Monday, May 02, 2011

Bin Laden

from grandteuton.blogspot.com
 
Hearing the news of the SEALs raid, my first thought was, "Well, I hope you're enjoying your stay in Hell." Then I was embarrassed at having thought that.
 
Don't get me wrong, he deserved what he got in Pakistan - he asked for it, really. Still, it just doesn't feel right to celebrate the damnation of a human soul.
 
Of course, he will only get what he asked for - though not necessarily what he deserves, as God is merciful.
 
When one spends a lifetime resisting God's call, one can't expect Him to ignore that choice. God's not going to force Himself on anyone through eternity.
He made us with the ability to choose Him or not - we're not simply automata, bound to the inexorable consequences of our initial conditions and programming. We're actual free moral agents.
 
For that to matter, our choices have to matter, and so those who have resisted and rejected Him can expect to spend eternity separated from Him. If we're to find eternal separation from God anywhere, it surely will be found nowhere outside of Hell.

I'm not sure why I've been on the theology kick recently, but I think it's amazing how thinking about ultimate things can alter the way I think about proximate ones.

Here are a few of my recent reads you might want to check out:
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, C.S. Lewis
Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
He Came Down from Heaven, and The Forgiveness of Sins, Charles Williams