Saddam Hussein To Hang Before Sunday
NBC News is reporting that arrangements are being made to hang Saddam Hussein before the Eid religious holiday that begins at sundown this coming Saturday.
According to MSNBC,
I doubt that John Donne was thinking of Saddam Hussein when he penned those words.
While Saddam is a fellow human being, loved by God (who sent his Son to die for the sins of just such a person as this), the measure of a man as he stands before God and humanity is not his "humanity" per se, but his humility, repentence, contrition and willingness to seek forgiveness from and reconciliation with those he has sinned against.
Saddam Hussein has exhibited none of these marks of a man of true, human character.
While existing in human form he is so fallen and corrupted that he is no longer recognizable as one who was created "in the image of God" and declared by God to be "very good."
While I am not a big supporter of the death penalty (for reasons I have expressed here) I have no problem affirming the legitimate right of the Iraqi government to execute the judgement of a constiutionally-based court of law.
If ever a man deserved this penalty it is Saddam Hussein.
While I will not take any pleasure in his death I will be satisfied in entrusting his soul to the higher judgement of God. My theology does not stretch so far as to believe that Jesus Christ will intercede on his behalf.
According to MSNBC,
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins at sundown Saturday.John Donne once wrote, "Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."
The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.
The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution.
I doubt that John Donne was thinking of Saddam Hussein when he penned those words.
While Saddam is a fellow human being, loved by God (who sent his Son to die for the sins of just such a person as this), the measure of a man as he stands before God and humanity is not his "humanity" per se, but his humility, repentence, contrition and willingness to seek forgiveness from and reconciliation with those he has sinned against.
Saddam Hussein has exhibited none of these marks of a man of true, human character.
While existing in human form he is so fallen and corrupted that he is no longer recognizable as one who was created "in the image of God" and declared by God to be "very good."
While I am not a big supporter of the death penalty (for reasons I have expressed here) I have no problem affirming the legitimate right of the Iraqi government to execute the judgement of a constiutionally-based court of law.
If ever a man deserved this penalty it is Saddam Hussein.
While I will not take any pleasure in his death I will be satisfied in entrusting his soul to the higher judgement of God. My theology does not stretch so far as to believe that Jesus Christ will intercede on his behalf.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 7:13 PM
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