Guest Commentary
By Dr. Gary Cass
Now that I’ve had a little time for the fog to clear after feeling like I was concussed by a hand grenade at the news of Charlie Kirk’s death, here’s what I see.
My friends, family members, and people I know who love the Lord have taken up sides — myself included. We name Jesus as Lord, and yet we are tempted to think the hardest thoughts imaginable against people of good faith who disagree and are wrestling with the implications of their faith.
One of the things I believe makes a HUGE difference in this situation is how you were introduced to Charlie Kirk.
I am a conservative Christian who saw Charlie grow up. At first, I had reservations about Turning Point USA because Kirk was fraternizing with the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party. They are much more liberal on social issues than I could tolerate.
As Charlie matured, he became more conservative and more in line with what the Bible teaches on matters of marriage, sexuality/gender, and abortion. Maybe part of that came from getting married and having children. I do know he had some good pastors mentoring him. I have talked with Charlie and been in meetings with him, and over time my opinion changed.
If you were introduced to Charlie via the internet — through curated click-bait clips and bad-faith misrepresentations — then you will have an entirely different opinion of him. Admittedly, this kind of thing happens all the time from all sides. Then there are the trolls and bad actors who thrive on pitting Americans against one another.
Even if you disagreed with Charlie — who was so verbally skilled and well-studied he could hold his own against the brightest from the most elite institutions — you should at least have respected him as a fellow human being. We know he was universally liked by those who worked with him. Even those who later became progressives admit he was a great guy. Watch one of Charlie’s college events and see how patiently he treated those who disagreed. He would even rebuke the crowd if they were disrespectful.
His ideological opponents reduced his ideas to “hate speech” so they could defame him as a racist Nazi. Once dehumanized, they could justify hating him — from which comes murder. We see their dark hearts revealed at work and online when they mock Charlie in his death. Even if you vehemently disagreed with him, did he deserve to die for the expression of ideas that at least half the country believes? Who else deserves to die?
Theologian Os Guinness called the season we are living in a “civilizational moment.” Are we going to return to God and His Word as the basis of truth and justice? “The Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” are what we were founded on, albeit imperfectly. Of course, that’s all we expect from mere mortals, even as we try to form a more perfect union. Sadly, it resulted in a Civil War.
Do we just burn America down and replace it? But with what? We’ve seen that murderous reality repeatedly in the twentieth century, and it always ends in totalitarianism.
What does God want the future to look like for our grandchildren? That’s a fair and necessary debate to have. I have very deep convictions, and so do you. How can we test them against God’s Word if we can’t have good-faith conversations?
1 Corinthians 11:19 (Berean Literal Bible): “For also it behooves there to be factions among you, so that also the approved should become evident among you.”
Factions form because people are convinced they’re right, but the process of contending for the truth is necessary.
Have a friendly conversation this week with someone you disagree with. First, ask the Lord to give you His heart for them. Then ask how they came to their positions (often there’s a painful story). Who knows — you might learn something, or make or keep a friend. And even better, perhaps they might become a brother or sister in Christ.
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Cass serves as the Senior Pastor of Christ Community Reformed Church in Escondido, CA, where he continues to mentor leaders, support conservative candidates, and serve on the board of North County Conservatives. He also co-leads Reclaim San Diego.
Comments 1
Hi Gary.
Reading –
“ I am a conservative Christian who saw Charlie grow up. At first, I had reservations about Turning Point USA because Kirk was fraternizing with the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party. They are much more liberal on social issues than I could tolerate.”
Okay, I’ll take the bait. Who represents the “libertarian” wing of the GOP in San Diego County more than me?
Where does the ethical dilemma of State come? The Reformed libertarian?
Trying to understand why “libertarian” is being used in what appears to be a negative context?
I’m a classical liberal or to some a ‘libertarian’. Kuyperian in my theology.
“Liberal” comes from the latin “free”.
Of course, a thoughtful Christ follower must ask “Free from what?”
Freedom from God or free from sin, depravity to follow Christ?
Wasn’t the jubilee in Leviticus 25 about freedom? Liberty?
Wasn’t Jesus first talk in the synagogue about setting the people free? Liberty?
Don’t we have a Liberty Bell?
Statue of Liberty?
Weren’t many of our Framers classical liberals?
Wasn’t Calvin about freedom?
See Kuyper’s third Stone Lecture, ‘Calvinism & Politics’ (1898).
As a Reformed Kuyperian I don’t approve of homosexuality, foreign war or the Fed.
That being said, unless you want to show me, I don’t find an enumerated authority in the U.S. Constitution for the State to address social issues.
I leave that to the family and the church spheres which I believe are anointed by God to address sin. I try to avoid idolatry of the State. (1st Commandment).
Reagan appointed Kennedy who was the swing vote in Obergefell.
Perhaps a conservative Republican can justify that. I cannot.
I would also classify myself as “conservative” because I attempt to be salt in the civil sphere via the ‘conserving’ of God’s law. Property Rights. Unlike Escondido, I believe God is sovereign and the State falls under God’s ethic. I am not silent.
Charlie was recently asked about the value of a college degree by an Econ major.
Charlie’s response?
“Are you familiar with von Mises? Hayek? Bastiat?”
Don’t think, and perhaps I’m wrong here, many Republicans have read these economists. The student hadn’t. I’m guessing Charlie was more of a classical liberal than this article mentions.
Personally, as a Reformed believer, I find the ethical position of a classical liberal more coherent with Christian theology than the false binary of Democrat and Republican.
Many of my Republican friends self-describe as “conservative” though few can articulate what they’re conserving.
For the record, the libertarian isn’t responsible for foreign wars, the Fed’s money printing nor the public school system or the fact that Christ followers tithe more to the State than Christ.
Think, and you may correct me here, all the pathologies that Americans are facing originate from the two major political parties not libertarians or classical liberals.