Charlie Kirk and the hate that pervades us

I knew Charlie Kirk about as well as anyone can know someone short of personally. I’ve watched hours of his video content, read much of his writing, listened to hours of his podcast and even worked for his organization. And, through it all, I have never - not one time - seen him disrespect a person, put them down, call them names or hate them in any way. Yet, following his assassination, many who disagreed with him said it was because his speech was hateful. From my perspective that is completely false and it is indicative of the lies and hate that pervade us. And it is not isolated to one party, idealogy or people group, it emanates from all sides. It is one of our worst symptoms and we need to find a way to get past it.

But why do they say that? Why do they say Charlie’s speech was hateful? Here’s why - because Charlie spoke Truth. He did it boldly and with conviction, but always, always, with gentleness, respect and compassion. He always asked people questions to understand them better, and always looked for areas of agreement. It was conversation of opposing views as it should be - direct and honest, with dignity and respect, and with facts to back up claims. Yet culture killed him for it.

There was nothing hateful about Charlie. He followed Jesus as closely and with as much dedication as anyone I know. And I know many. So why the lies? Why the hatred toward him? The lies come from Satan. If you haven’t yet, please read my blog - It’s Time To Take The Spiritual Battle Seriously. Satan is the ultimate liar and he pervades our culture. But why the hate? Jesus answered that. He said, The world hates me because I testify that its works are evil (John 7:7). And the Apostle John, writing of Jesus being the Light, wrote, This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God (John 3:19-21).

Many people believe that Jesus’s message was love, tolerance and acceptance. And, to some degree, that is true. But even more importantly, Jesus’s message was repentance. He confronted people with the Truth about sin and encouraged them to repent. Not out of hate, but out of love. He knew the consequences of sin - that the wages of sin is death - and, because he loved them, he encouraged them to acknowledge their sin, repent of it and believe in him to avoid destruction. And that if they repented and believed (not just believed - Even the demons believe, and tremble!) their sins would be forgiven and they would inherit eternal life with God. And that’s what Charlie did.

Nowhere is Jesus’s message of the need for repentance better illustrated than in his encounter with the angry mob threatening to stone the woman caught in adultery. Let’s look at it here (John 8:2-11):

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

There are two things of importance here. First, Jesus condemned the men who wanted to stone the woman. And what a prolific way he did it, confronting them with their own sin and hypocrisy. But secondly, and more importantly, is what Jesus said to the woman. He didn’t stop at “Then neither do I condemn you.”? No. He told her to go and leave your life of sin. To repent. With love and gentleness he forgave her sins, but instructed her to repent. To stop sinning. That was Jesus’s message and it needs to be ours. Not out of hate, but out of love.

Jesus did not implore the woman to repent because he hated her, he did because he loved her. And that’s what Charlie did. He had respectful conversations with people - hard as they sometimes were - in the hope that they would understand God’s truth, repent and trust in Jesus.

We need to stop tolerating sin and making excuses for it, knowing people are headed toward destruction. Rather, because we love them, we need to encourage them to repent and turn from it. Like Jesus and Charlie, we need to speak truth boldly, with gentleness, respect and compassion, confronting people with sin because we love them, encouraging them to repent and believe the Good News.