I am a news junkie for sure. So when I saw the president was going to make an announcement at 10:30 PM I knew it must be important. I stayed up even as the announcement time kept being pushed later. And sure enough it was important – Bin Laden was killed.
However, as I saw people begin to celebrate I had mixed feelings. Yes, I believe justice caught up with him. He was a cold blooded murderer and his killing is justified in terms of how this world deals with evildoers, which God uses. And I can understand why people would celebrate, in that we might think that the nation is more safe now, or that now there might be less war. But to specifically celebrate the death of a man? This is different. For the non-Christian this may be no big deal. But as a Christian I could not join in for several reasons.
1. Scripture teaches us that God was not celebrating. God says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,” speaking of sinners in Ezekiel 18:32. Bin Laden was created by God, a person in the image of God, who threw this away. This is sad. God so loved the world, including terrorists, that he sent his Son to die on the cross for them, so that they could be saved. And as the rest of the passage in Ezekiel 18 makes clear, God would have forgiven him if he had repented. (It is only by this grace that any of us are not judged by God.) This is when all of heaven rejoices, when a sinner repents – Luke 15:10.
2. Scripture calls us to love our enemies. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:27-28. I do not think that we would ever rejoice in the death of someone we love, even if they are evil. It is tragic, not a time for celebrating or gloating.
3. Scripture specifically teaches us not to rejoice in this. Proverbs 24:17 says, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.” This is wrong. As v. 18 says this displeases the Lord and can make his anger turn away from the evildoer. The meaning may well be that God’s anger will turn to the one who rejoices.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 