A time for rejoicing?

For those who are about to read this post I need to first let you know that I am a proud Army wife.  My husband is a chaplain and he and I both feel like it is a HUGE privilege to serve the men and women and their families of the United States Army.  We are both proud to be American citizens and everday I'm extremely grateful for the people who volunteer to potentially put their lives at risk to protect our country.  Today I am especially grateful for those who volunteered to take out Bin Laden.  I am glad that the task given to our military men and women, almost 10 years ago, has been accomplished.

That said, I am saddened... (?) appalled... (?) embarassed... (?) by the extreme rejoicing over death.  That's the reality.  People are rejoicing over death.  Yes it was the death of a man who killed many, taught many to love evil and carry out evil, but it is still death.  People are rejoicing over something that is a direct result of sin and this broken world we live in.  So yes, you could say, Bin Laden got what he had coming to him.  But if that's the case, than we're all going to get what's coming to us.  We are naive and even stupid if we think that the death of this single man is going to end terrorism or evil in this world.  It's ironic to me how the announcement of Bin Laden's death meant an increase in our alert and threat levels...

And really, here's what I'm most saddened by...  I am most saddened by those who are rejoicing, partying, going crazy over this death, and at the same time call themselves followers of Jesus!  I honestly don't see how the two connect.  By rejoicing and celebrating the death of Bin Laden we are essentially saying he was "worse" than us, that his sins were/are worse than our own.  Isn't all sin the same in the eyes of God?  Sinners who will spend our eternal lives separate from Him except through faith in Christ?

Have we forgotten that all, yes ALL of mankind is a handcrafted creation of the God of the universe and that He mourns the loss of even just a single soul?  If Bin Laden is burning in Hell because of his actions in this life, than I might as well prepare myself to join him because Lord knows that I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...  hmmmm, I think I've read that somewhere...  :)

What we are really doing by celebrating this death is lowering ourselves to the same levels of hatred and sin as those who celebrated all the death and evil on 9-11-2001.  Seriously, think about it for a minute...

I'm not quite sure what the "appropriate" response "should" be by those who call themselves Jesus followers but I'm thinking that more humility should be involved.  I'm thinking less jubilation over death and more acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God...  (Micah 6:8)

Proverbs 24:17-19

• "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them. Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked, for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out."