does He really?

So I see this article today about a church in Australia that has some down-under panties in a bunch. At first when I read it I thought it said "Jesus loves Obama" and I thought, wow! that's a pretty funny political statement for the Aussies to be making about an American presidential candidate. Freudian slip? Then my eyes adjusted and I read it correctly- although I was more confused by the camouflage background than the actual statement. That totally throws the statement off for me. From what I've read the brewing argument is that people such as Osama bin Laden do not deserve the love of Jesus, Allah or anyone on this earth for that matter. Many are outraged that the church would take a position that would insinuate that Osama deserves love, kindness or forgiveness for the acts of hate and violence that he has committed. Unfortunately for this church they are a victim of PC. Yep, it's not politically correct to say that you should love your enemies. Even though God commands us in book 5 of Matthew (and I'm paraphrasing here) that originally we were told to love our neighbor and hate our enemy. The Lord commands us to LOVE our enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Also, He sends the sun to rise on the good AND the evil and rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Trust me, it's a tough pill to swallow even for the most devout. I encourage those who find this to be confusing to think about it this way: God does not want us to harbor hate in our heart for any reason. He sent His son Christ for every man, woman and child-even those who do evil-and we can take comfort in the knowledge that judgment is not our responsibility but in the hands of the Almighty and His righteousness will prevail. Do not mistake His love for Osama as APPROVAL for his actions. They are very different indeed.

I like to think of it this way. Maybe God loves Osama bin Laden so much, that he's saved a very special, cozy little place in Hell for him...