A Christian's View of Osama's Death - Part 2 (Thankful)

As our dinner conversation continued I interjected, "As much as I'm sad that he was not a Christian before his death, I'm also thankful upon hearing this news".

"Why thankful Dad?"

I'm thankful because the Bible teaches that God has put governments and earthly powers in place to restrain evil and even punish evil, at least in an 'earth-bound' sense. God even uses governments and leaders who do not believe in him and do not submit to his law or believe his gospel.

Osama bin Laden was a man who ordered the murder of thousands of people. I believe it was right to order that he be hunted down and stopped. That is the role of the state, as fallible and imperfect as it is.

But I don't think that my thankfulness should turn to jubilation or celebration. That implies vengeance and that is not something that Christians are to take on (Rom 12:19). As thankful as I am for this event, the scenes of partying, flag waving, and raucous singing of songs like "We Are the Champions" seems grossly inappropriate for Christians because even God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek 18:23).

These two feelings, sadness and thankfulness, remind me of the two Kingdoms of which I'm a part. First I'm a part of the heavenly Kingdom because of faith in Christ. My citizenship is ultimately in heaven. This is my most important citizenship (Phil 3:20) and my desire to see all men come to a saving knowledge of Jesus is the sentiment that brings sadness at Osama's death.

But I'm also a citizen of an earthly Kingdom; the United States. And I'm commanded by God to obey the authorities over me in this Kingdom as well, in as much as they don't force me to disobey God. So I'm glad when the government restrains and punishes evil as God has intended it to do. (Incidentally, I'm also a resident of the United Arab Emirates and I see it as my duty before God to obey their laws and be subject to their government as well, in as much as they don't command me to refrain from doing something that God has commanded me to do).

The goal of the people in the first Kingdom, local churches, is to spread the knowledge of God and his Gospel (see Matt 28 again). And a major goal of the second Kingdom, the State, is to uphold earthly justice, restrain and punish evil (1 Peter 2:14). It's the proper role of militaries to defend, protect, and restrain evil but the role of the church in the world is take the Gospel to the nations.

And so you and I live with a cross section of responsibilities and citizenships, both "in the world but not of the world". That's how I can be both sad and thankful for Osama's death.

Note: Some of you have commented on what it means to "love your neigbor" if your neighbor was Osama bin Laden. I would hope you would share the gospel with him (if possible). Or at least wouldn't you want the gospel shared with any jihadist? One popular account these days is of the conversion of son of a Hamas leader. What if no one had shared the gospel with him? And I would hope too that you would pray that any murderer would be caught and punished for his actions. Loving people doesn't mean we let them do whatever they want to do, but it doesn't include withholding the message of hope from them either.

A Christian's View of Osama's Death - Part 1 (Sad)

We finished thanking God for our dinner and then began eating.

"So Osama bin Laden was shot and killed yesterday. There are pictures all over the internet of cheering Americans waving flags celebrating. What do you think a Christian should think about his death? How should we think about this event in a Christian way?"

"We should be sad because he wasn't a Christian" piped up Emma, my youngest and only not-yet-a-teenager.

As much as I'm glad that a mass murderer has met with justice (more on that in another post) I agreed with her. To think about the world from a Christian perspective means to think about it from a Gospel perspective. And anyone who has not repented and believed in Christ still has the condemnation of God to face. (John 3:18) That's true for him and it's true for everyone else as well. It's why we share the Gospel with everyone and anyone. (Matt 28:18-20/Acts 4:12) Because the gospel message is the only thing capable of removing the condemnation of God from us and making us adopted sons and daughters of the King.

In the 2 Chronicles 33 there is a story of King Manasseh. If ever there was a despicable human being it was him. Charged with leading the nation of Israel in the ways of God, he did the exact opposite. He led Israel away from God. Injustice, murder, immorality, and idol worship all grew during his reign. And as if to characterize his evil reign with one sentence, it says he sacrificed his own children on the altar of foreign gods. (2 Chronicles 33:6) He literally put his children to death in a selfish attempt to gain favor with the foreign gods of the nations around them.

So God brought other nations to conquer Israel in judgment. And Manasseh was led away in chains and thrown into the prison of his captors. That seems just doesn't it?

But God is so rich in mercy that he moved in Masasseh's heart to truly and deeply repent of his sin. Sitting in that dungeon was the mercy of God to awaken him to his own wretchedness. He truly and deeply repented. And God forgave him.

Not only that but God eventually had him rescued from prison and restored to the throne in Jerusalem.

Now that's amazing grace.

If God can forgive Manasseh then there is hope for everyone else on the planet. People like Osama bin Laden and even me.

UN to Fund "Safeguarding" of UAE Cultural Practices

Here's our country's UN dues at work...

Cultural Practices to be Assisted by U.N.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The United Nations launched an initiative in the United Arab Emirates to prevent the death of age-old cultural practices, a press release reported.

Thursday, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage listed 76 traditions from around the world on the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Included were the tango, religious processions and fertility dances.

...The practices in need of urgent safeguarding are eligible for funding to ensure their survival.

Among these are Latvian female drone singing, a collective fishing rite in Mali, three Mongolian practices and a Belarus Christmas ritual.

Do you think Abu Dhabi really needs UNESCO funding to help with this?  (See this chart on the value of various sovereign wealth funds in the world... guess whose is at the top and valued at 50% more than #2)

And what are the cultural practices that are going to be "safeguarded"?

I'm in favor of preserving heritage for future generations to learn from them.  I'm not sure this is the best way to do it.

Blogging Restart: Something Light - Paper Plane Light!

US Consulate Suspends Services in Wake of Unspecified Threat

I got an email last night while watching the US Presidential inauguration online.  It said that services would be suspended at the consulate today in light of unspecified threats against the consulate.  Here's the story on MSNBC.com.

The story states that there was no public notice given of suspended services but I got the broadcast email to all registered US citizens in Dubai so that doesn't seem correct.