attention. The purpose of terrorism is to disrupt everyday life and cause people to focus on death, and destruction. Even though most are glad the he is dead, we are still celebrating death. America should be better than that
Second, revenge is not a reason To celebrate. I keep hearing the newscasters and other say that this is about closure. What I see the crowds doing in response to the news does not indicate closure, but rather a joyful, and giddy, celebration of our more base and human need for revenge. Closure brings a sigh of relief, and peace in the heart, but what I see on television more accurately represents what you see from the crowd at a WWF match. Remember this Scripture:
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:19-21 – NLT
Have we done good as a nation by dedicating so much time and resources to taking revenge, or have we allowed evil to conquer us? I’m sure we all have a little different feeling about this question. God’s Answer seems pretty clear.
Third, death of any kind is not a reason to celebrate. The deliberate taking of a human life, even if it is to protect others, is a very solemn thing. I believe that there is a fine line between murdering someone and delivering justice, and your perspective will determine which side you are on. I would guess that many of the people celebrating today are anti death penalty, but yet think that killing a terrorist is reason to rejoice. I personally do believe that the death penalty is allowed by scripture, and is sometimes necessary, but to rejoice over the killing of even a criminal is wrong. Those who rejoice over the taking of any life need to seriously consider what they are celebrating.
My heart goes out to all of those who lost loved ones on 9/11, and I hope that his death does give them closure and a sense of peace. My greater hope is that many of them have already found the Peace that only a relationship with God can bring, a peace that is not reliant on our human need for revenge, or even closure, but rather is imparted by God out if His infinite grace and His love for us.
I am glad this man’s terror reign has ended. Even though the president and I do not have the same political views, I’m glad he made this decision. Even though I haven’t seen any celebrating, I would hate to think the American people would celebrate death. I have been to ground zero and it is like standing at a very large grave site. It is a place to be sad and silent. I guess you can call it vengence if you want, but it was a very great and deliberate evil that was done to the people who died on 9/11. They weren’t at war, they were inicent. This man was not going to stop pouring out his vengence on us just because we exist. So, yes people need to celebrate the end of his life.