Should I love Osama bin Laden?

I struggle with the command to “love your enemies” when it comes to people who murder in the name of God. Osama bin Laden is a test case for that tension. I won’t pretend it’s easy: my honest first reaction is anger and an urge for justice. It’s hard to feel genuine love for someone who ordered or inspired suicidal attacks that killed thousands of innocents.

At the same time, Scripture and Christian teaching call us to a higher posture: hate the sin, love the sinner. That’s not sentimental or naive. It’s spiritual discipline. One way I try to move my heart is to imagine bin Laden as a child—laughing, falling down, crying when he skinned his knee. If God, who sees the whole of a person’s life, can grieve over sinners while still pronouncing just judgment, then perhaps I can try to hold both justice and compassion in tension.

God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked; His justice is righteous and measured. We read warnings against gloating over an enemy’s fall:

Proverbs 24:17–20
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.

These verses confront us with sober restraint. They do not ask us to be indifferent to evil or to abandon justice. Rather, they warn against rejoicing in retribution and urge trust in God’s righteous timetable.

Practical ways to hold both truth and mercy:

• Pray for justice, and for the protection of the innocent.

• Pray for the hearts of evildoers—true repentance is a miracle only God can work.

• Speak clearly against evil and call for righteous, lawful action by governments.

• Refuse to let hatred consume your soul; vengeance belongs to the Lord.

In the days ahead I’ll be writing more on related events and the ethical tensions they raise, including:

• The beheading of Nick Berg and possible Al-Qaeda links.

• Mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers—questions of humiliation and abuse.

• The legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts on May 17.

• NBC’s decision not to air President Bush’s May 24 televised address on the Iraq War.

These episodes demand careful Christian response: truth without cruelty, justice without hatred, and — above all — a heart conditioned by Scripture.