In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, I’ve been a bit surprised by the buzz among Christians all over Facebook and Twitter, and in private conversations, over whether or not it was appropriate for Americans, Christians specifically, to celebrate.
The arguments against rejoicing go something like this–– “Osoma bin Laden may have been an enemy, but Jesus taught us to love our enemies. The death of any human being is a tragedy, and we should never rejoice over any man’s death.” A couple of Bible verses are sometimes cited, such as Proverbs 24:17 – “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” Ezekiel 33:11 is also quoted, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” A priest on one of the news stations the other night went so far as telling the commentator that Americans who were elated over bin Laden’s death were no better than the Muslim terrorist sympathizers who publicly rejoiced when the World Trace Center Towers fell on 9-11. Advocates of this view were quick to pass on the quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr., “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.”
Is that right? Is that what Jesus meant by, “Love your enemies”? Should Christians rejoice in the death of an enemy? (Incidentally, MLK never actually said the above quote. Somebody just thought they’d get more credibility with it if it was attributed it to him.)
We have to always be careful that we do not misinterpret isolated Scriptures when making application to any subject. All Scripture is inspired, and it is a unified whole. One passage will not contradict another. When it comes to obscure passages or statements that can be interpreted in a couple of ways, we should use clear passages and the whole of Scripture to help us understand the meaning of those that are less clear or less obvious.
With that in mind, did Jesus mean by loving our enemies that we should not celebrate a victory over a military enemy, who is actively seeking to take innocent lives, including our brothers and sisters? If so, he would have been contradicting multiple passages where God’s people both sought The Lord to bring justice upon their enemies (Revelation 6:10), or where God’s people rightly celebrated victory over them, including the deaths of those who were seeking to destroy them. 2 Chronicles 20:27 reads, "Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies." Psalm 9 is especially applicable in that David used the entire Psalm to celebrate, thank, and praise God for victory over (including the deaths of) those who were seeking to destroy him. We also can’t ignore the many celebrations the Children of Israel made after major victories over their enemies, including the deaths of the entire Egyptian army after the crossing of the Red Sea, the inhabitants of Jericho after the miraculous collapse of its walls, and many other enemies during the Promised Land conquests and when attacked by enemies during the monarchy.
So then, what did Jesus mean by, “Love your enemies”? To love is to practice acts of self-sacrificial good-will for the benefit of another, without expecting anything in return. It does not mean that we are not to protect ourselves, our loved ones, our countrymen, or principles of righteousness. As followers of God, we ought to be lovers of justice and protectors of those who are innocent. It is certainly appropriate that we celebrate when justice prevails, when evil is vanquished, and when innocent lives are protected. Knowing that bin Laden was actively seeking to kill more Jews and Americans, simply because they are Jewish or American, we ought to rejoice that those lives he would have taken, had he lived, are now saved. That, along with justice prevailing, is cause for rejoicing.
God would have rather that bin Laden had repented. YES! I certainly would have as well. Sadly, that did not happen. But justice did.
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Scott,
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting the in the beginning of your blog that warn people of misinterpreting scriptures out of context to support a cause when it seems like the same thing is happening here. If you look at two of the three scriptures you use to support the idea of rejoicing in the death of your enemies, they too are taking out of context in your discussion.
In Revelation 6:10, those people rejoice and seek justice for those who were slain for upholding the Word of God, they were martyred. Now don't get me wrong, the people in the tower were innocent and did not deserve to die. But this particular scripture talks about those who were killed specifically for upholding the Word of God. I don't think the Twin Towers a beacon for God's word
The second passage is the one from Chronicles. Another one that has been taken out of context. The people rejoice because they have victory over their enemies. Did you read a few passages before that to see how they obtained victory. If you read you will see it was not by an assault or through an hunting of people. Actually these particular group of God's people never even fought. I encourage you to read the whole story...it's pretty fascinating.
Jesus says to that any person can love their neighbor, it's much harder to love your enemies. I see no where in scripture or thru Jesus' teachings where it says to love your enemies unless they harm you, then you can do what ever you want to make sure justice happens.
God's love has a powerful way of overcoming many adversities, though there may be trials to see the fruit of that. Loving your enemies is a very counter-cultural way of dealing with those that care to bring us harm. Jesus was never about bring justice, as we think justice, but about restoring the world to God. If it was about celebrating justice then why did he not encourage the Jewish people to revolt against the Romans, or kill those who had abused them and oppressed them. For they were far more oppressed then we are today.
Love Always Wins!
Scott:
ReplyDeleteYour blog is right on the mark. God appoints authorities for order and protection. The appropriate role of government is noted in Romans 13 and other passages in Scripture. OBL was a wicked man who killed many innocent people. The comments by "Anonymous" are just plain misguided.
