A Role Model of Christianity?

Call it the spirit or insolence, but I’m preaching this Sunday afternoon.

Introduction

I did not say anything about the murder of Charlie Kirk because I wanted to wait a few days to see the full spectrum of reactions to this event. But also because I was being lumped in with the man who killed him because of my beliefs by people close to me. Likely unknowingly, but it hurt all the same.

It has been an extremely emotional couple of days for me and no doubt all of us, but I have increasingly felt that I have been called to continue writing about events happening in our day. So I must trudge onward.

The Message

I am very disappointed in some of my conservative Christian brothers and sisters who so quickly fell for the assumption that it was an LGBTQ or minority individual before any evidence was revealed. Who were crying for vengeance against that entire community. When it was revealed that the murderer did not fit the assumptions, the sudden whiplash of sympathy and prayers for his soul should have raised your eyebrows.

I don’t know what else to say to some of my fellow Christians; perhaps my quotations of verses are too vague and my warnings too cryptic. Let me be crystal clear for once: it is time to start acting like Jesus, and to change your own soul before you start forcing him on others. We cannot even begin to hope to create a Christian nation when we create hell for all of the marginalized of this country and beyond.

The world sees our hypocrisy and mocks us. I, too, saw its hypocrisy and left the church, and for a long time, Christianity as well.

But when I began to reread through the Gospels, first out of spite, I saw a man of Non-violence and peace. Who forced his disciples to put away his sword, and did not retaliate, even until death on the cross.

Brothers and Sisters, you cannot preach about or worship the Prince of Peace while crying out for bloodshed. Even with its endorsement or quiet approval.

So what does this endorsement look like?

Our president and his allies call for the death penalty for this man while also praying for his soul. That is advocating for violence in opposition of what Christ has told us.

President Trump has continued to threaten violence towards political and marginal groups who had nothing at all to do with Mr. Kirk’s Death. That is violence contrary to Christ.

This is what Christ has to say:

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[i] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

Matthew 5:43-46

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^[h] ³⁹But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42

You should question his allegiance to our God, and question your own priorities if you believe these people will bring God to America.

A Christian nation cannot grow from the seeds of violence, planted in any direction.

Which brings me to my next point.

You cannot call Mr. Kirk a man sent by God who bore the love of Jesus in his heart, when he advocated for violence against political opponents and called for Biden to receive the death penalty¹, who instigated oppression and racism of the black community² and other minority communities, who famously hated MLK Jr.³, one of the greatest Christian prophetic voices of the modern age. Who pointed not to Christ, but allied himself to the president and his ideology.

If you think I am wrong, go to your Black Christian brothers and sisters and ask them, and listen, if he was a respectful man of God. If you have none, then ask yourself if you have a limited view of Christ.

Even if I am wrong, does that rhetoric match the love of God? That all-encompassing love of the Creator and sustainer of all Being in the cosmos.

This is what the Apostle Paul has to say:

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1st Corinthians 13:1-7

Kirk did not speak with love; therefore, whatever gifts of prophecy or understanding he had counted for nothing according to the Apostle Paul.

Kirk’s rhetoric was vitriolic, designed to provoke his debate opponents and get them to slip in their argument. You cannot complain about division in this country if Mr. Kirk is your role model for oratory, conversation, and discussion.

He is the division in this country; he may not have committed physical violence, but his weapons were the words he used to cut down his opponents and twist the image of Christ into something completely unrecognizable when compared to the gospels of our sacred book.

He should not have been murdered. Yes, there are those who are celebrating his death. But you have the responsibility to model Christ rather than Mr. Kirk, your party, or the politically violent. To see the few as representatives of the whole is how you are contributing to the divide of this nation.

You are being taught, since our president’s first term, to ignore the spirit of Christ’s Love. You are slowly adopting a spirit of vengeance and wrath that will twist your soul apart, and you will be unrecognizable to your former self.

I am not immune to this either, but I have gone through the crucible of spiritual exile and I can see the ugly parts of my own soul laid bare.

His death will be a weapon used against you to rile you up. His image will be a rallying flag to get you to defend things that you don’t truly believe.

Do not fall for the lie that “your” political party is more moral simply because it cries the name of Jesus the loudest. It is vanity and deception. Soften your heart and humble yourself before you become totally lost to the outrageous lies of the Deceiver.

Quote for Thought:

“We do not subscribe to the view that Mr. Hitler and his friends, now finally in possession of the power they have so long desired, will implement the proposals circulating in [Nazi newspapers]; they will not suddenly deprive German Jews of their constitutional rights, nor enclose them in ghettos, nor subject them to the jealous and murderous impulses of the mob. They cannot do this because a number of crucial factors hold powers in check… and they clearly do not want to go down that road. When one acts as a European power, the whole atmosphere tends towards ethical reflection upon one’s better self and away from revisiting one’s earlier oppositional posture.”⁴

– February 2nd, 1933 (German Jewish Newspaper)

Do not continue to be blind to the pattern of atrocity, or history will take root again.