OSAMA AND ROMANS 13: POSTSCRIPT

There have been many people who have weighed in on the question of whether it is right or not to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden. After having a day to reflect upon the momentous events of May 1 and the reactions of people to the celebrations, I have thought of a few things that need to be said, in addition to my previous post.

Comparisons have been made by some between the celebrations in the Arab world after 9/11 and the celebrations after bin Laden's death--implying moral equivalence. I immediately thought back to the Cold War. Those who were calling for the U.S. to back off of communism tried to make the case that there was no difference between the U. S. and the U.S.S.R.; yes, it was said, they did some bad things, but we have, too, so we are in no position to condemn their system. In other words, moral equivalence. Never mind the horrors of the gulag; never mind the KGB's intrusion into every aspect of Russian (and European) life; never mind the fundamental abhorrence of communism toward God, the Bible, and religion (and its suppression of any and all religion). We cannot say that anyone is absolutely right or wrong, we were told. I am hearing echoes of all of this in the "soft" rebukes of those who claim we cannot say that radical Islam is evil, or that Islamic culture is fundamentally wrong. And, by the way, there is another crucial difference: the people slaughtered on 9/11 were innocents. Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda were pure evil.

In all of that has been written and said over the past couple of days, I am also seeing a disturbing trend: whether they are aware of this or not, some are coming close to making laws for God. That is to say, some are almost saying that it is a sin to rejoice over a radical terrorist--a maniac--being killed by civil government. Yes, I am fully aware that bin Laden was not a Christian, and that he died outside of Christ--and that God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner. Some have said that those who celebrated bin Laden's death in the streets of American cities were somehow all not religious folks, who cared nothing for God...as if those who celebrated the end of World War II were all faithful Christians! Either it's wrong in ALL cases, or it's not. However, in all that has been written, one key point has been lost: the Justice of God.

Consider Romans 11:22: "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Consider 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." And then, there is Proverbs 1:24-30: Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof."

God's justice is as prominent in scripture as His mercy. Some have seemed to lose sight of that. The late Rex Turner, Sr. emphasized the justice of God in his classes and his writings. He stressed that it was a key component in understanding God Himself and His grace. God;s justice demands that sin be punished. Thanks be to God, we do not have to pay for our sins by dying on a cross; Jesus' death met the demands of God's justice--a perfect sin offering. That being said, the principle of God's justice extends to the world in general; and, that is where Romans 13:1-4 kicks in. Paul makes it clear that civil government is God's instrument to punish "the evildoer." I again ask the question: was Osama bin Laden evil? Who would deny it? When a man orders a group of zealots to fly planes with passengers into buildings; when he orders a truck filled with explosives to detonate in front of a foreign embassy; when he orders a boat filled with explosives to explode next to a U.S. warship; when he orders a truck to be detonated underneath a skyscraper...I think we can safely say that this man was not only evil, but a maniac. Add to that his hatred and hostility toward Jehovah, Christ, and the Scriptures, and one can see that it is not (as one writer said) that there was "little chance" he could be converted; there was absolutely NO chance.

Romans 1 indicates that people can persist in sin to the point that God will "give them up." 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 says of some, "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Does God still do this? Does He allow those who persist in unrighteousness to go headlong into it? It surely seems that way. How else could one explain a radical philosophy taking hold among so many young men in the Arab world? Yes, the Gospel must be preached to them. Yes, it must be done in the face of danger. However, there are those who will never be reached. It is as Jesus said in the Parable of the Sower: "Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved" (Lk. 8:12). And, remember this: of the four kinds of soil, only one was good.

So...may we celebrate the death of Osama? I can tell you that I did. No, I did not go out into the streets and jump up and down, but I did give a fist pump and shout, "YES!" God's justice was served.