If God appoints government as authorities and OBL was a wicked man... where is government inolvement with wicked in Uganda with Joseph Coney or in the Sudan or Darfur ? I feel that sometimes the government only picks battles that directly involve themselves. As Christians we don't have the luxury to pick and choose. We sometimes only celebrate justice that benefits us and ignore other atrocities. Look how many children have been affected in Uganda. As Christians we should be advocates for all. There were many governments in Scripture that weren't God appointed. Where do we stand ?
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the justification for celebration of the death of one man I still choose not to celebrate. We are told we do not war against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. Therefore I will not rejoice over the death of a man, a pawn in this cosmic battle. I will then celebrate the victory Jesus has given us over the prince of this world and I reserve that celebration for him alone.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the Romans 13:1 comment by Geroge. I like the passage a few Scriptures before that in Romans 12....
ReplyDeletePLEASE READ WHOLE PASSAGE before reading comment.
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
19 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.
20 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.”
21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Submitting to the government authority has a whole new look when we live life like this. Romans 13:1 says to submit to the authority of the government, however as Christians how we do that looks different. In the murder of OBL I have a hard time celebrating his death when we, according to Scripture, didn't repay evil with good. I will always submit to the government's authority, but that doesn't mean I will celebrate when I believe they have acted outside of what I read from God's word. God is always the one who brings justice. I just feel that this looked a little more like revenge instead. No trial, or anything.
George,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the fact that we are to submit to the authority of the government, I was just calling to question Scott's interpretation of the "love your enemy" Scripture, along with how he criticized people for pulling Scripture out of context when it appears he does the same thing. I was curious what his response to that was.
Two of the three Scriptures (I haven't read the one is Psalm yet)has a only victory when it was apparent that God was the one leading the victory (and the people never even entered the battle), or when people that were martyred for preaching the word of God.
Scott mentions that Scripture is inspired and a unified whole. I think the message that we see in Scripture time and time again is not one of justice, but of restoration and reconciliation to God. One of love and grace. One of God's creation going astray and Him calling it back to it's original purpose. If we can say with the utmost assurance that God led Seal Team 6 to shoot and kill OBL out of justice for the Twin Towers, then we have every reason to celebrate. But if there is even a little doubt that God was involved in the planning and execution of the operation, then we must be sad that we have missed the mark, asked ourselves is there something we could have done different to live out God's word, and wonder if there ever could have another way to bring God's hope and love to an already very devastating situation.
Wow! At least I'm glad my blog is read!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (since you prefer to remain nameless)...I appreciate your response and desire for the Scripture to be handled correctly, but it appears from your criticism that any time an application is made to a contemporary circumstance, the passage is taken out of context. Actually, I'm quite familiar with the context of both of those passages. I know the 2 Chronicles 20 story very well and love it! But the application, that there are appropriate times when God's people can rejoice over the defeat of their enemies, is still consistent with the proper interpretation of the text. As is the case with the Revelation 6 passage. Sure, there are differences in details; there always will be when applying Scripture to current situations. But at the same time, based on Revelation 6, it is appropriate to desire justice in the aftermath of the taking of innocent human lives (a major purpose for the book to have been written). Those were my reasons for using these texts. I could have used many others, and there are others that could apply more directly (David's killing of Goliath, Ehud and Eglon, Jael and Sisera, ect., ect.) I could go through the Bible and do a careful analysis of each example of killing in times of war, and use only those passages where the Bible specifically says that the killing was at the direct hands of a human beings (as it was in 2 Chron. 20) and then people rejoiced, but I think we both know that happened a lot in the Bible. That's my point. God's people can rejoice when justice is done.
Andrew....thank you as well. Romans 12 is one of my favorite chapters and it is all applicable for us who are followers of Jesus and for his Church. But it was not written to governing authorities, or intended to be a standard by which governments were to operate. This was written to the Church, and we should live this way. Perhaps you take a pacifist position, and if that's the case, you are being consistent with how you read this passage in application to our involvement with government. But if not, you are being entirely inconsistent. If we are to use Romans 12 as reason to never be engaged in protecting our country from terrorists who are living to kill innocent Jews, Christians, Americans and many others, it would also need to be applied to World War 2, the Civil War, etc. Then our grandparents would have been violating this passage when they joyfully celebrated V Day.
And yes, Andrew, you are right, there is an inconsistent application of justice when you compare this (or Libya) with what is happening in other parts of the world. I can't answer for all other injustices. But that doesn't mean we should not be glad when lives are saved because of the capture or death of a sworn enemy in one place, because there are still threats to innocent people in other places.
You also might be right that some were celebrating out of vengeance. It could be that some were. But that's a judgment on your part of something intangible. I, for one, was not cheering in the streets, but I was glad that the threat from bin Laden was alleviated. I would have been as happy for him to have been captured as I was with his death. I remember a lot of celebrating when Saddam Hussein was captured, but not when he was executed. I really think most of the celebration over the bin Laden incident was a combination of relief that his threat being dissolved, as well as the rejoicing over justice being carried out.