Opinion

Mourning a hero: Former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle killed on US soil

“When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” Proverbs 21:15 (ESV)

Former Marine, Eddie Ray Routh, killed former SEAL, Chris Kyle and his neighbor over the weekend, at a shooting range in Texas.  

Many people will say that Kyle got what was coming to him, while others will say we lost a hero who saved more lives than he killed.  

“The number is not important to me. I only wished I had killed more,” Kyle wrote in his memoir, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.” “Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives.”
We can compare someone like Kyle to the kings and judges from the Bible.  They lead Israel to battles to keep the peace. King David is the most celebrated king in the Bible because of his war tactics, military strategies, and most important his faith in God. King David killed because he would do what the LORD told him to do so his kingdom and God’s people would be protected. Chris Kyle was doing no less than King David.
Many people believe that because Kyle was a professed Christian that what he did in “murdering” so many people makes him a hypocrite. However, if people would stop to actually read the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, they will find many wars where people had to kill other people.
“I’ve seen the blogs,” Kyle said. “People who have never been out there, never experienced it – and they think that, because I consider myself a Christian, I’m a horrible Christian, because Christians aren’t supposed to be killin’ people. But you know what? In the Bible, God sent people to kill people. I feel extremely justified in what I did. I’m not out there murdering people; the people I killed were actively trying to murder my people, and I was out there trying to protect’em.”
Truly Kyle represented the true nature of a Christian by protecting the people he loved. After being shot twice by the opposition in Iraq, he came home to protect his family and left the military. His Christianity is proven when you read about all of the efforts he made to help veterans through FITCO Cares, an organization that helps provide at-home fitness equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans. He knew how to reach out a helping hand and in the end was killed in the doing.
“We have lost more than we can replace. Chris was a patriot, a great father, and a true supporter of this country and its ideals. This is a tragedy for all of us. I send my deepest prayers and thoughts to his wife and two children,” Scott McEwen, co-author of “American Sniper,” said in a statement to ABC News.
We have lost a true American hero, someone who put his neck on the line to save us, all of us. We need to honor what he did to save so many warriors who fight for our lives, not tear him down and say he was a murderer. He did what David did with one smooth stone and a sling. He had faith to save as many in this nation that he could.
If we tear Kyle down, we tear our nation down. Pray, pray for his family, pray for your family, just pray. Men like Chris Kyle are few, but we have many who would give their lives for this nation. Don’t diminish what he did for us like we diminished what the men and women of the Vietnam Conflict did for our country. The people who serve this nation in any capacity that they could lose their lives deserve the utmost respect and we should honor them in every way possible.
To the men and women who fight for us, we salute you and pray you come home to us and live without fear of what is around the corner. We pray you stay safe on the ground you call home, the United States of America.