Why a Victory Dance?

Matt 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
How do we square this verse with the victory celebration that has poured out over the news of the death of Osama bin Laden? I shed no tears for the death of this man; he sowed much evil in his life.

Should we not ask if it was right to use violence to end a person’s reign of violence? After all, if you live by the sword,  will you not die by the sword?

I do think there are times when we are to sell our cloak and buy a sword:

Luke 22 ³⁶ He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

It still remains that I am troubled by the hatred I’ve seen displayed at the news of his death.  People dancing and waving a flag is one thing, but to rejoice and shout “rot in hell” or something like this, I find no justification for it.

Some will say, “well, they would do the same if it had been George Bush or Barak Obama.” My response to this is, “well, we are not them.” Where is our moral high ground if we react as we say they would? And, if we purport to be a follower of Christ, how can we justify this reaction?

I suppose a little good news is welcomed when the world seems rather dark, but I still am troubled over the response I have seen. 

I would like to ask the question, Is there any time or place where when it is okay to react like? Seriously.

These are the thoughts that I am giving daylight to as I ponder this situation. It is a complicated issue, and there are no easy answers, but I think that we need to pull back from an emotional response and look seriously at the impact of this event, and consider carefully what our response should be.

Any thoughts?

Print this post