When President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed, the reactions of many of the Christians I follow on Twitter were interesting. I saw a retweet of a person calling attention to Ezekiel 18:23:

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

Ezekiel is not a book I’ve spent much time reading in a long time, but I was struck by how relevant this verse seemed to the situation at hand. I tweeted it out myself, as did others.

Among those who did seemed to be celebrating the death of bin Laden, this seemed to have struck a cord. Some of them tweeted verses that at first glance seem to contradict Ezekiel. I don’t remember if this one was one of the specific ones I saw, but I think it captures what they were trying to express. Proverbs 11:10 says,

When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

Looking back on that night I have mixed feelings about the whole conversation. On the one hand, how wonderful that an event could draw believers into the Word! On the other hand though I fear that to a non-Christian, we appeared divided and in some cases perhaps unkind to one another. After all, John 13:35 says,

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

But what do we do with Ezekiel and Proverbs? Are they in conflict? I don’t think so. Proverbs 11:10 is just stating what a natural human response is to the death of a wicked person. To the extent that any of us felt any joy at the news of bin Laden’s death, I say that’s understandable and natural. But is it the right way to respond? To me Ezekiel suggests that it’s not. It seems pretty clear from that verse that God is not pleased at the death of wicked men. And if God isn’t pleased, I shouldn’t be either.

What are your thoughts on this subject? I’d love to hear what other Christians have to say!