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We Lost One of Our Own.

There is an expression that I sometimes hear after a tragedy hits a little too close to home, and it is: we lost one of our own today.

The phrase is often said when someone from a tight-knit community like a military unit, police, or fire department passes away. Innately, we know that no tragedy is more tragic than any other death or loss, but we feel the pain more acutely when we can identify with the victim in some way.

We have probably all experienced this in one way or another. Whether it’s a loss in our family, our city, or someone who looks or thinks like us – we know what it feels like. The tendency to feel pain more deeply when it affects people who are “like us” is a result of tribalism.

If you’re not familiar, tribalism is a term used to describe individuals strongly identifying with their “in group” and prioritizing its interests above the interests of others. Tribalism is not necessarily a bad thing; people often feel a deeper sense of belonging when they are part of a small group, rather than seeing themselves as just one of 8 billion people in the world — and there is nothing wrong with feeling a unique sense of closeness with our own family, church, city, or country. The problem is when we allow our tribalism to numb us towards pain felt by those outside of our “in group.”

Some would call what I am describing “toxic empathy.” They would tell us that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to feel the pain of others too deeply, because our emotions can be manipulated to lead us to bad or unhealthy conclusions. While it is true that we shouldn’t allow empathy to lead us to inappropriate conclusions or dissolve healthy boundaries, most of us don’t err in that direction. So rather than trying to prevent ourselves from feeling too much empathy, I think we should feel grateful when we are given a glimpse into the heart of God – who grieves with those who grieve and mourns with those who mourn.

The Bible says the following in Philippians 2:1-4:

Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

When we read this from our Western perspective, we tend to think that we are being addressed as individuals – but this text is written to groups of people in the plural sense. If you’re from the South, it is helpful to read the text as if it is saying “y’all” rather than “you.” Let’s read it again with that lens:

Therefore, if you all have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value other groups of people above your own group, not looking to your own group’s interests but each of you to the interests of others.*

Another way of saying this is that San Diegans should not only look to the interests of San Diegans, but to the interests of others. White people should not only look to the interests of white people, but to the interests of others. Christians should not only look to the interests of Christians, but to the interests of others.

This is not the way we typically operate, and frankly, it’s very contrary to our ethos here in America. But that’s okay, because Philippians tells us that our primary allegiance is not to this nation, but rather, our citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20). When American values and the values of God’s kingdom conflict, Christians should choose to follow the way of Jesus every time.

I am writing this post because there was a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD) earlier this week. ICSD is the largest mosque in San Diego, and it is also a school where 140 students were being taught when the attack occurred. Three victims were killed in addition to the two teenagers who led the attack — and while I am not Muslim, I had the sinking feeling that we lost one of our own. Maybe it was because of my proximity to the tragedy. Maybe it was because one of the victims was also a parent to young children. Or maybe it was because God granted me a small glimpse into the way these continued tragedies burden His heart.

We are not God, we are finite human beings. We don’t have the capacity to carry the weight of every tragedy — but I wish we would draw the circles around our “in groups” just a little bit bigger. I wish that instead of only thinking that “we lost one of our own” when someone from our city, or country, or our faith community dies — we would recognize that we have lost one of our own every time a fellow human being, created in the image of God, passes away.

We lost one of our own this week, and God’s heart is grieved by senseless violence once again.

May our hearts grieve with Him.

#Spotify

In Memory of Giorgio Kirylo

Not long after I moved to San Diego, I joined a Christian book club-type discussion group that focused on helping professionals follow Jesus faithfully through their work. The group was led by a couple named Char and Robert at their home in North County, San Diego. Char owns a luxury real estate company and Robert served our country as a Navy Seal for 25 years.

I was the youngest member of the group, by far — and I didn’t have much professional advice to offer. But every Tuesday night for a couple of years I drove up to their house, sat in the corner, and took pages and pages of notes — soaking up insights, wisdom, and perspective that others had learned the hard way.

One night, Robert presented the group with a question. He said that their church had given each group leader a task. They were each given $100 to multiply in an exponential way for God’s kingdom, and he asked what ideas we all had to share. We took turns discussing some options and found that it was hard to figure out exactly what to do. Finally, though I was usually quiet in the group, I felt God stirring in my heart to speak up.

The best way to multiply the impact of the money for the kingdom of God, I suggested, would be to do something that makes no sense by the logic of this world. To reach across the aisle, if you will, and love someone that might otherwise seem like somewhat of an “enemy.” I was still a bit naive back then, but not naive even to overlook the fact that the church and LGBT community were often at odds, so I suggested that we go to The Pride Center in Hillcrest and, in Jesus’s name, drop off donuts or something else that would bless them — asking nothing in return. Or, I suggested, since the Kaepernick protest was stirring up controversy at the time, we could bless a Black Lives Matter group on behalf of Robert and his Navy Seal friends. It was a surprising suggestion, as you might imagine, and I’m not sure the group knew exactly what to make of it. That was the last time the group met before the summer, and I never heard what we decided to do with the $100, but the concept stayed with me.

Jesus says in John 15:13, “greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” I think that’s true — a human laying down their life for a friend is a powerful and incredible gesture. But God’s love for us goes even further, because He loved us so much that He died for us, while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8).

God’s kingdom is radical and revolutionary, but not in the way that our world pictures “radical” and “revolutionary.” His love is transformative because it shows us how we can love, not just those who love us, but those who hate or oppose us. A love like that can disarm even the hardest of hearts.

The group didn’t start up again after the summer break, so I didn’t see Char and Robert very often after that. Besides a few posts on social media, our circles didn’t overlap much, with one noteable exception.

