The Tension is Good

2011 May 03

by Tyler

Being at Q in Portland last week gave me an opportunity to look into several tensions: Christians and the entertainment industry, Christian/Muslims relations in the West, the church and cities, sin and grace.

Gabe Lyons said from the stage numerous times that they would present us with questions and tensions, and that this was a good thing.

Bob Roberts Jr. said: “Communists gave me my philosophy, the Muslims gave me my theology because they forced me to think about my beliefs.” I love that line, because most Christians would refuse to embark into a genuine relationship with either of those groups of people.

Sunday night at around 7:50pm I opened up Twitter only to read tons of tweets about Osama Bin Laden being dead (yep, Twitter broke the news again). Obama’s speech 45 minutes later confirmed the reports. Initially I was happy about the news. I mean we are talking about the most wanted man since Hitler. But after a while I got sick of being happy about it. How can replacing hate with hate do any good?

I think this tension between celebration for justice and sorrow for our broken world is a good thing. It forces us to think about what we believe.

I say that because how you respond to the death of Osama Bin Laden says so much on what you believe about sin, justice, redemption, and grace.

So I ask you…

Are you embracing the tension?

Because the tension is good.

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http://untamedfocus.com ash

this is how i saw it: more so than anything it was an excuse for the american people to come together in unity, as a country…just as they did moments after the 9/11 attacks…a strength and empowerment of a country= and this time with more happiness.certainly in our justice system, it was welcome news- a man who hated freedom was gone. but as to his death, directly, as a person of faith – no certainly there is no “joy” in that. God made osama bin laden too, He even created Hitler. and so in that perspective, while these men acted evil – they are still men – and to celebrate their demise seems unbecoming. i’m actually pleased to hear that they buried him right away, in custom with muslim belief – it’s almost as if they honored him as a man despite the evil he acted in the world. i have no disdain for that. it’s mixed emotions: those humanizing vs. those that God would call us to.