These posters were created by Mars Hill, Seattle, for Mark’s Driscoll’s sermon series on forgiving your enemies. What implications do you see between these images and God’s command to us to “love our enemies” in light of eternity?
Look closely at Hitler’s mustache, it says “love your enemy“. What do you think of the fact that Driscoll chose dead enemies who are presumed to be in an eternal hopeless hell as examples of those we are to forgive and love?
From the Mars Hill website:
VENGEANCE OR JUSTICE?
Examine yourself, and ask, “Am I looking for vengeance? Or am I thankful for justice?” The two may seem similar on the surface, but at the heart level they are at odds with one another. Vengeance is contrary to the gospel.
So, we can be thankful that God is just, and we can be very thankful that God is gracious.
THE TENSION & RESPONSE
The appropriate Christian response lives in the tension of these verses:
Proverbs 11:10 – “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.”
Proverbs 24:17 – “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, & let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.”
These verses elicit mixed emotions: joy at justice enacted and sorrow at the reality of destruction. The relief that accompanies the news of Osama’s death should be without vengeance (Deut. 32:35) and tempered with regret at the death of any image-bearer of God.
http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/02/love-your-enemies
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