When I met my husband Jon, he was living in a condo that he had purchased in East Village, San Diego. The condo was nice, but the neighborhood was “in transition,” you might say. There was a significant homeless population in the area and it was not uncommon to see the police patrolling and monitoring the neighborhood. Jon is not the most optimistic person by nature, but I like to joke that if there is one thing he is unusually optimistic about, it is the potential upside of East Village. He believes that it is going to be a great neighborhood, it is only a matter of time.

When we started dating, I became familiar with more and more people in the neighborhood. I started to recognize people at the local coffee shop, the record store, and the homeless man who kept a broom with him to keep the street clean. But there was one person in the neighborhood that occupied more space in my brain than all the rest — Jon’s next door neighbor.

For years, I only knew him as “Jon’s neighbor,” and my interactions with him were very limited. I usually saw him in passing in the hallway, the elevator, or on the sidewalk. I sometimes heard him talking to neighbors from his balcony in ways that seemed abrasive at times. He seemed to see himself as a one-man neighborhood-watch person — determined to reduce crime and drug use on our local streets.

We were, perhaps, unlikely to become the best of friends. While Jon and I lean to the left politically, his neighbor frequently sported Trump gear. Additionally, Jon and I tend to be a bit afraid of dogs, and his neighbor had two large German shepherds that he often walked around the building off their leashes (I later learned that the dogs were given to him through a program that places animals with former veterans experiencing PTSD to help with their reintegration into society).

Over time, I learned that the neighbor’s name was Giorgio Kirylo, or “Gio,” for short. Discovering his name allowed me to learn that he had played a controversial role in a military war crime trial that dominated local headlines for quite some time. To some, he was a war hero. To others, his testimony helped a war criminal avoid punishment.

While I already mentioned that Gio could seem intimidating, I should go farther and admit that I was afraid of him. He was significantly taller and stronger than me, a reality that felt especially true when we crossed paths in the underground garage or the elevator alone. I didn’t like the way he interacted with the neighbors, even if his intentions had been good. Over time, I started to make up stories about him in my mind based on my fear and unease around him. I knew that God calls us to love our neighbors… but in my sinfulness I sometimes wondered, do I have to love Jon’s neighbors? Or just my own? Because it’s one thing to love a neighbor in theory, but it’s another thing to love a trained military professional who probably knew 100 ways to kill me with his bare hands. Sometimes as we watched tv, I wondered if he had weapons on the other side of the wall that we shared with him, and I worried that one day I might find out.

To be clear, he never threatened me, Jon, or Jon’s roommate in any way. But in one too-bizarre-to-make-up story, Jon’s roommate was on the phone with a woman who asked where he lived. When he shared the address, she asked, “You don’t live on the second floor, do you? You need to watch out for the guy in the corner unit. Keep your distance.” What, I wondered, were the odds of that happening? And why did God allow for us to hear that message, passed along second-hand through someone we didn’t even know? So whether my fears were real or imagined, founded or baseless, they grew— and I sometimes dreaded going over to Jon’s condo.

One night, I was sharing how I felt with a couple of girl friends over dinner and I got so worked up that I started crying. I was surprised to discover that I had allowed myself to become so anxious and fearful of someone I hardly knew. That night is especially memorable to me because after dinner, Jon showed up and proposed.

Not long after, we got married and Jon moved in with me. We rented out Jon’s condo, so I crossed paths with Gio less frequently. I saw on Instagram that he knew Char and Robert through military circles, but besides occasionally seeing posts about him social media, he occupied considerably less time in my mind. Occasionally, I wondered whether he had stayed in San Diego or rented out the property and how his new marriage was going — but life was busy and it moved on. Until one day, he crossed my mind and I googled him — and found his obituary.

Though Gio’s cause of death was not listed, it was sadly easy to figure out, since he suffered the same fate as far too many veterans. And while I had feared him during his life, I was surprised by how much I grieved his death. He seemed to be a complicated and troubled soul, and ultimately one day, death seemed to promise him an easier path. And while I personally felt less anxious walking through the complex without him there, I was surprised by how deeply his death weighed on me. Through Gio’s death, I believe that God gave me a glimpse into His view of the infinite value of all human life, and reminded me that death is always a tragedy.

Recently, I was checking on Jon’s condo and saw a notice on the door that said that Gio’s unit had been foreclosed upon. After reflecting on the many emotions that brought up for me, I talked to Jon and asked if he would be open to bidding for it when it goes to auction so we could make it available to other veterans in his memory. Immediately, he agreed that it would be a great idea, if we could make it work.

This is where the story ends for now. I don’t know if we will be able to pull this tribute off. Purchasing another property on top of working full-time and preparing to welcome our third child would certainly be a lot. But I am truly moved by what God has done through this story already — by softening and re-shaping my heart, to see someone I once feared for who he truly was — a man of infinite worth and value to God.

In the meantime, I am sharing this post as a tribute to Giorgio Kirylo. He put his life on the line defending our country, and as a result, carried burdens that most of us cannot even imagine. Though he went about it a bit differently than I would have, he spent his final years trying to make his community better. He fell in love, got married, and from the few glimpses I could see online, searched for God towards the end of his life.

But ultimately this is not a tribute just to Gio — it is a testament to the grace of God. Through this story, God moved in my heart to memorialize and honor someone I once avoided and feared. I know that impulse didn’t come from me — it couldn’t have. It could only be the countercultural, transformative love of God.

So in closing, I ask you to pray. Pray for peace around the world and in our hearts. Pray for our soldiers who are fighting around the world. Pray for veterans and the heavy burdens they carry, especially the ones that we can’t see. Pray for your enemies, both real and perceived. And pray for your fellow Christians like myself, that our hearts would be softened so that we can more closely resemble the God who created us — a God who wanted so desperately to show the deep and transformative power of His love that He was willing to sacrifice His very own Son.

