We are the problem
"There is no scenario in Scripture where Christians are called to “fight back” in any kind of human sense"
Sometimes, when I can’t find the words, I realize my husband has already found them. This was his Facebook post two days ago. I only just read it (I’m not on Facebook much), and immediately asked him if I could post it. I’m dismantling the comments because I’m exhausted. But I pray this helps.
After yesterday’s murder of Charlie Kirk, Beth said to me “maybe this will get people’s attention, and they’ll calm down the rhetoric.” I told her I thought the opposite would be true, and sadly that is the case. As I’ve read and listened to comments over the past 24 hours, I am both grieved and angered by the comments of so many (but by no means all) of my fellow Christians. From mocking, sarcasm and celebration on one side to calls to fight back from the other, it seems so many have completely missed the way Christ and the apostles.
When it comes to human conflicts, the New Testament is clear:
1. We are to be first and foremost citizens of God’s kingdom, fighting a spiritual battle, not members of a human nation or political party fighting each other. Peter said “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Peter 2:9-10)
2. We are fighting a spiritual battle, not other humans. Paul said “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) This means people are not your enemy. Period. And if they consider you their enemy, then Jesus says “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 6:33).
Fellow Christians, most of us have forgotten this and defined ourselves in human terms, fighting human battles, and it must stop.
We are failing to be the salt of the earth.
We are failing to be the light of the world.
We are failing to be peacemakers.
By identifying as right or Republicans fighting Democrats, and by identifying as left or Democrats fighting Republicans, we are, instead, pouring gasoline on the flame.
If your reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder is one of glee, if you mock it by using his words about guns against him in his family’s hour of grief, if you rejoice that, in your opinion, he got what was coming to him, you are demonstrating that you are being discipled by something antithetical to Jesus, and you are part of the problem driving the political tension and increasing violence. We do not rejoice in the death or suffering or misfortune of others. We return insult with kindness. We grieve with their family. We follow the example of Daniel, who spoke truth to power but respectfully, even to the man who destroyed his nation. We serve a Jesus who healed a man who came to arrest Him. If you indulge in conspiracy theories that this was planned by the right as a false flag operation, you are engaging in the worst kind of gossip and rumor spreading, and you are part of the problem.
If your reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder is on of anger towards the left, if you view the left as the primary instrument of political violence and inflammatory rhetoric, if your response is to fight back and crush the other side, then not only are you ignoring the many instances of political violence and inflammatory rhetoric on the right, but you are demonstrating that you are being discipled by something antithetical to Jesus, and you are part of the problem driving the political tension and increasing violence.
There is no scenario in Scripture where Christians are called to “fight back” in any kind of human sense, and the New Testament was written during a time when the Christians were being actively persecuted.
If you assume the motives of the shooter before we know anything about him or engage in conspiracy theories that this is part of a wider, guided effort by “the left”, you are engaging in the worst kind of gossip and rumor spreading, and you are part of the problem.
Be people of truth, not of sides.
Be people of principle, not of labels.
Be people of love and compassion, not hatred and vengeance.
Be people that bring peace, and not those that level up the conflict.
Be people that seek to listen and understand the point of view of those with whom they disagree, not those that seek to defeat and silence them.
And cut out the voices of wherever you get your news that encourage you to be the latter of any of those, because they are appealing to your fallen flesh, not the Spirit of God that resides within you. Remember the mission Jesus gave us and the character with which He called us to carry it out.