Justice is Good

"Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil." Romans 14:16

On September 11th, I was on an elliptical machine at the gym when I watched the first plane hit the first tower on television. I thought it was an accident. After visiting the locker room, I left the gym to go into work, late... because my boss always arrived even later. In the two seconds it took to get from gym door to subway stairs, I remember seeing the most beautiful blue sky - looking up to see if it was possible to see smoke from this horrible accident that had occurred. Just 23 years old with a nice life and kind history, the type of evil that showed itself that day was never on my radar. Didn't prime evil die with Hitler? I had never heard of Osama bin Laden.

I walked into the office and people were in the conference room watching the coverage. I went to my desk (I was late, afterall). Unbeknownst to me, the second tower had been hit. I next remember Lou frantically announcing that the pentagon had been hit and that we were under attack. Back to the conference room. We watched the towers fall. We rushed to our phones. My boss called, his wife safely evacuated down the staircase of tower 2, stairs that were violently swaying under the pressure of how many tons of jet fuel fire that was melting the steel structure.

I cried that day, at my desk, out of pure unbridled emotion before walking home, uptown, strong, with the rest of midtown. Then I cleaned my apartment. Maybe I just needed something to be neat and clean; or, heaven forbid the terror attacks continued, I died and my mother walked into my messy apartment to gather my things... Quick! Clean! Somethings don't change, even in crisis. And I listened to the radio because television signals were out. I waited to hear what was coming next.

For months, I passed street posts with "have you seen this person?" signs. Young men, old men, young women, grandmothers. Mothers. Fathers. Children. Fiancees. Subway stations and bus stops were littered with them. What started out as hopeful fliers became sober paper memorials - miniature essays about missing loved ones. Missing. Missing. Missing. Everything and everyone missing because the towers were raging infernos. Missing because the raging inferno collapsed steel and became an avalanche of death and destruction. There was physically nothing left to find.

On May 1, 2011, when the news networks unofficially confirmed that the President's obscure late-Sunday night address would be to announce that US troops killed Osama bin Laden just that afternoon, our time, I couldn't contain my tears. I can't aptly articulate why I the tears came. I think it was another moment of pure emotion, ten years in the making. And thankfulness. My immediate reaction, which I shared with Facebook, was "Praise the Lord, Osama bin Laden is dead!" I wholly believe that it was the Lord who delivered him into the hands of our wonderfully brave, skilled and disciplined Navy Seals. Thank you, Jesus. It was an American victory. It was a victory for justice. It was a victory for good triumphing over evil.

This is a man who has orchestrated the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, let alone our service men and women. This is a man who has inspired the deaths of, truly, countless more. He was expert at killing before I even knew his name and others will kill in his name before I learn theirs. He wasn't just picking fights, he was picking wars. Wars that he and those that share his beliefs, alone, asked for. His death, after refusing surrender, is just. I celebrate justice. His death removes a piece of palpable evil in this world. I celebrate the elimination of any amount of evil from this world. What he espoused was evil and what he did was criminal.

Not everyone shares my point of view. Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers tweeted, "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..." And then, "I believe in God. I believe we are ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge. 'Those who judge others will also be judged themselves.'"

I have heard this sentiment more than from Mendenhall. By friends. And acquaintances. In fact, I found out about these Mendenhall tweets (and Mendenhall, period) after I was already head scratching and irritated by this sentiment that, frankly, is dangerously misguided and especially troubling when espoused by professing Christians. Let's break this down, from my point of view. After all, this is my blog - however sparse it may be. I'll speak to to the football player.

Let's talk about "celebrating death." Mr. Mendenhall, you want to know what kind of a person celebrates death? It's not a secret. Are you familiar with the quote "We love death more than you love life"? It's a famously familiar jihadist quote. In fact, it was quoted by the Fort Hood killer. Murder is unjustified killing. There is a difference. Unjustified killing happened on 9/11. And on the USS Cole. And in Bali. Should we go on? Taking to the streets, waiving machine guns in the air, cheering, as what happened in Arab countries after the towers fell was celebrating death. Celebrating the murder of innocents. When a mass murderer, an enemy of war, is captured, refuses surrender and is taken out - that is just. That is not murder. Death is not what is celebrated. Justice is what is celebrated. I don't celebrate death, it's not my thing. I do celebrate justice. In big ways and in little ways. In world events and local stories. I don't really care if he's alive or dead, he just needed to be stopped and the reality is that killing him is probably the only way that happens. He chose not to surrender. I also rejoice in the lives that will be spared as a result.

Mr. Mendenhall, I agree with you: God is the only one who may judge. Souls. The judgment of souls is different than judging actions. Necessary judgments, yes, of people, are made every day. You judge someone every time you decide whether or not to leave your child with them. You judge someone every time you decide whether to enter their home. We literally have "judges" to determine the fitness and guilt or innocence of various people in our justice system. I suppose we should do away with that because judgment is for God alone. Of course not. Judging souls, possibly to the point of eternal damnation, is for God to do - to every man, myself included. No one will escape eternal judgment. It is different than judging a man's words and deed. And when someone murders tens of thousands of people and calls for more, take him at his word and deed. So, you are free to "judge" his words when he says that all will fall by the sword that do not convert to his radical Islamic bent. When he says he wants you dead, he means it. And, you can even judge that it's bad. You're not playing God when you do.

As a Christian, I understand that love and forgiveness are not exclusive to justice and even anger. God exhibits all of those characteristics and is wholly good and unable to contradict himself. He is altogether loving yet speaks of his wrath. He is both "lion and lamb." Accordingly, we, while not God, can discern good and evil. We are to love sincerely, to hate what (not who) is evil and cling to what is good. Romans 12:9. "Hate evil; love good. Maintain justice in the courts." Amos 5:15. Evil exists in this world; Satan, works in this world. Denying its presence isn't loving or humble, it's unbiblical. "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." Matthew 12:35.

We are not just to hate evil and do good, but we are to speak out against evil. And not just speaking out against evil - but we are to defend that which is good. Hence, my opening quote. A mass murderer, intent on spreading destruction even further, was stopped. That is good. Those who rejoice that he was thwarted - yes, even by his own death - are not the ones "celebrating death." We are not to be scolded.

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Isaiah 5:20.