It is hard to fathom such a painful and personal sacrifice, but God gave up the One He loved the most for us, while we were still His enemies. May God give us the grace and strength to model His love and sacrifice to those around us for as long as we remain in this broken world.

America Reads the Bible

As we prepare for the 250th anniversary of our country this summer, we will likely see an increase in events like the America Reads the Bible event that kicked off in Washington D.C. this week. If you haven’t already heard, this event features politicians, elected officials, and prominent Americans reading Bible passages at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.

Some Christians are rejoicing at the fact that the Bible is being read publicly, and they feel that this is an example of the Trump administration living up to their promise to embrace and promote Christianity. Others feel that this is either inappropriate or performative (or both), from an administration that speaks loudly about Jesus without adhering to His teachings. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may not be surprised to learn that I lean more towards the second perspective. But as I will share later, this event does give me hope, for a reason that may surprise you.

First, allow me to explain why I think this event is inappropriate. While many believe that we were founded as a Christian nation, I believe that a more accurate re-telling of our nation’s history shows that we were founded on the ideal of religious liberty. Many of the founders were Christians themselves, but they objected to the way government and religion were formally connected across most of Europe. In fact, some of the founders ended up in what is now the United States after fleeing religious persecution themselves. While many of the founders had conflicting ideas on how to structure our new government*, men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson believed that the best way to move forward was to separate government and religion. This separation, known as the “separation of church and state” was enshrined in the First Amendment.

I believe that they were on to something with that concept, and that religion and the government should be kept separate. While people should and inevitably will vote according to their values, I think people of all faiths should be able to practice their faith freely and without government preference or interference. I am not fearful of or threatened by my Muslim or Jewish neighbors practicing their faith, and I don’t rely on the government to preserve Christian principles or enforce my values. I believe that sharing my faith is my responsibility, and the responsibility of the church — not the government. Every time I have seen the government try to coerce people to follow Christianity or Christian principles, it has either failed or backfired.

Additionally, while I have said this many times on my blog, when politicians claim to follow Christ and then actively work against His teachings, it does great harm to our witness for the Gospel. When we rejoice that Roe vs. Wade was overturned, only to see the annual number of abortions rise, what are we really celebrating? When we require the 10 Commandments to be on display in public buildings but continually elect politicians who repeatedly break those same commandments, who do we think we are fooling? Because those outside of our Christian bubbles are not fooled — in fact, they can often spot the hypocrisy more clearly than we can.

I have noticed a tendency among American Christians to think that we, as a nation, are God’s chosen people — or that we are somehow uniquely blessed because our founding documents reference God. I think there is a danger here that is not unlike our natural tendency to read the Bible and assume that we would fall on the right side of every story.

I think it is common for Americans to read the Bible and assume that we are more like David than Goliath; that we are more like Jesus’s eager followers than the Pharisees — or God’s chosen people, rather than the oppressive Roman Empire. But when we boast about having the world’s most powerful military and threaten the death of an entire civilization — we sound a whole lot more like Goliath than David. When we try to force people to live out Christian doctrine through codifying it into law, we sound more like the Pharisees than the disciples. And when we look at our history of public lynchings and continued practice of state-sanctioned execution, we seem less like the Israelites and more like the Romans who put Jesus up on the cross.

The United States of America is not God’s chosen people — the church is. We do not live in a theocracy and I don’t think we should engage politically with the goal of becoming one. We live in a representative democracy, where people have the right to hold different opinions and freely express them. When our values conflict, I believe we should strive to lovingly persuade those who disagree with us, rather than force them to live out our beliefs through the law. So when you vote, I hope you will remember that your vote is not a vote for or against God. Your vote is simply an attempt to live out your values in a broken world using the man-made systems that govern our country.

I’m rambling a bit now, so let’s circle back to where we started: the America Reads the Bible event. The reason this event gives me hope is because I believe that the Bible is true. I believe that it is the inspired word of God. I believe, like Hebrews 4:12 says, that it is “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” And although I reacted with cynicism when I saw that President Trump would be participating, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that he would be reading 2 Chronicles 7:11-22:

When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for My Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”

The America Reads the Bible event gives me hope because the leader of our country read this text, and I believe it is an important message for him to hear. I hope this passage reminds him that though he feels like he has all the power now, his life is ultimately at the mercy of God. I hope he starts to realize that the Bible is not a mere prop for a photo-op – it is the living and active Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). I hope that he will be moved to be a “doer of the word, not a hearer only” (James 1:22). I hope God chips away at his heart and that he repents – and inspires those who enthusiastically follow him to do the same.

And lastly, I pray that American Christians like myself will allow God’s word to sink deeply into our hearts as well. May we hear the cry of God that says, “if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Notice that the call to repentance starts inside the family of God. If we, the people of God, will humble ourselves, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, God will hear from Heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

There may come a time for us to address the sin we see in the world around us, but let’s start with the plank in our own eye first. Many of us grew up praying for revival, and God knows we desperately need one — but as I’ve said before, revival always starts with repentance.

Good Fruit

Without naming any names, I want to start by telling you a story of a man who moved to San Diego to plant a church almost fifteen years ago.* Shortly after planting his church, this man was secretly involved in a sexual relationship with a member of his congregation for ten months. A few years later, he used church funds to establish a social media presence for himself under the guise of assisting the church in its Christian mission. The church publicly disciplined him for various sins, including quarrelsomeness, lack of self-control, failure to be above reproach, boastfulness, and passive aggressiveness.

