"Christianity" vs "Christ-like behavior" (Why Charlie Kirk was wrong)

To preface these thoughts, it's important that you understand where I'm coming from. As recently as 7-8 years ago, I would have been among his strongest supporters.* While I generally make it a point to avoid politics on this site, I felt a responsibility to speak out as this seemed the perfect opportunity to talk about issues of Godly behavior and grace. So, although the catalyst for this post may be politically based, the concepts being presented are not. They are, in fact, inherently key factors of "Christianity 101", if you will.

I had been contemplating a post on grace in recent weeks, just for the sake of general transparency into my own struggles. Even though I'm always admitting to my weaknesses in my Sermon Summaries as the issues arise, I'm sure this will get far more views than anything among those posts.

Now, as I said before, there was a time, not so very long ago, when I would have supported Charlie Kirk's positions. That being said, it's not that I no longer hold any of those same opinions on a personal level. I have simply come to understand the issues better and now have more compassion for those who face these life-altering decisions. I still believe that Abortion is murder; but have come to realize that the laws outlining it were not sufficient to cover all situations. At the same time, I have also come to the place where I understand that forcing my personal views on others is not Christ-like behavior. In terms of the whole LGBTQA+ crew, I have grown in the knowledge that Science indicates particular traits in brain chemistry that lead to same-sex attractions, given the time and life experiences to do so in an open and honest way. Regardless of theses facts, it's still not my place to tell others how to live their lives.*

These are the reasons I'm saying that Charlie Kirk was wrong. While I am well aware of his logic behind his opinions as someone who has experience in over 12 Denominations and grew up in a Private Baptist School, and know what the Bible has to say on these issues; the fact that he spoke of them so publicly, and in a way that influenced politicians to follow him was where he went wrong. I understand that he thought he was doing the right thing according to what he thought God's Word said. I'm not discounting his right to hold opinions that may differ from my own, nor am I in any way saying that Freedom of Speech is not important. (If that were true, I never would have started this blog except to share and sell my cards and jewelry)* What I'm saying is that I have come to understand how wrong and dangerous Christian Nationalism truly is.

Most every Friday morning outside my apartment building, a group of Christian protesters can be found with signs showing strong opinions against the Equality Clinic that sits across the side street. On the rare occasions my fiancé, Michael, is here at the same time AND walking up the street with me, he thanks them. Not because he agrees with them; but because he supports their First Amendment rights. I have explained to him why I cannot follow his example. Not that I reject their rights, but that their public display of their position only serves to support the World's view of Christianity in terms of our judgement and hypocrisy. This is the same reason I feel that Charlie Kirk was wrong in publicly sharing his views. I'm not here to judge his heart as a true Christian; I'm here to show why people who agree with him and his approach in political activities need to be stopped. Not by murder, because that simply lowers the person to the same level of judgement and hypocrisy they were trying to end. It shows a lack of grace to those with whom he disagreed when he clearly isn't perfect either. And that's where the general idea of "Christianity vs Christ-like behavior" is brought out. The fact is that both of these men were/are wrong in their own ways. As Christians who display good, Christ-like behavior, it should be our ever enduring goal to extend grace to others, recognizing our own imperfections in relation to theirs, (along with Christ's forgiveness of all) thus observing the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you."

Now, speaking more specifically to the point of why Christian Nationalism is both wrong and dangerous, I've already covered a portion of it above. It's judgmental and hypocritical, only adding "fuel to the fire" of the unbelieving world view of Christianity as was never meant to be.

The danger, however, lies in the fact that Christian Nationalism is the single biggest threat to our Religious Freedoms here in the United States, and really, anywhere that has the same level of the separation of Church and State that we do. Speaking of the United States in particular, our country was founded by the Puritans. In thinking about this in recent days, it occurs to me that this presented a dichotomy in that time. While the Puritans moved away from England in order to have a society that supported Religious Freedom, they themselves were a Legalistic group of Believers during that period in their history.* At the same time, you'll hear from many people that, "the United States was founded on Jewish and Christian principles". That isn't entirely true. While there may have been some among the Founding Fathers who were Christians, many were either Theists or Agnostics. The list that can be found of the parallels between Biblical principles and the Constitution is mostly incidental. The truth is that these men, in their pursuit of Religious Freedom for all citizens of their newly established cities and towns, understood the same thing that the late, great CS Lewis did. And that is the fact that we cannot legislate morality, nor should we try. He said, "One cannot make man good by law; but it takes good men to make good laws." He took his cue from Paul's words verses such as Romans 3:20, Romans 7, Galatians 3:24-25, and 5:4. All of these passages speak to the truth that the Law cannot save, the only sure way to Eternal Life is through faith in God.* We can also see the example of Jesus Himself in the story of the Rich Young Ruler, found in Mark 10:17-27. We see in this the fact that not even Jesus insisted everyone follow His Way. It's important that people understand that we are not running a Church, but a Country. Therefore, the laws need to be equally fair to Believers and non-believers alike. This is what Jesus, Paul, and Lewis were all saying, while the law helps to outline the right or wrong of one's actions, only the heart can bring us to a point of changed behavior. Besides which, Jesus' words in Matthew 22:21 when He said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what belongs to God." clearly indicates that; while He supported being a good, physical citizen to the Roman authorities, His teachings focused more on being a good spiritual citizen of the Kingdom of God. Romans 12:1 shows Paul's agreement on this. "Be not conformed to the world, but renew your minds..." We may be IN this World, and have the need to participate accordingly, but the fact that, as Christians, we are not OF this world, should mean that our focus be on the Gospel, not on the political talking points of the day.

Another point to this discussion would be the fact that both Jesus and Paul spoke about how we are not to judge others. In Matthew 7:1, Jesus says, "Don't judge, lest you be judged..." Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 5:12, Paul is admonishing the Believers for judging those who didn't believe. He maintained that we Christians should only be judging each other because we are held to the same standards. The unbeliever cannot be held to our standards, so it's unfair of us to judge them.

Charlie Kirk was wrong to publicize his views. His killer was wrong for shooting him. Christian Nationalism is both wrong and endangers our Religious Freedoms. I hope this helps someone to understand better that "Christianity" and "Christ-like behavior" may be very different things. But they shouldn't be. My job here is done.

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. It needs to be clarified here that I would have only supported him if I actually knew who he was. The truth is, I've never been much of a "news person", and I've gotten away from paying much attention to politics over the last several years. Honestly, if it weren't for recent conversations with my friend Jeremy, I wouldn't know who he was today, either. All the FB posts would just be a mystery to me.

2. Another blog post in the near(ish) future will cover Biblically accurate views on Homosexuality and my personal views on both it, and Trans. issues.

3. I realize that the whole "selling" bit isn't really active yet, but maybe sometime soon, I'll find the courage to put in a sales portal.

4. What makes this even more interesting is that the Congregational Church was founded by these same people, and is now among the most Liberal Protestant Denominations active today. How times have changed, right!!??

5. To be clear, the separation of Church and State does not demand that none of our laws reflect Godly principles, only that the Church has no place in dictating the laws of the State.

6. The image below reveals that I've been misquoting Lewis for a long time now, but the truth of his words remains valid.