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This blog is meant to be an encouragement to you as you journey through your day. If you have a question about the life of faith, please feel free to email me. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I welcome the conversation.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Guest Blogger Ryan Scott - Honesty


The following is written by my friend and colleague Ryan Scott, from his blog http://onemorethingblog.blogspot.com/.



Honesty

It has apparently taken me two and a half years to be affected enough to write another blog post, but Osama bin Laden was killed last night. I have a lot of thoughts. It is a rare situation when people feel open to be completely honest. This is one of those. I appreciate the honesty of people to say, "I'm glad he's dead," and frankly I'd expect nothing less. I am also touched by those who've expressed their conflicted feelings about being happy. That sort of honesty takes courage. It only seems fair to be equally honest.

My first response to the news was awe that it actually happened. I, like a lot of people, felt bin Laden was going to die of old age. My second response was nervousness.

This death does indeed bring some closure to an unsettling experience that began with a terrible tragedy almost a decade ago. I am one of those whose life perspective has been shaped by dealing with 9/11 and its repercussions.

I was beginning my Junior year of college at ENC, just south of Boston. The planes took off from Boston. There were guys on my floor who, for a while, were worried their father was on one of them. A fellow student lost a father as he responded from his fire house to help evacuate the buildings. I was not disconnected from this tragedy. It was real. It felt personal.

Two years later God changed my life. The result was a shift, from preparation for a career in politics to enrolling in seminary and the process of preparing for ministry. My encounter with scripture profoundly changed by perspective on life. I found a gospel that demanded my full allegiance. It meant a departure from the story my culture was writing for me to participation in a story God has been writing since the beginning of time.

News I would have cheered in 2001 brings sorrow in 2011.

I say this with no affinity for Osama bin Laden. He dedicated his life and his considerable wealth to increasing fear in our world. Fear, which is directly counter to a gospel of love. In this case, I cannot think of a more appropriate word to describe his legacy than: evil.

That being said, Osama bin Laden was a beloved creation of God's and every death is tragic. We do not have the right to kill anyone, no matter how evil. Judgement belongs to the Lord.

There has been much talk of justice, when people really mean revenge. Justice would have been for bin Laden to express real remorse and for the victims of his aggression to express real forgiveness; justice would have been for us to create a society in which George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden could live in peace.

I am not so deluded as to think this is possible, short of a miraculous work of God. Yet that miraculous work is the vision of the future laid out in scripture. What else to the wolf and the lamb, the bear and calf, the child and the serpent represent than sworn enemies living in harmony?

The real issue today is not how we handle death and killing (you can read my previous blog entry for that), but how we respond to them. I take Jesus seriously when he says an "eye for an eye" no longer applies, but instead we're called to love our enemies. Even if one feels that killing is necessary at some point, it should be done with repentance and regret - never celebration.

I am sorrowful because I believe that celebrating death is destructive to people. We cannot control the emotions life brings out in us, but we must control our responses. Revenge feels good; we've made someone suffer in the way we've suffered. But revenge can never bring healing. It can never bring restoration. That comes from loving those who don't deserve to be loved. It comes from remembering that we are all, simultaneously, undeserving of the love we're shown and profoundly deserving of love.

God weeps for Osama bin Laden. I'm not sure I can muster that response, but I do weep for people who rejoice in death and I apologize for any arrogance that may communicate.

4 comments:

  1. Two of my posts, which I think are compatible:Rash statements abound and political posturing has already begun, but now is a time to acknowledge that there is no glamor in military victory. Our military operatives deserve our respect and appreciation, and they should be honored. Yet, it's sad when violence becomes necessary. I'm glad this tyrant is finished, but there is no joy in my heart. God has given all of Himself to redeem all people. My mood is sober.

    2) Notice, I did not say that there should be no relief and no honor, but that there is no glamor. I respect the sense that people in NYC or DC might have. If I get to a parade for the people who served, I will stand and cheer. I simply did not feel joy, or a sense of gloating. I guess I see God as administering justice with a tear, not a giggle.

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  2. Define "rudeness"

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  3. My emotions are so mixed, but Ryan is right.

    I can see both sides of the coin: this could be called justice, for it is the likely sentence that would have been handed down had bin Laden faced court. It's also revenge, for we skipped that step of a court of law.

    I ache for those in Special Ops who were handed this assignment; to take a life, even in the name of protecting many more, is a heavy burden to bear.

    I also wonder...would bin Laden have even made it to court, had he been arrested rather than killed? I am of the opinion that the world probably would see less retaliatory violence had this been an arrest. This is a fringe group that takes its martyrs very seriously, and will retaliate to avenge them. Granted, they don't need a reason, but this gives them one with which they can plot with glee the demise of their enemies. However, I have to wonder...would he have made it to a court of law? Would he have actually stood trial? Escape is always a risk, and we can't hide behind the facade that the enemy doesn't also live among us. Would bin Laden's own people have eliminated him, while in our custody, just to make him a martyr when we tried so hard to make that not happen?

    What's worse? Knowing there's a shark in the water and watching it, or knowing there's a shark, and it's disappeared from sight?

    It is difficult to be truly 100% sorry about bin Laden's death. But I know the heart of God grieves for his loss, however ironic that may seem to us.

    Regardless, this is a war that we did not start, but it is war nonetheless.

    And in the words of Henry Blake, "All I know is what they taught me in command school. Rule #1 is 'Young men die.' Rule #2 is 'Doctors can't change Rule #1.'" I would amend Henry's words to say that men and women of all ages die in war.

    And, until Christ returns, this world will always have war.

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  4. AMEN AND AMEN!!! YOU SPOKE THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH AND I FEEL AS YOU DO. GODLY SORROW BRINGS REPENTANCE... OUR NATION NEEDS TO REPENT... WE HAVE ALLOWED THE KILLING OF OUR BABIES... WHO'S SINS ARE WORSE? ALL THE SAME BEFORE A GOD WHO IS HOLY. GOD HAVE MERCY ON US!!!!

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Appreciate your comments. Disagreement is okay, but rudeness is not.