According to the church, the man then pretended to be remorseful until he gained control of the social media platform the church had funded. Then, he left the church to plant a new one in a state that he expected to be more receptive to his particular approach to Christianity. Since planting his new church, his message has become increasingly incendiary, at times suggesting that women should not be allowed to vote, interracial marriage is outside of God’s “normative design,” and white parents should have “the talk” with their children about how dangerous it is to be around black people.

This may feel like an extreme example (and I hope that it is) but I personally know people who attended this man’s church for years. He was touted as being “theologically sound” and someone who “takes the Bible seriously,” but I think it’s clear that this man’s well-documented pattern of behavior points to something very different. Leaders like this concern me because I know how easy it is for well-intentioned people to be led to dangerous conclusions by people who claim to follow Jesus. In a time when many people are using God’s name for vastly different purposes, I am writing this blog post to help Christians discern what is true, in hopes that we all see Jesus more clearly.

First, let’s start with what the Bible says. While the general tone of Jesus’s earthly ministry was of mercy and compassion, He had some harsh words for false teachers in Matthew 7:15-23:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

I want to pause here because for many of us, this is very unsettling language coming from Jesus. Many of us were raised to believe that if we simply pray a particular prayer and ask Jesus into our heart, we will go to Heaven. But there is a difference between praying a prayer to absolve your conscience and moving on with your life and actually responding to Jesus’s call to follow Him. One occurs at one specific time and allows us to feel better about ourselves without necessarily becoming more like Christ. The other is a lifelong journey of taking up our cross and following Jesus.

I want to be clear that Christians believe that we are saved by faith, not by our works or actions. We do not need to prove or faith or salvation to anyone – and I would never question another person’s salvation. However, if a person is truly following Jesus, we can expect Him to have an impact on the way they live their life.

I am not writing this post to help you figure out if someone is a Christian or to imply that Christian voices I disagree with are false teachers. I am writing this post in hopes of helping Christians discern what is true, in a time when many conflicting voices are proclaiming the name of Christ. So here are a few helpful questions you can ask when deciding which voices to follow.

The first and most straightforward question is this: does this person invoke God’s name to justify sin? If you hear someone use God’s name in defense of violence, racism, misogyny, sexual sin, or any other obvious transgression towards other human beings created in the image of God, then that’s an easy one: hard pass.

The Bible is a long book, so it is not difficult for people to take verses out of context and use them to justify just about anything under the sun. But if we actually want to understand the Bible, we should recognize the greater story that it is telling, rather than focusing on isolated examples that align with our preferred narratives. We also should recognize the difference between passages that are descriptive (simply describing how things were at the time) and passages that are prescriptive (describing how things should be). Just because something is mentioned in the Bible doesn’t mean that it is Biblical (polygamy and slavery are obvious examples, just to name a few). The Bible is full of stories of broken sinners honestly recounting their failings. These stories are included in the Bible both because they are true and because they highlight God’s faithfulness despite continued human failures.

Additionally, there are times in the Old Testament when God calls people to do things that cause pain or harm (going to war, David killing Goliath, human sacrifices, etc.). Diving into each of these instances in detail would distract from the overall purpose of this post, but suffice it to say that the Old Testament is fulfilled in Jesus, whose words and actions we are called to follow. We are not called to mirror the words or actions described in the Old Testament.

The next question is also fairly simple: does this person display the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians describes the fruit of the spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Take a moment to think about your favorite influencer, talk show host, or political commentator who indicates that they follow Jesus. Do they pass this simple test, at least most of the time? If not, they may not be worth following.

With that being said, we are all humans and therefore we will all fail from time to time. We shouldn’t expect each other to be perfect, but there are two things we should keep in mind when people sin. First, how a person responds to their own failure is a good indication of whether or not they are following Jesus. If a person is unable to apologize and make amends for their actions, that tells you a great deal about their spiritual wellbeing and maturity. Additionally, there is a theological concept called sanctification, which means that God will make His followers more like Him over time. While this process does not always occur linearly, we should expect a person who is following Jesus to become more like Christ throughout their lifetime.

Additionally, we should ask ourselves: does this person practice what they preach? We all know people who have used God’s name to accomplish their own goals and purposes, rather than God’s. This is a clear example of what it means to use God’s name in vain, and people who do so should be opposed, rather than followed.

A final question that we should consider when deciding whether or not to follow a particular voice is this: how does this person talk about others, particularly those that oppose them? Are the voices you are listening to causing you to become more loving towards your neighbors, or more fearful of them? Are they encouraging you to sacrificially love even your enemies, or are they inclining you towards partisanship, dissention, and division?

For many of us, hearing people claim Jesus’s name to justify such differing opinions has been confusing and disorienting. But this particular moment also gives me hope, because it is causing people across the country (and around the world) to pause and ask what is really true about God. My hope is that asking that question allows more people to encounter Jesus – who is the truth embodied.

But you may be wondering – if God objects to people doing terrible things in His name, why doesn’t He do anything about it? I have wondered the same thing myself. Sometimes God refrains from intervening so that we will recognize our need for Him. Other times, He delays because He is preparing to put His power on display. We don’t know why God hasn’t intervened in our current situation, but we do know that one day, He will.

The Bible tells us that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. He will show all of us who He really is and what He is really like. He will expose the sin that is in our hearts and redeem those who have trusted in Him. So why hasn’t He done it already? The answer to that question is both encouraging and frustrating. Jesus hasn’t returned yet because He is patient with us – He wants everyone to have a chance to repent and find eternal life in Him. Until He returns to set the record straight, it is up to His followers to represent Him as clearly as possible to the world around us, and this post is my genuine attempt to do so.

