Personal Thoughts on Disagreeing about Charlie Kirk

Both the religious spirit and the political spirit don't really care whose side you're on, as long as you're very angry. - Bill Johnson, (rough quote from memory)

"When he was reviled, reviled not again..." I Peter 2:23

I took our dogs for a walk when I first heard Charlie had been shot. Walked and prayed.

Stopped by my son's house, and heard Charlie died. Cried and hugged, even though neither of us were particular followers of Charlie, but because the grief in the air was a palpable thing. It was a sense of "this changes everything."

That night, my thought was, "I've just been on Earth - again - for an event commensurate with the MLK assassination." Some lives make that much of a difference.

___________________________________

And then I made what I thought was a mild remonstrance to a family member's Facebook post, a post which stated a version of he-brought-this-on-himself-and-anyway-he-was-a-bigot. I said he'd tried to bridge the abyss of our political divide, and their pushback indicated they did not agree. Okay.

But I've been pondering on the tenor of their responses. I'll sum them up: 1) I don't need to know the context! (of Charlie's quoted remarks), 2) I don't need to know you, Mary! (because my "heart is full of hate"), 3) I already know enough to know he's a bigot! (so there's probably no point in talking to me at the next family gathering). And, 4) My newsfeed is enough for me to know your newsfeed is wrong! To be fair, response #2 didn't come from a family member, but, family members didn't push back.

Of course I wanted, for a while, to post clever and snarky replies. But who does that help? Will a derogatory meme cause someone to slap their forehead and exclaim, "I see the light!" No, and if they're anything like me, the effect will be a revolving series of rants addressed to the bathroom mirror. What purpose is served?

Of course, if I had posted my brilliant analytical replies, no minds would have changed. My reaction to their reaction was very much like... their reaction to mine.

When my core beliefs are attacked, my response is to scrounge around in the yard of my interior castle for dirt to make bricks of The Things I Already Think. I take those bricks and build the walls of my defenses higher, ever higher. Snarky attacks dig me deeper into my own opinions, and again, NO purpose is served.

I love Jesus. His church's foundation, alongside its cornerstone, was built, in the first century A.D., by a guy who, before meeting the Lord, had been very busy killing His followers, for plenty of well-established reasons. My faith is, therefore, built on a foundation of people changing profoundly.

If any of us change, it will most likely be the result of some random remark overheard in a restaurant, or a 60's rock lyric meeting our mind at the right moment, or an epiphany during a stunning sunset. "A bow drawn at a venture..." And it will be God, directing the arrow, directing us on a path to truth we hadn't recognized. Until that happens, we'll disagree profoundly. In the meantime, we could avoid making things worse.

In a way, I disagree with myself, because I believe speaking truth is profoundly important, and I believe we all should do it. But do it in the context of relationship, of relaxed conversation, of peace, not push-back. Maybe even of seeking to understand. I still think Charlie Kirk was trying to bridge the gap between us. And I think it's okay if you disagree.