The only difference between us and our enemies is that we are not firing AK-47's in the air. We are however shooting off fireworks and flooding the streets with triumphant cheers.
Back in the summer of 2004 I was living in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I drove past the funeral of Nick Burge, a young man who was gruesomely beheaded by al-Qaida, the video of which was later released on the internet.
For some unknown reason, I watched the video, and for one of the few distinguishable moments in my life I felt definitively that I was bearing witness to pure evil. Burge, afterall, was the same age as me.
A few months after, the bunker in which the men who performed this execution was destroyed, along with the men who did the executing. The father of Nick Burge was interviewed after news of this traveled to the States.
He was asked: "Do you feel some kind of relief now that these men have been brought to justice."
Incensed, the father said, "How can I feel relief? More people are dead. How can I feel good about other lives being taken?"
And so now, as our nation’s enemy has been executed and his remains dumped in the ocean (well, I guess dumped has the wrong connotation), I will not rejoice. I will not celebrate. In looking at history, I have felt it to be true that violence begets violence. Those who take up the sword die by it.
Allow me to acknowledge that in application, should my wife have been in one of the towers, or had many of those whom I know and love whom have served in Afghanistan perished; it is quite possible that I would feel differently. I do not want to marginalize the feelings of any who have suffered at the hands of this man, but I fear that our celebratory posture has rendered us in many ways indistinguishable from our enemies.
I think there may be a major log in the eyes of my countrymen.
i heard the news this morning driving into work and the only reaction I could have was to pray for his (bin Laden) family and the loss they must be feeling right now at loosing a son, father, brother, friend etc. He'll never again have the opportunity to hear the true gospel nor will another believer ever have the chance to share Christ with him again and that is the most tragic of all losses.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the same sentiment my friend.
I can't rejoice at his death. Despite his cruelty and evilness, he was still a child of God, made in His image.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels this way... I was expecting to get some backlash for having, as the Rolling Stones would say, "Sympathy for the Devil."
ReplyDeleteI especially feel vindicated being that you're a former U.S. Seamen.
Mr. Musser, I beg to differ with you on the fact that this man was a child of God. He may have been a child of his god and a child of God's creation, but definitely not a child of my God, the father of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Yes, it is sad that some in our country should celebrate the destruction of this man and his earthly body. Yes, I am sure his family is hurting at the loss of him. I know the feeling well on losing someone near and dear to me. He was one of Ryan's friends. In Osama's lifetime, I am sure he had the opportunity to hear the gospel, but chose to reject it, as most radical muslims have. I personally feel no sadness or elation at this man's death. He finally met his real maker I'm sure it wasn't the same god that he worshipped.
ReplyDeleteBruce (is this by chance Bruce Smith? and if so, we must reconnect very soon!),
ReplyDeleteI think we are all sharing the same sentiment, but different vantage points.
For example, if we looked exclusively at John's writings, we would in fact have a ridged polarity between who can be called a child of God, and who is not (off the top of my head... John 1, loosely, "yet to those who believed, to those who called on his name he gave the right to become Children of God." there's more but that's all I've got right now.
We do have to take a look at Paul in Athens where after explaining to them that their "unknown God" is in fact Paul's God, he says “for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'”
John and Paul are not pitted against one another, but each has different questions they're answering or issues they're addressing.
Suffice it to say Bin Laden has the same created image of God that you and I and all of us share. Feeling neither sadness nor elation seems rather appropriate too. And, if it’s possible, saying that he is and is not a child of God is just as appropriate.
"I have never wished a man dead, but there are some obituaries I have read with pleasure"
ReplyDeleteInsightful words from Mark Twain.