Last night I was pretty tired so I went to bed early. Like many nights I turned on the television in my bedroom and caught up with the news. At the bottom of the screen, the message indicated President Obama was to make a statement at 10:30 p.m. I thought that was rather strange for the President to make a statement so late on a Sunday night, then I heard the commentators speculating that it might have something to do with the NATO operation in Lybia. As time moved forward and I flipped through the various news channels, the speculation evolved and they said bin Laden was dead.
Then, as you know, the news became clearer and ultimately President Obama made his statement indicating that our military's special forces and intelligence operatives raided a compound in Pakistan, killing Usama and several others. I stayed up until a little after midnight watching the journalist and specialists process the news. It was a momentous occasion that I will not soon forget.
This morning, I again turned the to the television and saw footage of the celebrations at Ground Zero. One of the scenes that caught my attention was the presence of two bag-pipers in their full regalia, kilts and all, playing "Amazing Grace." I must admit, it was a moving scene, though, I felt some tension at the song selection. "Amazing Grace" celebrates the unconditional love of a God who forgives. The celebration at Ground Zero, in front of the White House, and at various other locations around the country were about justice. Justice and Grace are two concepts that are difficult to keep together.
Let me be absolutely clear, I believe the work of our military to bring bin Laden to justice was a necessary and godly activity. The Bible is unambiguous, the government has the power of the sword in order to punish the wrongdoer. Usama bin Laden was an evil man willing to kill thousands of innocent people to further his twisted religious goal of subduing all the planet's people under the heavy hand of Sharia Law. He and anyone else like him must be stopped and when they kill indiscriminately, deadly force is justified. The men who killed bin Laden are heroes on an international scale.
This might not pass muster in an ethics class, but oftentimes what passes muster in a classroom is far removed from what is necessary in real life. However, the way I hold the two seemingly variant ideals of Grace and Justice together is to believe that human governments have been endowed with the high responsibility of practicing justice that entails punishment of wrongdoers, sometimes to the point of taking their lives. Grace, in these cases, must be left up to God.
So, to put it crudely, send them on to Jesus and let him sort it out. We simply cannot stand by and let murderers run wild. Usama bin Laden was a murderer of the worst kind. He and his ilk exploit young, poor, and confused Muslims to strap bombs to their bodies and blow up innocents. He sent nineteen hijackers to terrorize an entire nation. That nation has now acted decisively to stop him and succeeded. It was a good day.