Journey Day 310

So...Osama Bin Laden is dead. After 10 years of diligently searching this cruel mass murderer has finally met his end. Needless to say, people have been celebrating! At first I was one of those people. My initial response was, "Yes! The man that caused such pain in my country is finally dead! He will never be able to hurt anyone again." But, as I read a few articles online I began to feel very convicted. Yes, Bin Laden was an evil man... but I am an evil woman. Yes, his death is "justice" and he deserved it... but I deserve death too. The difference? I have accepted Christ into my life and He has erased all my sins, and made me clean. He extends mercy and grace so that I don't have to get what I deserve. Though I'll never know for sure, I think the odds are that Bin Laden never accepted the love and grace of Christ. His whole life he sought after a false God, and now after death, he is in hell. Once again I can't say that with absolute certainty but there seems to be no evidence to the contrary. And I really don't think that God is rejoicing that one of His creation is in hell... I don't think He is rejoicing that Bin Laden never turned from his ways and accepted God's free gift. God is a just God and so there is a severe consequence for his disbelief, but I don't think there is any type of rejoicing in heaven over this man's death. There was one blog that invited a discussion on the subject, and one woman who had lost people in the September 11th attacks said it well, "Today doesn't feel like joy. It feels like epic sadness. I don't think this is 'justice'--it brings noone back. Redemption does that." The death of Bin Laden will not bring back all the innocent lives taken on that fateful day. This is not to say that I can't understand the feelings of vindication that some may feel... or the feelings of relief. Growing up right outside New York City, I remember the pain that that man caused. I remember the death, and the smoke... I will never forget the empty skyline or the pictures of men and women who had lost loved ones. I can understand there joy, and I don't condemn it. But I myself find no joy, or happiness in his death. Someone compared it to a man named "Saul". I'm sure you all know the story well. He was a christian killer, but one day on the road to Demascus God redeemed him and turned him into a lover of Christ! He became Paul, and wrote a large chunk of the New Testament. God can redeem the seemingly unreedemable, and so I mourn the fact that Osama never came to know Christ... the fact that he never allowed Christ to redeem him. Maybe y'all will think I'm anti American after reading this, but I just know that the bible calls us to a life set apart, and that includes loving our enemies. As Christ was being crucified he said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." He easily could have said, "Father I hate these jerks, send them all to hell." But He died the most terrible death so that we could live in heaven with God forever. I think God weeps when his creation goes to hell... no matter what they've done.