To Infinity and Beyond

Photo courtesy of NASA

What is it about the recent Artemis II mission that captivated so many of us? I imagine we had different reasons for being inspired. For some, seeing photos from space reminded them just how small we truly are in the grand scheme of things. For others, it was the significance of seeing a diverse team work together to achieve something remarkable. For me, it was hearing interviews from the astronauts as they shared insights and much-needed perspective with those of us who were back home on Earth.

The quote that resonated with me the most came from the pilot, Victor Glover:

As we are so far from Earth and looking back at the beauty of creation, I think for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see Earth as one thing. When I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us, who were created, you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we’re in a spaceship really far from Earth. But you’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos. I think maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you. And I’m trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special. In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist (in) together. I think as we go into Easter Sunday thinking about all the cultures all around the world —whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not — this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing. And that we got to get through this together.

I was not familiar with Victor Glover previously, but hearing him share this reflection inspired me to learn more about him. I learned that he is a devout Christian who believes that science can help humans understand God, the Creator of all things (you can read more here). While many people believe that faith and science conflict, Victor Glover disagrees - and I do as well. This blog post represents my attempt to dispel the notion that the Christian faith and science are opposed to each other. I will focus on the origin of existence and the Christian belief in miracles, while touching on the limitations of both faith and science. Let’s dive right in.

Unfortunately, I believe that much of the division that exists between faith and science is the fault of a certain sect of Christians, often referred to as fundamentalists. While few people consider themselves fundamentalists, the definition of fundamentalist is a person who believes in a strict, literal interpretation of religious texts and an uncompromising adherence to religious doctrines. A literal reading of Genesis 1 has led many Christians to believe that God created the world in six 24-hour days, and by piecing together the genealogies outlined in the Bible, some have argued that the world must only be about 6,000 years old.

It is, of course, difficult to reconcile this conclusion with geological findings that suggest that the world is several billion years old. Rather than respond with openness to the possibility of an older Earth, this group of Christians dug in their heels on the conclusions that they had already reached. This approach stands in opposition to the scientific method, which teaches us to make observations, develop a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and draw a conclusion. Because Christians with this perspective believe that they have already drawn the correct conclusion from the Bible, they see no need for further learning, exploration, and curiosity on the topic.

This topic is a bit personal for me, because I had a small crisis of faith around the issue when I was younger. I attended a Christian school for junior high and high school and I distinctly remember my eighth-grade science teacher spending a considerable amount of time teaching Young Earth Creationism (the belief that the Earth is only 6,000 years old). He felt that it was important to emphasize this topic so that we would, in his words, “be prepared to defend the faith when we go off to college and are taught about evolution.” But is arguing for Young Earth Creationism “defending the faith,” or simply arguing against scientific findings? I now believe the latter.

The question of how long the Earth has existed is not a core component of the Christian faith. It may be an interesting topic to discuss, but it is a distraction from the primary message of Christianity, which is controversial enough: the belief that Jesus Christ lived on Earth, died for our sins, and was raised from the dead.

While I often strongly oppose Christians with a tendency towards fundamentalism on my blog, in this case, I think people who hold these beliefs have arrived at their conclusion from a well-intentioned place. I think they believe in God and want to take His word seriously, which I agree with wholeheartedly. Their mistake, in my opinion, is not in taking the Bible too seriously, but in not taking the Bible seriously enough.

Many people who believe in Young Earth Creationism read Genesis 1 from our modern American perspective – but we should remember that while the Bible was written for us, it was not written to us. Genesis was written to an ancient audience who would not approach the text from our post-enlightenment perspective, expecting it to answer scientific questions like “How did things come into existence?” and “Exactly how long did it take?” Ancient readers would have approached the story with more philosophical questions, like “Who created all of this?” and “For what purpose?” By applying our own lens to the reading of Scripture, we miss out on how vast God is – because if God exists, He spans all of time and all cultures and He is much bigger than our singular perspectives (you can learn more on this here).

Additionally, the Bible says in Psalm 19 that “The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” If we take the Bible seriously, we should consider and explore the world that God has created for us, not as a threat to our belief system, but as an opportunity to learn more about our Creator and His ways.

Furthermore, Christians believe that Jesus will one day return to judge and redeem all of creation. When discussing His return, Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon!” But it has been over 2,000 years since Jesus first walked the Earth. If the world has only been in existence for 6,000 years, and Jesus said He would return “soon” more than 2,000 years ago, does that mean that He was lying? I don't think so. Because "soon" is a relative term, I think it's possible that Jesus is coming soon compared to the length of time that Creation has been in existence.

But now I’d like to switch gears and address people who do not follow the Christian faith tradition. If you had to paraphrase the Biblical creation story – the idea that in the beginning there was only God (nothing else), and when He spoke everything was created – how would you describe that in other words? Might you say that it sounds like a Big Bang? Perhaps the origin stories we have accepted are not as different as we like to assume.

And if you tend to discredit Christianity because you believe science proves that miracles aren’t real, then what do you say to a doctor who sits at the bedside of a terminally ill patient who has suddenly been healed in a way that he or she cannot explain? When the doctor says, “I have no scientific explanation for what just occurred…” does that remind you that even science has its limitations? When we use science to better understand what is typically possible in our world, we are less likely to be fooled by people claiming false miracles -- and we are more able to recognize a miracle when one truly does occur.

Lastly, science is inherently limited because it relies on testing observable realities. Whether or not spiritual or supernatural realities exist, for example, is not a scientific question because most people do not observe such things. But despite our reliance on scientific knowledge, we all know that certain things exist that we cannot see, taste, or touch. Have you ever been in love, for example? How would you empirically validate ‘love’? If you have ever felt fear or hatred, or been moved by witnessing something beautiful, then you know that there is more to life than what we can measure by our physical senses.

