I am seeing too many Christians rejoice. Let us remember, that even our enemies were made in the image and likeness of God and that we are called to love them as well. Yes, his evil deeds are put dead in their tracks and that is good. But there are awful pictures of Osama's head being held by the statue of liberty and such hate. Christ is mourning over a lost, unrepentant, soul. Let us follow His example. Ezekiel 33:11 Answer them: As I live, says the Lord GOD, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man's conversion, that he may live.
Many also rightly worry about the aftermath from OBL's followers. We should do everything we can not to inflame their hatred by celebrating the wrong thing. I am so glad OBL will not personally carry out another evil deed upon this earth. I am glad that justice during judgment is being served.
But he was also someone's child. He crawled and cooed just like anyone else's baby once. OBL was still human and that part of him, apart from his evil deeds requires respect. His mother, Hamida, must be in agony. Not to mention countless widows and their children. Let us pray with compassion, mercy, and charity.
ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (CNS) — The priest at the small Catholic parish in this northern city says he has limited its activities after the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks killed by U.S. special forces. “It is crucial to maintain peace for the scattered minority communities in the area. We alter the venue at the last moment to avoid leaking the information about the gathering in a tense atmosphere,” said Father Javed Gill.
I was surprised that the Holy See had a statement so quickly and that it was so well done. This is what the Vatican needed to say, something that did not appear to let bin Laden off the hook morally but also did not appear to rejoice at his passing and that was an appeal for interreligious harmony and peace.
The statement that a Christian never rejoices at the death of a man is a positive affirmation that the Vatican needed to make. It’s also true in the sense that death as a physical evil is not to be wished upon anybody for its own sake. That is not to say that one cannot be glad that justice has been in some measure served, that bin Laden won’t be masterminding any more plots, etc.
Vatican Statement: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101730.htm
"In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred," the spokesman said.
The Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, reported that Christian schools and other institutes were closed and churches put on guard in Pakistan's main cities out of fear of possible repercussions on the Christian minorities there. Pakistani Christians are often identified in extremist literature with the West and the United States.
