Before My Patriotism is Misunderstood...

I understand the expressions over his death. The cheering and the "ding-dong" chants. I get it. I expressed how I felt myself respond. I was not responding to any one person either, I was responding to the general reaction around me. It's sobering to see what evil can do in one man. It's sobering to see how people can react.

Understanding evil is why I believe in war. To cry for peace in a world of sinful men is naive. You won't hear me rally for it. Yet, understanding evil is also why I won't be joyous at the death of one evil man. Evil itself has taken another soul, created by God, knit together in a mother's womb. Evil is my enemy and evil, thy name is not Osama.

When we cheer this man's death we give him the power he wanted to have. We make him feared as he wished. Evil is like an underground force in sinful humanity that explodes out of certain places. You may plug one of it's springs, but you cannot cheer I'm afraid. It will rise up in a other place.

I also fear we tread of the slippery slope of taking on the character of those who do not cherish life or freedom. I saw a picture of the statue of Liberty holding up the bloody head of Osama, and talk of dragging his dead body through the streets. Who do we sound like? From their perspective, they justify their outrage, are we now becoming like those we abhor?

A sober patriot, and a follower of Christ should condone taking out the bad guy. I cheer the military (who btw deserve the credit for this more than any political figure), and I'm glad he has been taken out. Yet, as a Christian I think it's sad to have to take out any soul for the sake of evil. I hate the evil, I do not hate the man. I look to the victor of that evil and I will rejoice at his coming and ending this.

So, though my heart is faithful to the red, white and blue I don't feel jubilant today. I feel sober. I feel like I should keep my eyes open. I feel that this is the ultimate of what we are all capable of. We are killers, we are selfish and we are prone to increasing evil. I tell you, I would have shot him myself. I would have certainly taken him out. Then, I would have paused to realize what evil is capable of and ask God to tarry no longer.

I hope we can all be sober minded, keeping our integrity and value of life itself through this whole thing. To sorrow over evils power to take a soul, a very blinded man to the eternal grave. It is in these times when we can be deceived to relax our reflexes toward evil when it may very well be springing up in our very midst unknown to us all. Let's take it out when it has to be done, laud those laying down their own precious lives to do so, and move on knowing our battle is not over and it's not against men. It's against the enemy of our very souls, all of our souls.