The comments below are that of the author only (me – Andrew Noble) and do not reflect any organization or group I have ever been a part of or am currently a part of.
Okay, so Osama Bin Laden is dead.
And I guess this would be an awkward time to argue that a “loving” God would never judge someone. Yeah. Bad timing. That’d be awkward. I won’t argue that.
Better yet we could discuss politics, and if we should be implementing a death penalty in Canada for outrageous crimes. Yeah. That’d be awkward too. I won’t go there.
So what am I posting about?
I think pointing out hypocrisy is important – especially in religious people, or people who try to act very moral to others.
Is it okay to murder a murderer?
Is it just to kill a killer?
Most people find it easily acceptable to think this is okay with Osama. Rather than focusing on the behaviour instead of the person, we say the person is a bad apple and must be killed. We are “playing god” when we agree with statements like this. I mean deciding who should live and who should die should probably be left up to someone with a little more understanding wouldn’t you say? But that’s off the point.
My problem is that our moral, fluffy-loving culture complains about the Christian view of God: who judges people for their sins and potentially gives them what they deserve. People, including Christians, struggle with that view of God because our culture has made this view seem so ugly. They argue “God is love so therefore he cannot judge or condemn anyone”. But how many people in our culture (who like to play god) would say that God should love Osama and not give him any torment?
No we all say, kill the killer!
Where is the love though? Would anybody in the world be willing to stop that bullet from reaching bin Laden’s head? Probably not. He should get what he deserves. Right?
Let’s go into this justice vs love conflict a little deeper.
You hold to the eye-for-an-eye philosophy with Osama, but would you like the same standard for yourself? If you gossip negatively behind a friend’s back should they do the same behind yours’? If you cheat a few marks on your midterm should the prof cheat you a few marks on the final? If you make an exaggeration on your resume about some past duties you performed does your boss get to make an exaggeration about the salary you’ll actually receive? How about that awkward kid who always raises his/her hand in class that you make fun of with your friends – should you be treated the same way?
This is the problem with the eye-for-an-eye philosophy all alone. Not only does it lack the love our culture love, its simply never taken as a consistent approach. If you cannot take this philosophy seriously for yourself then you shouldn’t use it on someone else.
But wait – am I saying we shouldn’t have killed Osama?
I’m not commenting about that at all – I’m just showing how our fluffy-love culture finds it acceptable to show no love to a killer – using a system of beliefs (eye-for-an-eye philosophy) that they don’t even use for themselves. Its hypocritical.
But here is the good part.
My goal is actually for you to respond to situations with love and justice. But you will need a better system of beliefs. Let me tell you what you need.
You need a man, a real man, who is willing to stop the bullet, catch the grenade, and give of his own love so that the harm that was meant for you (in fair justice) is given to him instead of you. Then, your just mentality is protected by the love of this man. You can still take killing seriously. While also understand there can be forgiveness from it through this man. This man can’t be a wimp, but must be willing to take on the sins of the world. He’ll need power. He’ll need to be God himself to accomplish such an enormous task of taking the pain that should have been given to others.
You need Jesus. He is the man who is God, come down to us, to sacrifice his life to protect us from the pain we justly deserve.
Yes, this eye-for-an-eye thing makes sense, that’s why you wanted Osama dead! But you must also see that love makes sense! That the two can come together because of Jesus’ great love. Humans, as communities and individuals who screwed up, deserve a just & fair consequence for our actions. But it is Jesus who protects us against that consequence. Because he is that man.
If only we all believed this, so help us God.
If you are interested in what the Bible has to say about celebrating justice and loving our enemies, all with some very nice graphics, click this.
No Bull... from Noble. 