Psalm
I cannot believe that some people are calling for clemency to be shown to Saddam Hussein. Human Rights advocates, Islamic fundamentalists, and some liberal theologians are declaring that the tyrant from
The voices of the Kurdish children who were horribly gassed in their villages or the screams of women being raped and mutilated in Saddam’s palace dungeons are to be ignored. What matters to these appeasers is that we should show humanity to someone who, when he was in power, had thousands of people slaughtered on a mere whim.
Saddam Hussein is a wicked man. There’s no doubt in my mind about that and if he was kept in prison, there would always be someone somewhere who would be trying to help him escape. A tyrant like Hussein deserves to be punished for all of his wickedness. He has committed the unholy act of murdering thousands of innocent men, women, and children. He did it against his own people and now he is experiencing justice from free Iraqi citizens. As the psalmist wrote so long ago: “the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.”
Where is Christ in the midst of all this? Weeping with the families who have to live with their losses; and grieving with Hussein and his henchmen as yet another child of God has become a monster from hell. As one of this nation’s forefathers once said: “Resisting tyranny is obedience to God.” Executing tyrants is the same.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we get so confused about what’s right and wrong because so many voices say different things. We hear preachers and mullahs, politicians and spokesmen calling for mercy to one who has shown none in the past. Help us to recall from the Bible that tyrants have all met deplorable ends. May Your justice prevail and may God’s will be done. In Your Holy name, we pray. Amen.
2 comments:
I can't help but compare your call for final vengence against Saddam to the recent Amish call for forgiveness of the tyrant who killed their own children.
Here's an except that I found online:
"In an essay in the Oct. 8 Philadelphia Inquirer, Kraybill tried to weigh the Amish capacity for forgiveness.
“Surely some anger [or] at least some grudges are justifiable in the face of such a slaughter,” Kraybill wrote. “But a frequent phrase in Amish life is ‘forgive and forget.’ . . . Forgiveness is woven into the fabric of Amish faith. And that is why words of forgiveness were sent to the killer’s family before the blood had dried on the schoolhouse floor. It was just the natural thing to do, the Amish way of doing things. Such courage to forgive has jolted the watching world as much as the killing itself.”
I can only say Wow!
Just some thoughts,
Keith
Keith, the ability to forgive does not mean to say that justice will not be carried out. There are many families of murdered loved ones who have forgiven killers on death row.
Saddam Hussein is one of the most wicked people to ever have lived. His killing of thousands of people, including many innocent children, means that he deserves capital punishment. Those who advocate mercy get it mixed up with forgiveness. Mercy is an even greater quality than forgiveness.
Saddam was shown mercy by having a fair trial - a simple mercy that he never displayed to any of the thousands of innocents that he murdered. The Iraqi people may choose to forgive him, but they will still require that justice be done. It's then up to God to have mercy on his soul.
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