Celebrating Death?

I feel really conflicted about the death of Osama bin Laden.

One part of me it happy he is gone. The bastard deserved what he got after he destroyed the lives of so many. He perverted his religion and brainwashed his followers into being violent, not peaceful as their religion calls for. He gloated and celebrated the deaths of everyone lost in 9/11 and if he had the chance he would have killed more Americans and others he felt were not pure. I am glad that justice has finally be served for everything that man was guilty of.

On the other hand, he was just that, a man. He was part of God's creation. While he the teachings on peace found in both Islam and Christianity (among others), he still was love by God as one of his children. If he had repented, God would have forgiven him. I am sure of it. And I never feel OK celebrating any one's death. Not to mention we did to him what he had done to so many of it.

While I will never tell someone else how to respond to a situation like this, I don't know that I like the way people have. The scenes of parties on the streets reminds me too much of the scenes we saw in the Middle East after 9/11. People waving flags, singing songs, celebrating in the end of a human. It all makes me nervous.

I don't know how I would react if I had lost someone on 9/11. Since I did go through that, I don't know how the people of New York and DC are feeling. Maybe they are right to celebrate. All I know is that I as a Christian have a very hard time being OK with that for myself. Thinking about his death makes me feel nauseous. Maybe I am worried about future retaliations. Maybe I am not a good American. I don't know. Do I celebrate, or do I mourn the loss of life? I don't really know. How are you responding to this news?