Australian Response to Pending Bali Execution

"Straight to Hell" - with these "prophetic" words the Daily Telegraph's front page announced the pending fate of the Bali Bombers. One of the Papers' opinion writers wrote the following words as he reflected on the evil the bomber had done and the horror of the execution that awaits them...

"Terrorists like Amrozi lost the right to be considered human when he murdered so many innocents." This statement caught my attention, and greatly disturbed me: It tells us something profound about our culture : We can not bare to see sin in ourselves! We can't stand to see humanities potential for evil.

The writer of the opinion piece, could not match the absolute "Evil" of the Bali Bomber's actions, with his view that humans are basically and fundamentally "Good". All he could do to resolve the tension was to deny the "humanity" of the terrorists. It was the only way he could maintain his fundamental faith in humanities "GOODNESS" on the one hand, and yet satisfy his hunger for vengeance on the other.

Making the bombers out to be animals/sub-human is the way this reporter excused himself from having to wrestle with the questionable nature of his own fallen humanity. It was also the way he excused himself from having to come to terms with the place of forgiveness and mercy in overcoming wickedness. This is not to say that justice is not important. Yet without mercy & forgiveness as well, we humans often seem to get stuck in a cycle of revenge, answered by revenge, answered by revenge... and so on.

With the assurance of God's coming righteous judgment as our security, Christians can seek justice laced with mercy. In seeking justice, deal with evil. In showing mercy, respect the dignity God has given all human life - even those people who most wickedly rebelled against him.