Monday, May 02, 2011

Denny Burk on The Death of Bin Laden

Denny Burk:
I think Christians are right to contemplate how jubilation (like we see on TV right now) is consistent with Ezekiel 33:11, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live.” So I can understand why Christians may be asking, “If God is not delighting in the death of the wicked, then how can we?” I think there is confusion on this point because this verse is easily misunderstood. The second part of the verse is key to understanding its meaning. The text is not trying to say that God neverdelights in the death of the wicked. Rather, the verse means that God prefers for sinners to repent rather than to perish. If they refuse to repent, God delights in His own justice enough to punish them appropriately (e.g., Psalm 1:5-6; 5:4-6; 68:2; Isaiah 13:1-22; Jeremiah 18:11). We have to be willing to praise God for His justice one way or the other (Psalm 139:19-22; Proverbs 11:10; 28:28; Revelation 19:1-3).
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1 comment:

JC said...

I would agree with Dr. Burk. I think a lot of the cautions I'm seeing on twitter may be missing the point. The face of evil was just defeated! Isn't that worth a little celebrating?

However I do think the New York Daily News took it too far by having their front page say "Rot in Hell".