U.S. takes action against terrorism

Like most mornings over the past ten years that I've lived among you fine Indonesians, I woke up on Sept. 15 in the morning to find your excellent paper on my doorstep. Though normally abhorrent of anything connected with the horror of war, I was happy to be greeted with these headlines U.S. prepares for war. That's long awaited and welcome good news.

If America would have listened to and followed the direction of then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, this needed action would have taken place long ago, saving thousands of lives of innocent victims from all over the world in the interim. But better late than never.

It's time that each and every religious (or irreligious) fanatic learns the most fundamental lesson of human relations: He has the right to believe any damned thing he chooses, (and we are willing to die to maintain his right and ours to do so), but his freedom ends where our nose begins.

Thank you very much for printing our U.S. Ambassador's timely and wise letter, and for your informative article in Sept. 13 Jakarta Post: Bin Laden, prime suspect in U.S. attack. The facts conveyed in this article alone provide sufficient evidence for my government, that of the United States of America, to demand of the Taliban in Afghanistan the immediate extradition of Osama bin Laden to stand trial in the U.S. for crimes against humanity.

In time Christians can come to the point that we can forgive these terrorists because our Lord also showed us how when dying on the cross for the sins of mankind. He said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". We can forgive them because we know that they have been blinded by the master deceiver. They have been deluded into thinking that by committing such acts of murder, they are doing God a service.

Your article quotes bin Laden as saying, "We expect to be rewarded by God". What god could he possibly be referring to? Certainly he cannot mean the one true and living God revealed in the writings of the five books of Moses who said, "You shall not murder." The true God has identified Himself as "A God of Love", not bin Laden's god of hate.

Those who believe that God is pleased with hatred and murder and destruction are greatly mistaken. The Bible says that "the god of this world (Satan) has blinded their eyes and minds so that they believe a lie". Though they may be fanatically religious, they are sincerely and deadly wrong. They instead serve a satanically designed counterfeit god who is really the devil in disguise. By their fruits you shall know them.

However, though we can find grace to forgive them on a personal level, as Christians, this does not set aside the responsibility of the U.S. government to insure that they are brought to judgment and punished according to God's law. This law is clear: "You shall not murder". If one commits murder and "sheds innocent blood, then his blood should also be shed" so that God's justice can be carried out on earth.

DANIEL ADAMS

Cikarang Baru, West Java