And lastly, another limitation of science is that it can prove that something exists - but it cannot prove that something does not exist. So ultimately, science cannot prove whether or not there is a God because that is outside the realm of its expertise.

In conclusion, if you are reading this, I want to encourage you to reject our natural tendency towards binary thinking. I hope you will consider that we don’t need to choose between science or Christianity, but instead we can embrace the truth that both science and Christianity can reveal. We can look to science for what it teaches us about the world around us, and therefore our Creator Himself – and we can look to our Christian faith and marvel at His character and love for us.

And if this still feels like a contradiction, I hope you will think again about the example of Victor Glover, who himself may seem like a walking contradiction to many people. As a Christian and a scientist — a black man, and the pilot of a spaceship – Victor Glover shatters many of the stereotypes that we as flawed and finite humans can be inclined to hold. And yet he led one of the most remarkable space voyages of a generation and used the opportunity to give thanks and praise to God.

When I started this post, I shared a few of the reasons that people were inspired by the Artemis II mission, but there was one more reason that it was moving to me that I have not shared yet. My son, who is almost three, watched the Artemis landing with me. He saw Victor Glover safely and successfully pilot the mission back to Earth and he said that he wanted to do that someday, too. May we all have humble and childlike faith, like my son - to look at astronauts like Victor Glover and see our own potential. May he remind us not simply what we are capable of accomplishing, but what we are capable of becoming - people who are informed by science but led by a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ.

This One's For the Girls

I was single for most of my 20s, which means that for many years, I attempted to tackle tasks that I otherwise would have delegated to a boyfriend or husband. One memory that stands out to me was when I thought about trying to install a closet door on my own. Home Depot had a handy “how-to” video on their website, and when I clicked on it, I was surprised to see a blonde woman who looked a bit like me demonstrating the installation. My first thought was, “Wait a second, if she can do it - maybe I can too?”

Obviously, there is more to accomplishing a task than just believing you can do it. Often, we need skills, education, training, access, or connections to help us reach our most lofty goals. But that doesn’t mean we should overlook the importance of that critical first step of believing you can do something, because you saw someone who looks like you do it first.

Despite my intro, this blog post isn’t primarily about representation. I am sure there are many great resources out there that can explain the importance of representation better than I can. This blog post is in response to a worrying perspective on the role of women that I have noticed in American evangelicalism, as articulated by Christian fundamentalists and Christian nationalists. These beliefs are not new, but they primarily existed on the fringes of American society among pastors like Doug Wilson until recently, when they were amplified by Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

Before I jump right in, I want to provide a few definitions. If you are not deep in the weeds of Christian circles, you may not be familiar with debates about complementarianism vs. egalitarianism so allow me to briefly explain. Essentially, complementarians believe that men and women have equal worth before God but play different roles that complement each other, specifically in the church and in the home. Egalitarians, on the other hand, believe that men and women are of equal worth before God and that as a result, they can and should be allowed to serve in the same ways. The egalitarian view doesn’t need much explaining, but since it may be less familiar, I am going to do my best to explain the complementarian view.

But first, it is worth mentioning that a person’s view on this issue does not determine whether or not they are a Christian. A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus Christ is God and that He lived on Earth, died for their sins, and resurrected from the dead (a more thorough historical definition of what Christians believe is outlined here). I believe that Christians can hold different opinions on this issue in good faith, since it is not an essential component of our faith.

I have shared previously that my church seeks to apply a complementarian view in its policy on church leadership (you can find that in the second half of this blog post). As it relates to marriage and family, the complementarian view is best articulated in Ephesians 5:22-33, which essentially says that we all ought to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, wives ought to submit to their husbands, and husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies and lay down their lives for them. This view of marriage is described as a great mystery that is meant to reflect the relationship between Jesus and His church. The church, sometimes described as the bride of Christ, submits to Jesus - and Jesus lays His life down for the church.

When the verses are read on the surface, it is worth noticing that the wife’s calling is actually less burdensome than the husband’s. Obviously, it is easier to submit to someone than it is to lay down your life for them - and the thought of submitting to someone who loves you enough to lay down their life for you is not threatening. The problem that we often see, though, is that these words have often been taken out of context and distorted (at best) or used to justify mistreatment and abuse (at worst).

Too often, women are told to submit to abusive husbands or any and every man. In many cases, men are not taught to lay down their lives and desires for their wives at all. Like everything else in this world, sin has corrupted this view of family that God created to be both beautiful and mysterious - but the fact that sin has distorted a good thing does not make the good thing bad.

I also want to pause and mention that this is one of the reasons that the person you marry is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. I was on a date once when a man started explaining who I should and should not feel obligated to submit to. A few things occurred to me in that moment: 1) I know this already, because I have read the Bible for myself and 2) perhaps someone who feels the need to clarify submission on a second date is not the kind of partner I would enjoy spending my life with. Thankfully, God led me to a likeminded husband. Jon has never directly asked me to submit to him, but if he asked, I would – because I know that he loves me and would lay down his life for me.

With all of that said – the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism has an extensive history and it is not something I intend to resolve in a blog post. There is, however, another perspective that has become increasingly popular lately that I would like to address: a view that has been espoused by fundamentalists like Doug Wilson.

