I wanted to wait for a little while before writing on the response that Christians should have when dealing with the death of Osama Bin Laden because in the initial frenzy everyone was talking and no one was listening. Most of you have already read some responses, and have seen that everyone has a verse. I think that both sides are pulling passages out of context, so I am going to approach this from a different angle.
When I was a young child, I was frequently called a “tattle-tale” by my siblings. Why? Because, if they had wronged me, I would almost always go to my parents to get them in trouble instead of taking things into my own hands. Why did I do that? It is simple: I learned at a very young age that if I did something to get payback, not only would my siblings get in trouble for what they had done to me, but I also would get the exact same penalty as they did because I had exacted my own “justice”. They were guilty and deserved punishment, but I had to have an impartial person carry out that justice or else I received the same penalty.
There is a difference between justice and revenge. Both appear justified because in both cases the guilty party is guilty (presumably) and is thus worthy of punishment. But we draw a distinction between that punishment being carried out by an impartial observer and that punishment being carried out by the victim. If a man’s wife is murdered, and he finds her murderer and kills him, most people would sympathize with him (so much so that he might even get a lighter sentence), but he would still go to prison for what he had done.
No matter how much we, as Americans, would like to believe otherwise: America is not the sole arbiter of justice. Nor are we the Mighty Right Arm of God carrying out His Justice in the world. In the case of Osama Bin Laden and the attack on September 11, we were the victim! Thus, carrying out retaliation against the person who wronged us is not justice—it is revenge.
Furthermore, the events surrounding OBL’s death are not the picture of justice. He was unarmed, and retreating, but he was shot twice in the head. That is not a self-defense shooting: that is an execution. On top of this, Osama had never been tried in a court, and the motto of the American legal system is “innocent until proven guilty”. Even if someone confesses to a murder, we still do not label them as guilty until a court has decided that.
Did Osama Bin Laden deserve to die? Yes. However, the way in which he died is not a case of justice, but a case of revenge. It is the job of the Christian to call those who are unjust (such as carrying out revenge) to repentance, not to try and baptize their retaliation as true justice.
(You can send any hate mail to jerusalemandrome@gmail.com)
