I have the misfortunate condition in which I possess to ability to keep my mouth shut when I ought to. This has led to a few comments via twitter and facebook(bless their hearts) that I 1. do not possess a patriotic spirit and 2. am judgemental. I'm incredibly offended by number, and I would probably agree with number 2. I'm a blogger, however, which means that I get to defend myself.
I am not unpatriotic. My father is a member of the United States Marine Corps. I could not be more proud of him and more grateful of his service. The same is true of all of our service men and women. It is because of their service that I have the ability to own a blog where I get to say this.
In the wake of the recent killing of an evil Man, Osama Bin Laden, I am once again in awe of the Navy Seals who risked their lives to bring that man to justice. I firmly believe that we should celebrate and rejoice in the fact that the justice system worked beautifully. I also think we should be incredibly proud of the way that those who were given the task of bringing him to justice did so not with vengeance, but with dignity. I am incredibly proud to be an American always, and most especially during times such as this.
Now that we've cleared that up, I am also a bit more than disgusted at the way that some have chosen to show their patriotism. Minutes after the death of Bin Laden was announced, someone created a fake twitter account pretending to be Bin Laden 'tweeting from hell.' I'm sorry, this is not patriotic nor is in any way humorous. Be that as it may, whoever created the account has the right to express their freedom of speech anyway they chose. I did not so much have a problem with the person who created the account as I did with the number of Christian's who followed them and then retweeted what they were posting.
As a Believer, I do not rejoice in the death of another human being. Here's the crazy thing, no matter how evil Bin Laden was(and he was) and no matter how senseless his killings were(and they were), Jesus died for him just as much as he died for me. If the Bible is to be believed(and it is) than I have no right to think I am better than he is. I just accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ, where as he wholeheartedly rejected it.
Believe me, I get that this is uncomfortable to think about. I don't like to think that Jesus died for Hitler and Bin Laden and every other evil person to walk the face of the earth, but He did. I can no more deny what the gospel tells me than I can deny the very existence of Jesus Himself.
Please don't think that I disagree with the killing of this evil man. The Bible clearly states that God Himself gave authority to our governmental leaders and they then have the authority to bring those who do evil to justice. My heart rejoices for those who lost loved ones on 9/11. I'm so grateful that their prayers(and my prayers) for justice were not in vain. I celebrate that justice was served. I celebrate the victory of our service men and woman. I celebrate that God protected their lives.
Please share your thoughts on these events. Remember that any comments deemed inappropriate will be deleted.
Hannah
Doosey, I feel I may have lit a match in an explosive topic. I'm not sure if an apology is in order because as a blogger, you probably needed a topic to write on. But if you're offended or hurt by anything I said, sorry.
ReplyDeleteI would first say, that I realize where you are coming from. It is cool to have family who served in the military. I thank them and all people who sacrifice for the freedoms I have today.
I also thing the bible verse in Ezekiel 18:23, that you and hundreds of others used on Facebook and twitter the past few days is slightly out of context. Not only is it talking about old testament law, but it is rather it is a section in the overall lesson of repentance and forgiveness for our sins. The Lord obviously takes no pleasure please in the death of his creation (verse 32). But I think there is some level of glory given to those who rid themselves of their offenses, and seek forgiveness.
OBL did not seek forgiveness (as far as we know). But I think we can still be glad that justice was served. He got what he deserved. I agree we don't need to rejoice in death, but rather be glad that he is no longer able to harm. Praise our countries military achievements, and bravery, courage and talents of our service men.
I think if I had the opportunity again, I would still be one of those people outside of the white house cheering Sunday night. I am very patriotic and was very excited to hear of this great achievement, the removal of the most wanted man in the world.
Idk, kinda sloppy disjointed comment... I'll have to blog about this myself.
Jared