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Who Will Die for bin Laden?
By Liz
Rhodebeck
The attack on the World
Trade Center in New York has focused Americans on primarily one
character: Osama bin Laden. More than the heroes and victims, his name
is known all over the country. And, our frustration, pain and even
hatred is centered on this one man, bin Laden. What will we do with bin
Laden? how should be think of him?
Romans 5:6-8 says,
You see,
at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for
the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though
for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us. (NIV)
During the rescue attempts after the collapse of the Twin
Towers, many brave men and women sacrificed their lives to save others,
the innocent. We don't know if they were "good" people or not, but they
were innocent victims of someone else's hate. In the story, A Tale
of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, the reprobate Sidney Carton
voluntarily dies in the place of Charles Darnay, a look-alike whom he
deems to be a very good man, in an act that he feels redeems his own
rather wasted life. Yet, turn this scenario around and what person
would run into a burning building, die even, to save bin Laden? May
would die to GET bin Laden, to capture him and punish him, but who would
die FOR him? The apostle Paul was very much like bin Laden.
He was a religious zealot who held his religious beliefs so strongly
that he would kill for them. He persecuted people for their belief in
Jesus as the Christ, even though they were peaceful and had done him no
harm. Filled with hate, Paul used violence against righteous people who
were filled with the joy of the Lord. He couldn't have been much more
cold-hearted than to hold the cloaks of those stoning Christians as he
watched. It's easy to forget this harsh picture of the one of the
foremost leaders of Christianity.
So, the questions comes, just how great is Jesus' love?
Those reading this are probably "pretty good" people. Nice, educated,
hard working and decent. You mess up sometimes but it isn't that
unreasonable to expect God to do something for
you--like
die. Replace the words in verse 8 of Romans 5 with any of these names:
...God demonstrates his love...[that] While bin Laden...or Hitler...or
Jeffrey Dahlmer...or Judas...or Paul...or I was a sinner, Christ died
for him (or her). How do you like being included in that lineup?
It reminds me of a skit I saw years ago called "Elevator to
Heaven." The "good" Christian and several "bad" people (though
repentant and redeemed) board the same elevator going "up" to Heaven.
The "good" person is appalled to be on the same elevator with this group
and can't believe they are going to the same place, presumably Heaven.
When the elevator stops, this person insists there must be some mistake
and that it must be the wrong stop if these "sinners" are getting off.
With a shrug, the elevator operator says, Fine, have it your way, and
then announces, "Going Down," as the stage goes dark. All of
mankind, even men like bin Laden, need to be on that "elevator to
Heaven." The reality of this world is that men like bin Laden exist
because Satan is ever active in a fallen and lost world. Time doesn't
change that--it's as true in the new millennium as it was in the Garden
of Eden. But also what doesn't change is the grace of God and the same
offer of redemption to every lost soul. How then should we view such
evil men? In need of the blood of Christ. In bin Laden's case, most
certainly in need of Jesus! However, for most of us bin Laden is
far away and inaccessible to us. Better to ask, how should be view our
neighbor who annoys us? our boss who berates and mistreats his/her
employees? our co-workers who sabotage our work and character? the
"loose woman" who flirts with our husband? And the list goes on.
It is here that the awesome love of God must meet and affect
such persons through us. We must first understand with deep humility
that we, the Christians, don't deserve for Jesus to die for us. That to
God, we looked just like bin Laden, the "bad people" in the world
without the blood of Christ--utterly lost. Human nature likes to create
hierarchies of sin, of worthiness. In a limited way, the New York
tragedy showed us that death is the great leveler and for a few weeks,
Americans were willing to let go of all the ways we measure one another
and grieve a common grief. For Christians, it must be deeper, more
fundamental than "innocent Americans." We should grieve daily for the
spiritual death of all of mankind without Jesus.
Secondly, we must recognize that the sacrificial love of
God, a love that would die for bin Laden, in fact, is beyond our true
comprehension in this life and we should stand in awe of it. We know
that in our nature, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might..." But, in God's nature, He was
willing to die for you, for me, even for bin Laden. How can God love
like that? How could I possibly model such love? By our own strength,
we cannot. Through the Holy Spirit, though, we can begin to love like
God. And we can understand that the greedy, the ungrateful, the
immoral, the hateful all need God's love--and, that they are a lot like
us.
Bin Laden points out two things to us: That yes, horrible,
stunning evil thrives in the world, that Satan is very much active
although American culture seems to ignore or even condone his existence
and activity. And secondly, God is capable of loving such a person,
even dying to save him, if bin Laden should ever turn to Christ. How
can we refuse such love in our own lives?
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