Monday

Rejoice or gloat?

Let us never forget the victims of 9/11 or those who have bravely fought for our great country. God bless America!


As I sit and contemplate the news of the past evening and morning I am wondering... are we missing the boat ?   Osama(or Usama) Bin Laden is dead. Wow...this is history in the making!   Justice has been served.   There is a flurry of news articles and personal commentary going on as I write this that saddens me just a bit.  Oh...don't get me wrong!  I believe that OBL was an evil man bent on the destruction and death of  all who opposed him and his regime. I'm thinking that any man who would use a woman as a human shield is not a man at all but a monster.  I believe that in his death there is a victory in one of the major battles in the war on terrorism.  But there is such a confusion in the responses to this news. 

Let me explain...

As I begin to read the things people are posting on facebook I see alot of rejoicing over the news of Bin Laden's death...then as I continue to read I see the rejoicing turn into gloating. Gloating, such as pictures of the Statue of Liberty holding forth, not the torch leading the way to  freedom, but the bloody head of  Osama Bin Laden...such as posts stating, "rot in hell".  Then I begin to see posts, I believe trying to counter the gloating, of scripture such as..."Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice." Proverbs 24:17.  Wise advise from the Word.  In responses to the posts of scripture such as this one, I see a conflict in the minds of those who want to rejoice but now feel guilty.  So how do we reconcile this verse with the fact that this is indeed a good thing that good has triumphed over evil and surely that is something to be happy about ? 

I believe we need to determine if we are indeed gloating or just rejoicing, then determine what it is we are rejoicing over.  Let's look at the definition of  gloating.   Dictionary.com defines it as, "to look at or think about with great or excessive, often smug or malicious, satisfaction."  No doubt after reading that we know there is no room in the heart of a true believer(Christian) for gloating.  Actually our hearts should be saddened Osama Bin Laden went to his death rejecting Jesus Christ.  It is a sad fact that he will spend his eternal destiny in hell.  Not my judgement, mind you, he chose that path when he rejected Jesus Christ.  God's word tells us that no man comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).  Knowing that...I cannot rejoice over this man's death and eternal place of residence. 

I am still, however,  going to rejoice over the fact that another battle of good vs. evil has been won.  Another verse in Proverbs states: " ‎"When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers" Proverbs 21:15.  I find a bit of irony in the fact that the day Bin Laden was brought to justice was the very day Christians all over the world were celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  THAT was the final victory over the evil one...there will still be many battles to fight, but the war has already been won!  He has risen indeed and because of that I know that I will one day see Him face to face!

Rejoice or gloat?  Where do you stand?

7 comments:

  1. Gay, I came across your site and wanted to say I totally agree with you. I had a sick feeling this morning when I heard of all the rejoicing. Then the Lord showed me Proverbs 24:17 Though he was our enemy he was a lost soul. Thanks again.

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  2. Thanks for your gracious comment! I think it is sooo hard for people not to put a "face" on evil...and this man has represented the face of evil to so many for almost 10 years now...it is hard to realize this too was an individual who could have chosen the love and mercy of God, yet did not...and because of this God gave him over to his own hardened... and yes... evil heart. And that is what makes my heart sad!

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  3. I saw your post linked on FB and this is very good. Ironically, there are many believers reflecting on this and that is good. There are others disagreeing on it as well. When I stated my own thoughts I had even my patriotism questioned by one. Here was my response in my own blog:
    http://thanksinallthings.blogspot.com/2011/05/before-my-patriotism-is-misunderstood.html

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  4. Hey Babe,
    Great thoughts. Thanks.
    Rod

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  5. Thanks for sharing Alicia. I will check out your blog!

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  6. Hi there! I could have sworn I've visited this blog before
    but after going through a few of the articles I realized it's new to me.
    Anyhow, I'm certainly happy I stumbled upon it
    and I'll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you stumbled upon my blog! I'm hoping to be adding posts a bit more regularly in 2018! Welcome to my site!
      blessings,

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Join the discussion! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

blessings,
Gay