Recent development concerning the “doing of justice,” namely in the killing of Mr. Bin Laden, has spawned interesting debates over the past few days.
Most notable in my opinion would be the debate revolving the appropriate response and I’ve heard and read all kinds of sides on this. Biblically speaking, I think it’s pretty clear that as Christians, we are to express a heart of gratitude for the power and assurance of justice. In addition, and in preservation, we need to grieve the tragedy of this man’s life – a life lived in radical opposition to God. That said, it’ll be hard not to harvest intense emotional feelings of retribution for the man, especially if you were closely tied to 9/11 or were overseas for war (or there now). However, we need to flee those temptations. The Bible is very clear that vengeance belongs to the Lord (Deut. 32:35, Romans 12:19, Heb. 10:30).
On a personal level, I’d be much interested to see whether or not this would spark discussions on God’s justice, wrath and holiness. These attributes seem to be by and large neglected in our American culture today. That’s why we get questions like, “How can a loving God….” so on and so forth. All this remains to be seen. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts if you’d like.
