On bin Laden's death

            It’s now been five days since the announcement of the death of bin Laden.  I had to be at work early on Monday morning, so I was asleep at the time of the announcement. Ironically, I heard the news from the mouth of sports talk guy Mike Greenberg.  I say ironically as, while he is the consummate professional, he’s at his worst when subjects of death, tragedy, and belief come up, and Osama would be of no special matter without his beliefs.

            From what I have heard these past few days from fellow believers in Jesus, we do not rejoice at the news of the death of an enemy.  Clearly though, among those in are culture who are secular, the “patriotism is first” cult, and political moderates worldwide, including a number of countries with a Muslim majority, there was significant rejoicing.

            The most notable side story was the tweets of American football player Rashard Mendenhall, for saying (and this is correct at a certain simple level) that one shouldn’t cheer the death of someone you don’t know, and a statement that, I am told is “common knowledge” in parts of the Islamic world, that 9/11 was some kind of conspiracy, in that it is unbelievable that two planes could cause that much damage.  Mendenhall quickly removed that tweet, but the media saw it and reported it.  Later, he issued an apology on a blog, and reporters said that it was actually from him, and not marketing people, as there were grammatical and spelling errors.  I am fairly certain that no one at his alma mater, University of Illinois, will be publishing that in their self-congratulatory publications.

            Over the last three days, as the military stated that they captured a lot of information, we will, via the media, receive a steady drip of new information for a while.  As usual, what is important, we will only learn years, or even decades, later.

            Now my opinion and it is only my opinion.  I am in agreement on the never rejoicing over death, with the exception of the believer in Jesus, particularly one who has been in suffering and is at the end of one’s natural life.  My feelings on that are no doubt affected by my age, and that pain has been slowly building up for about ten years, and I have no clue how much the medicines I take lessen what would otherwise be the natural amount.  More importantly, I have friends and friends-of-friends ministering in highly difficult areas, my prayers are for their safety, especially those of U.S. citizenship, upon whom it is most difficult at this time.  As for the future of the Jihadist movement?  I am not in a position to even know what I hear is fact and what is adjusted for public consumption, so my opinion is irrelevant.  I just figured I’d say that because people rarely do.