It is Better for One Man to Die than for a Nation to Suffer

I've been thinking about this post since Sunday. I really didn't want to write it because I don't want to talk about it. But I feel, for posterity sake, that I should have an opinion. What happened on September 11, 2001 was one of the most influential events in the past 50 years, possibly passing up Pearl Harbor in seriousness. And I was alive, an adult. I remember where I was when, which is something my daughter will never understand, just as I don't understand Pearl Harbor or the intense hatred of the Japanese that my grandfather harbored until his dying day. Even in the midst of his Alzheimer's he would mumble about the "damn Japs."

So, where do I stand? First off, I can't ever forget what it was like at that time. I was one year out of high school, taking both a Political Science class and the required Ethics and Values class (philosophy). My EV class started at 7:00 A.M., so none of us in class knew what was going on until after the fact. I walked into the Institute of Religion in Orem and watched the towers fall on the LDS Institute television screen. I remembering thinking that there was no way the footage was real, that it must be some spectacular feat of special effects. I soon realized it was not.

I skipped the rest of my classes that day and spent all my time in the chapel watching the news that was being televised on the jumbo screen. My best friend, Beth was crying (and incidentally, it was the ice-breaker for her and her now husband. He played the manly comforter that day very well), but I didn't really know what to think. I was shell-shocked, I guess. For most of the rest of the semester, my Political Science class, taught by a man from Afghanistan, was a Q and A from the class about his religion, and my EV class talked about Terrorist Theory and argued about the death penalty and war. It was an interesting time to be in college, to say the least.

Now, ten years later, I am a teacher in a public school, and I am surrounded by students who were 5 and 6 years old when this happened. They have very little memories of it, other than their Kindergarten teachers crying at school; I have stopped asking about it in journal prompts, because my students have very little to say on the topic. I doubt they fully understand the implications of this week, just as I didn't fully understand the implications of the Berlin Wall falling when I was ten. No one has really talked about it here, other than the re-telling of the orders in the copy room. But after perusing some blogs, and watching the celebrations on the news, and listening to my talk radio to and from work, I have been thinking a lot about this.

What is my stand? What should I, as a Christian, think? Should I be celebrating the death? Should I feel relieved? Should I be abhorred at the thousands who are celebrating? And what do the Prophets think? I mean, most of them were around for Pearl Harbor, so this is familiar territory for them, and back then, it was patriotic to hate the enemy. But now, when public opinion is so widely spread, it's a different story. I have finally come to a decision about how I feel.

First off, I believe in Jesus Christ, and I believe he was the perfect man. He was a man that the government hated and eventually killed. But he did nothing wrong, so if you think I'm going to make a comparison here, I'm not. My point is, after all the abuse He took, the pains He suffered, and the burden He bore, He still said with one of his last breaths, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do," referring to the Roman Soldiers. So he forgave what they did. Can we forgive Osama Bin Laden? That would be the right thing to do. But on the other hand, I always remind myself, Christ forgave them, but he wasn't chummy with them. We don't have to like them, we just have to forgive them. So the question: Can I forgive that much? Well, in a way, I can. What Bin Laden did was horrific, a sin by a seriously evil man, a man who was following Satan. And I do not like Satan. So...I don't think I hate Bin Laden. I think I hate Satan and hate what he is doing to our country and has been doing for the last century.

Should I celebrate in the killing of Bin Laden? I think celebration is a little much. I don't want to celebrate, and and I am not naive enough to think this means it's over, the terrorist threat is done, because it's not. It is a little sigh of relief, just as Sadam Hussein was. Bottom Line: am I sorry he is dead? No. Am I sorry Americans killed him? No. Do I think that we should have captured and put him on trial? No. Do I think we should have honored his Muslim tradition in death? No. And here's why I am okay with that.

The Lord told Nephi (and I'm working on memory here, so I will probably misquote it) that it was better for one man to die than for a whole nation to suffer in unbelief. In this case, I think it is better for one man to die than for a nation--and possibly, the world) to suffer.

But death of another of God's Children is never something to celebrate. It is sad, not that he's dead--Bin Laden's death is NOT in any way sad--but it is sad that there is that much evil in the world, and that Satan has taken what I am sure is a beautiful religion and twisted it and turned it so that it is something ugly and violent. It is sad that a man who was once so innocent sitting in his mother's lap took the path he did and caused so much hatred in this world.

A man like that had to die for the help of the rest of the world, and I think that Americans should have been the ones to do it, just as Nephi, the most righteous of prophets, was the man to kill Laban. But it is sad that another one of God's children has chosen to follow Satan. Satan didn't lead away just a third of heaven. Satan is still fighting the old war, and he's still taking casualties. That is what we should mourn: that Satan has won another soul that was beloved to Him, and the loss of another soul is never a cause for celebration.

One thing I clearly remember about 9/11 was that the First Presidency gave an address later that day. Since I didn't leave the Institute Chapel, I watched and listened as it was broadcast. One thing I clearly remember was President Hinckley talking about how Secret Combinations, whose only master is the master of all that is evil and wicked in this world, even the very same Satan, were alive and well.

This man, Osama Bin Laden, was one of Satan's followers. I am glad that we have eliminated one of Satan's followers here on the earth, but it is important to remember that in this war, this war that we have been fighting since the beginning of time, did not start with physical bodies, and it will not end with the destruction of a physical body. It is good that Osama Bin Laden cannot cause any more hurt and destruction on this earth, and for that I am glad. But this death is a casualty of that more-important Spiritual War.

Someone won this battle. And it was not us.

This war will be bitter to the very end; we will suffer more and more casualties, and it will get to the point where we feel we cannot win, but we will. We have that guarantee. Even though wicked is reigning and Satan is gathering and strengthening his armies, we know that we will win. And at this time in our country, this fact, that Christ will conquer evil, is the most important thing to remember.