My thoughts are that yes, I’m glad justice has been carried out. No, I’m not happy that he’s dead. I pray for mercy on his soul and the souls of all of us. I agree that the soldiers are doing their God-given duty, and for that I’m grateful. I’m also grateful that I’m not the one who was chosen for that duty.

You should change “Obama” to “Osama” in the third line. I know what you mean, but it looks bad.

I am thankful for the reminder that we should not rejoice in the death of the wicked.

Yet, I am thankful for the victory our country has over its enemies. I’m thinking this morning of how many of our military have sacrificed so much, even their very lives, to bring us to yesterday’s victory. Their efforts and their victories and their sacrifices will not be forgotten in my life.

I was sad to hear about Osama Bin Ladin’s death. It made me think about what God had planned for his life that sadly was not realized. The Bible says over and over about God wanting all to come to Him but some would not.

Thank you, Pastor McCain for talking about vocation. The soldiers carried out their God-appointed duty. For that, we can be grateful.

These were my thoughts in response to all the facebook hoopla today:
“An enemy has fallen, but neither his legacy nor resources have been eliminated. The cost has been so many lives, and many of those who survived the war are irreparably scarred in ways seen and unseen. It would do us good to remember that there should be somber relief in the events of late rather than joking and frivolity.”

I blogged my thoughts earlier this morning in a few paragraphs here:
http://pcscrib.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-and-my-response-to-gods.html

The long and short of what I said can be summed up in my concluding paragraph:
“So in the end, I do humbly and non-triumphalistically thank God that Osama bin Laden has gotten what he deserved. But I am far more thankful yet that, cleansed by the blood of Christ, I will not.”

@ptmccain

I agree with you on what you said about a infinitely greater sadness regarding people’s lives taken or changed for the worse due to Bin Laden’s evil doings. Bin Laden got his due reward for his choices in life and paid accordingly. The sadness about what Bin Laden could have been is obliterated by what he had done. He got what he deserved.

It had to be done and those soldiers had their vocation and they executed it correctly. Pr. McCain you are right happy is the incorrect adjective but, we can fill relief in knowing that this man can no longer do harm to others. I think that what Pr. Erikson wrote on his blog sums it up perfectly. We clearly need to always be mindful of the gospel and without Christ’s atoning death and resurrection all would be perishing.
However, on a political note. I don’t know if you would agree but isn’t catching Osama at this time sort of like killing a Nazi in Argentina years after WWII? I don’t mean to say that it is not just but hopefully all will recognize that this isn’t the end of this on going struggle with Islam. Of course as a Lutheran scholar I know you already know this because you referred to some of Luther’s writings on the Turks. Luther obviously knew what was up then huh?

I not only reflect on the justice end of it…

We will never know the number of innocent human lives that have been saved through this action all across the world. Bin Laden will never plan another terror attack on civilian men, women, and children; of that we can be certain. Terrorism remains alive and well, but its chief celebrities have been killed or captured and the myth of Al Queda’s invulnerability has been almost completely destroyed in the last decade.

What has taken me aback is the surprise in the minds of many who have approached me about the subject today–as if this was a completely unexpected turn of events. The man was not immortal or invisible. He had managed to hide in some of the most remote and lawless tracts of land in the entire world, but he had the full weight of the United States military and her allies against him. His death was only a matter of time… one way or another. Without him here, a significant blow has been struck against those who allied with him to do us great harm.

The work of preserving peace, safety, and justice remains unfinished and we have people of valor and determination both here and abroad who have sworn to carry out that dangerous and woeful work. These tasks will continue to be unfinished until Christ returns in glory and we continue in the ages-old struggle against the wretched curse of sin that infects and effects all of us.

One does not rejoice in death (not even this death though it does purchase us some releif and closure). Instead, one rejoices in victory… and the greatest victory–the one secured by Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose from the dead so that death is swallowed up in voctory for all who beleive–that greatest victory of all victories is both now and not yet.

Lord, come quickly!

@ptmccain
Absolutely. While I don’t see a death as a cause for celebration, I do feel a sense of relief and justice. I can’t help but think though that this is only the beginning. There are so many ready to take his place. Justice was done for this man, and as I said before, I’m glad for that. But I do worry that there’s a false sense of security that pervades a lot of the discourse I’m seeing around the web today. bin Laden is dead. But his followers are still out there. There is more work to be done.

Romans 13:3-4 instructs us.
The military has the “ministry of the sword”.
“But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid: for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”
Luther writes that the Emperor must resist the Turk.
And the positive side of the fifth commandment authorizes self defense and the defense of our neighbors when confronted with harm, no?

Osama Bin Laden, promoter of suicide and the killing of innocents.
Neither of these acts are condoned by sons of Abraham.
Osama is responsible for many thousands of Muslim deaths.
I am sure many Muslim parents are relieved this day.

Some evil-doers are “brought to justice”; others go “scot-free”. Bin Laden wrongfully eliminated 2700 innocents on “9/11″. Our government’s leaders vaporized and incinerated 3000 innocents when “Shock and Awe” was visited on the people of Baghdad those first two nights of “our” Iraq War, followed by over 100,000 Iraqi deaths and 5.000,000 Iraqis made homeless, all in consequence of what was done in your name and mine, and on “our” behalf.

I choose not to rejoice in furtherance of such selective righteous indignation, as has been expressed here. Rather, and as to both happenings, I kneel at the foot of the cross and petition “Kyrie eleison!”

Some Americans feel that America is the most powerful force on this planet, and have become arrogant and conceded in their dealing with other peoples throughout the world. America was untouchable, and that pacifism in this country brought forth 9/11.

You may have your own opinions of the “Wars” that the US is currently involved in, and we definitely will not agree on the means to fight it. As a citizen-soldier for nearly 25 years I have been to Iraq. No matter the reason for the entering the conflict, we needed to be there. We are not fighting against the Iraqi people, we fight for them. Until someone stepped in to help free them from themselves, they lived in terror. They lived afraid of losing their lives or the lives of their loved ones because they did not agree with their country’s leadership. I also guarantee that those soldiers that believe in GOD and pull the trigger; ask for profound forgiveness because of their actions.

As a father, I would rather take to fight to them, instead of my children living in the same terror that people like Osama Bin Laden cause. I am willing to accept the judgment at the time I stand before GOD, for those actions. In closing, I am proud for those brothers in arms that carried out this mission, and pray for them because they will remember that moment for the rest of their lives.

I thought that it was George Orwell not Churchill who said that about rough men it the night.

It had been long since we’d heard of OBL, who might have once commanded at most a hundred men. Obviously the time was now right to resurrect him, so to speak. He was never much more than a media figure, serving the purpose of those who would keep us in a constant state of fear. That ploy has apparently worked for our rulers since most of this post’s responders have (assuming they are representative of the general populace) fallen for it. It’s ironic that Orwell was mentioned, since he knew “bin Laden” as early as 1948, only calling him “Emmanuel Goldstein”.