Fundamentalists, like the Pharisees described in the Bible, start with God’s good plan for us and take it too far, and then try to codify their man-made restrictions into law. While many of Doug Wilson’s views are problematic, his views on women’s rights are particularly noteworthy. He believes each household should be granted one vote, that can only be cast by the male head of the household- essentially disenfranchising all women. He speaks of women in reductionistic and condescending ways, such as: “women are the kind of people that people come out of.” He seems to place the full responsibility of home maintenance and childrearing on women when he calls us the “chief executive of the home.” He describes sex within marriage in ways that are shocking and potentially abusive (I am not even comfortable sharing his quote in my blog so I am linking to an article if you want to learn more). Furthermore, as a self-described Christian nationalist, he is not content to promote his extreme views within his own church - he aspires to make his views legally enforceable.

Forgive me if I make this a bit personal – but Doug Wilson would really have a problem with a woman like me.

It seems that Doug Wilson would have an issue not just with my views, but with my decision to share them publicly. On my blog, I have repeatedly encouraged people to believe in God, trust Him, and follow Him, but the way we put that into practice looks quite different. He believes that the Gospel is strengthened by political power; I believe the opposite. He would have an issue with my views on race, the importance of loving our neighbors in a pluralistic society, and the fact that I often take hard and unpopular stances (without asking my husband’s permission! *gasp*) when I feel like God is calling me to speak up.

But like I said before – representation matters. Do you really expect a woman like me, who grew up watching Legally Blonde, to think that my voice can’t make a difference? Or on a more serious note, do you really expect me to read the Bible and believe that the only way God uses women in His redemptive plan is through childbirth? You expect me to read about Esther, who appealed to the King and saved her people from genocide and think that God just wants women to sit at home in silence? Or you think I’m going to read about the midwives in Exodus who risked their lives defying Pharoah to save Moses’s life and think that women are just supposed to do whatever men tell them to do? Ha! That’s a good one.

So to the women reading this who have had to bear the brunt of distorted theology like this – I want you to hear me when I say this: God did not give you a body but not a voice. He did not create you to be a lesser, second-tier member of society. And anyone who tries to tell you otherwise – whether it’s your soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend or Doug Wilson or the Secretary of War himself - can take it up with the God who created you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made - and I hope that your soul knows that very well (Psalm 139:14).

To close, I’m going to say that again because I want to make sure you hear it. God did not give you a body but not a voice. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and I hope your soul knows that very well.

2026 is the new 2016?

When I first saw posts on Instagram announcing that 2026 was the new 2016, I wondered if it was some kind of strange joke. Of all of the years of my life, I would be least inclined to return to that one. I thought briefly about following the trend and posting my highlight reel from 2016, but I realized that my smiling photos from that year told a story that was incomplete, if not entirely misleading.

The truth is that 2016 was the most challenging and confusing year of my life. I remember feeling like I was wandering aimlessly through the year at times, trying to navigate pain that was both spiritual and emotional. I started seeing a Christian counselor at that time, which was extremely helpful and something I would highly recommend. With the benefit of hindsight, I recognize that 2016 was a pivotal year in my life, and it was a pivotal year for our country as well.

If you haven’t already picked up on this, our family has a funny obsession with watching Super Bowl halftime shows, so the best way I can illustrate how much has changed in our country over the last ten years is by encouraging you to watch the halftime show from 2016.

During Super Bowl 50, Coldplay headlined the halftime show and they kicked off the performance with Viva la Vida, Paradise, and Adventure of a Lifetime. Bruno Mars joined soon after to play Uptown Funk before cutting to Beyonce, who performed her new song, Formation. After a dance-off between Bruno Mars and Beyonce, the show closed with a montage of past halftime show performances while Coldplay performed Fix You and Up & Up, and the words “Believe in Love” flashed over the audience.

When the show started, we thought it was positive, fun, and lighthearted. When Bruno Mars performed, he added energy and entertainment value with a dance that paid tribute to MC Hammer. Beyonce brought depth and symbolism to the show by performing Formation, a song primarily about black female empowerment, while her backup dancers wore outfits inspired by the Black Panthers. Then, Coldplay came back out to close the show and we watched tens of thousands of people sing about unity under a banner of love. As I watched the closing song, I was surprised to find myself getting emotional until I looked over and saw that the show was having a similar impact on my husband.

When we discussed why we had been so moved by the performance, we realized that it had impacted us for different reasons. As he reflected on February of 2016, Jon felt that it was a much better time in our country. This was – if you can remember back that far – before Trump’s first presidency. Things were not perfect, by any means, but it was a time when vitriol, division, and racism existed but were not promoted and amplified by the most powerful voice in the world. While watching the show reminded him of a better time, the darkness of the decade that followed showed him that popular culture can give us glimpses of love, beauty, and unity – but they will inevitably fail because they aren’t rooted in God – who is the ultimate source of all goodness.

From my perspective, the show was moving because it gave us a glimpse into God’s common grace for all humanity. I believe that because attributes of God, like love, beauty, and unity were displayed on such a large stage, the performance had the potential to point people to the true source of all good things, which is God Himself. But as I thought back over the decade that followed, I realized that Jon was right. When separated from their source, even good things can only get us so far. If you’re old enough to read this you probably remember what I am about to explain, but stay with me as I recap the decade that followed (I am linking to blog posts in case you are interested in reading how I felt about these incidents as they transpired).

As 2016 unfolded, we saw racial divisions intensify after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police, and soon after Colin Kaepernick began protesting police brutality. The lead up to the 2016 presidential election was ugly, and it included the release of an audio tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women. Despite the recording and numerous accusations of sexual assault from women, he was elected. As president, his polarizing approach affected our national discourse, and led to an increase in bitterness, dishonesty, and division. The next year, the #MeToo movement went viral, prompting victims of sexual violence to share their stories. We also saw racism on clear display in Charlottesville, and rather than providing a full-throated rebuke, President Trump responded by saying that there were “very fine people” on both sides, a quote which emboldened people who held these dangerous sentiments.

