Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Dealing with Death: Thoughts on the death of bin Laden

Much debate has taken place on bin Laden's death since its announcement Sunday. Many Christians have come with a stand that this death is not to be celebrated but mourned as they say God's heart is saddened by his death. I can understand that and won't paint those details here because the arguments are well said in many places. However, to take a slightly different stand and perhaps to play devil's advocate a little, I have been forced in recent years to face death and it's aftermath in a very deep and real way. This has had a deep impact in the way I feel about situations like this. A blog I read (read here) says that God's heart grieves this death. I actually don't believe that. I, in some ways, believe that God doesn't mourn our physical deaths at all. If so how do you explain the death's of the innocents in the recent tornadoes in Alabama. God sees our lives as they truly are, eternal. When Christ died for our sins and rose again the power of physical death was destroyed for all time. I believe that God may be mourning another eternally lost soul in bin Laden but I'm not sure that Jesus would have wept over his body as he did over Lazarus. On another note, I wonder if it is dangerous to claim we "know God's heart" in these sort of circumstances or any. After all, we are wretched sinners, and at least imperfect, if not completely unholy. We have been washed by the blood, made holy in God's sight, and been given a new heart through God's grace, but saying with certainty we know exactly how God feels at any given time only lends credence to the nonbelievers that argue that a loving God wouldn't allow pain and suffering.  I say this: Celebrate if you believe justice has been done, mourn if you believe death is to be mourned on all occasions. As for what I've come to believe, I will neither mourn nor celebrate this death, and I will let God judge His own heart and this man's eternity and I will get back to work trying to make sure that more people have a chance to repent before their death. Because, despite how death comes and whether I feel it was too early or unjustified, it will still happen to all 7 billion people alive today, but there is eternity to consider and it is far more important.

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