Category: Justice

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Osama Is Dead…Should I Be Happy?

Photo by André Karwath

Spectrum Magazine put up a post on reflections on the death of Osama bin Laden. I decided to post mine here. When the news flashed that President Obama was to make a speech, Then President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the one who was behind the 9-11 attacks on the American twin towers, had been killed.

I see my jubilant sisters and brothers sing the praises of our President for his work that ended in the death of this wanted man.

Celebrations of Defeating the Symbol of Evil

The collective exhale of relief soon gave way to Christians looking at jubilation. and some questioned whether it was a valid response to celebrate the death of this one that many saw as the epitome of evil.

These individuals quickly got uncomfortable at the celebrations and soon we saw the biblical record referred to as many quoted Proverbs 24:17 telling us not to gloat over an enemy. Another Ezekiel 18:32 where god takes no pleasure in death of anyone. And of course Ezekiel 33:11 where God takes not pleasure in the death in the death of the wicked.

Bible Does Have Celebrations of Evil Defeated

Certainly there was a stark contrast between the jubilation we saw among some and these texts that call for a different response. Well then a counter attack came from other Christians with other texts. 2 Chronicles 20:27 seems to demonstrate that God’s people did just that int he old Testament. I am sure that the “rejoicing over their enemas” looked a lot like what we see happening in the United States.

But at the end of the day, I just don’t feel right celebrating the death of anyone. I don’t feel right declaring “welcome to hell” as the Baptist minister former presidential candidate Huckabee did. I had a sense of sadness come over me after the other feelings left.

Seeing The Great Day

Is this all there is? Is this all we have to look forward to? Will we simply celebrate “payback?” After seeing the towers go down and the 3K die there. After seeing the deaths caused by the attempts to find him and the wars started in the name of finding him. After all of this, we can say “we did it.” But we still find ourselves in a world where “might is right.” We still find ourselves in a world where pain reins. We still have fear for our children to live in a world like we have.

I don’t begrudge our sisters and brothers for celebrating the death of one who we have expended so much energy in finding. But I just hold on to that promise of a Great Day that the slaves used to sing about. I hold on to the promise of a new heaven and a new earth that the Bible writer wrote about. I hold on to the promise that my father preaches about. I hold on to the promise of a never ending peace where we won’t celebrate the death of anyone…but instead will be able to celebrate the death of death itself…

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Lying to Save Your Skin or Standing up

Genesis 12:11-13 gives the story of Abraham telling a partial truth to protect himself from death. Abraham was scared that the Egyptians would kill him and take his wife from him. We will set aside the acidic belief that Abraham had that he and his tribe alone “feared” God. That discussion alone deserves more time. However we will look at how Abraham did something that the weak have always done to protect themselves from the strong. Engaged in deception.

Howard Thurman speaks of this in his book Jesus and the Disinherited. We often engage in deception because it seems to be the only form of defense that the weak have. But is it the only defense we have? Thurman reminds us, that we always have the option of standing forth and stating the truth. There may be repercussions. In most cases there will be repercussions, but the only hope of a better world is not to hide behind a lie which keeps the status quo as is. Neither is the hope for a better world in the destruction of the more powerful by might. Such only perpetuates the pain that is already in the world and at best creates a new oppressor. No the way to a better world is to confront it and say to it, “This is wrong, Here is the truth, and if you must punish me for standing for the truth, then so be it!”

Such was the mindset of Civil disobedience. Such was the mindset of the Civil Rights Movement. I don’t blame those who feel that they must survive, but real change comes from standing up to evil and saying “no!” The Christian church has been called to be a witness to the truth especially in these last days. Will we stand up and be a witness for the truth?

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Ecology and the Sabbath

In a very thought provoking post the Adventist Environmental Advocacy blog discusses an Adventist theology of ecology based in the Sabbath. We often hear about making the doctrines “practical” and often by that we mean making it relevant to daily life. Here is a post that is “practical” in that it takes the Sabbath and applies it to our communal responsibility and hopefully changes behavior.

This post definitely places the Sabbath into the conversation about ecology and I would recommend all to read it. Here are a few quotes from the post:

If we were to stop there and consider how Christians, and more specifically Seventh-day Adventist Christians might approach ecology, the first answer would have to do with the charge to care for what God creates.

(…Ecological stewardship, on the other hand, is something that we don’t often hear from the pulpit. Perhaps a good starting point would be the simple recognition that it is up to us – it has always been up to us – to tend to that which is God’s.)

Creation Care is not only part of our commemoration of God’s creative work each Sabbath, it is not only fulfillment of God’s charge to care for what He has made, it is also a way in which we continue to look for and to pay attention to the many, many ways in which God reveals Himself to us.