A few years later, the coronavirus pandemic disrupted everything, and many of us were at home on our phones when videos of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd began to circulate. We watched violence and racism play out right before our eyes, and millions around the world grieved – but Trump seemed largely unbothered until the collective anger boiled over and resulted in property damage. At that point, he threatened those who took to the streets with a dark and ominous threat, by saying, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” After all of that, he was voted out of office - but rather than accept that reality, he continued peddling lies that culminated in his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Surely, that would be the final straw, I hoped. But it wasn’t. Even after all of that, he was re-elected and given the most powerful office in the world again in 2024.

If you didn’t live through this experience, you might be tempted to ask- where was the church in all of this? When a man who publicly exhibited nearly all of the seven deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and laziness) came to power, did the church fight tooth and nail to oppose him? When he promised Christians power while he demonstrated cruelty, did Christians speak up? I can’t speak for everyone, but as a white Christian, I can confidently say that overwhelmingly, my demographic did not. In fact, many of us celebrated and championed his rise – and we made his success possible by being one of his most reliable voting blocks.

I understand that some Christians followed their consciences sincerely and reluctantly voted for Trump. I would never disparage someone for following their conscience as God leads, and that is not the kind of voter I am referencing. But there were many others who eagerly embraced Trump, welcomed, and supported him as if he were a defender of our faith, and I believe they have done great damage to our Christian witness in front of the watching world. This contradiction has caused me to wonder – have white Christians become so distracted with trying to figure out “who" the anti-Christ is that we are not able to recognize behavior that is anti-Christ?

Since the beginning of his second term, Trump's character has not changed, though he has shown even less restraint than before. His most notable campaign promises — lower grocery store prices, lower gas prices, no new wars — remain unfulfilled. Our economy is struggling and millions of Americans are bearing the burden. But as a Christian, the damage to our economy doesn’t concern me nearly as much as the harm that has been done to our witness for the Gospel and the pain that has been inflicted on people around the world.

So as we think back on the decade between 2016 and 2026, I want to ask you this: We have been dealing with this for 10 years now. After seeing Trump’s well-documented pattern of behavior, is this still a person you are willing to support? Is this the kind of man that we will allow to represent us, our faith, and our values? Because as you may know, our country is approaching a significant milestone.

This fourth of July, we will celebrate 250 years as the United States of America and our name feels especially ironic right now because we aren't united at all. A brief review of American history reminds us that we have never been fully united, but there have been times when we worked toward the goal of becoming a more perfect union. I believe this upcoming milestone is a great opportunity for us to reflect and prepare to embark on the hard road toward unity once again.

So if you’re reading this, I want to encourage you to do one of two things, or maybe both. If you find that you have made idols of political leaders and sought political power over the power of the Gospel, I humbly encourage you to repent. And if you find yourself craving more love, beauty, and unity, I encourage you to seek them at their source. I truly believe that God is the source of every good and perfect thing, and any effort to find goodness outside of Him will ultimately fall short.

If you want to see this kind of change in our country, don’t wait until our president changes to expect something new. There is a popular expression that says that you should be the change you wish to see in the world, and what better week to make this change than Easter?

Though the world feels dark right now, Easter reminds us that there was another, much darker time in human history when all hope seemed lost. When Jesus was crucified, the light of the entire world died. What could be more hopeless than that? But the grave was not strong enough to hold Him – and three days later the power of God brought Him back to life. As we celebrate Easter, we remember that there is truly no such thing as hopeless for those who are in Christ.

So rejoice! Our current reality is not all that exists. The grave is empty. He has risen! Nothing will ever truly be hopeless again.

My Thoughts on the Super Bowl Halftime Show. No, Not That One.

As many of you know, my husband is a football scout so we have had the privilege of attending the last few Super Bowls in person. Yesterday, we watched the Super Bowl from home and – as you might expect – it is a completely different experience. While the game was a bit anticlimactic, we enjoyed the commercials and the halftime show, both of which are clearly made-for-tv experiences.

If you’re reading this, you probably also know that I am a white Christian, and I have grown accustomed to hearing some white Christians express frustration over the years that Super Bowl halftime shows are not consistent with their values. This was the first year, though, that frustration seemed to boil over after Bad Bunny was selected to perform. Some said they were upset because he isn’t a US citizen (even though he is), he sings primarily in Spanish, and/or he opposes immigration tactics used by ICE. Some people, like far-right activist Laura Loomer, were upset for reasons that were purely racist and xenophobic (she said the show “wasn’t white enough,” and that “immigrants ruin everything”).

In response to Bad Bunny’s selection as the headliner, Turning Point USA announced that they would host an alternate “All-American Halftime Show” that would focus on faith, family, and freedom. After the Super Bowl, I looked up the Turning Point halftime show and saw that their setlist included the following songs:

Real American and Dirt Road Anthem by Brantley Gilbert

I Hope and The Good Ones by Gabby Barrett

Drinkin’ Class, Country Nowadays, and Hard to Love by Lee Brice

Bawitdaba, Til You Can’t by Kid Rock

Here is a brief overview of the themes presented in the show, in case you did not watch it.

Brantley Gilbert’s message seemed to be that “real Americans” proudly display the American flag and enjoy chillin’ on a dirt road. Gabby Barrett’s song I Hope is told from the perspective of a slighted ex and focuses on a desire for retribution, with lyrics like, “I hope you both know she’s the one by the end of the night… and then I hope she cheats. Like you did on me.” The Good Ones describes her romantic partner as having a Bible by his bed and being proud of where he’s from. Lee Brice sung about belonging to the “drinking class,” about how people call him a “right-wing devil because [he] was down South Jesus raised,” and how he can be “hard to love.” Kid Rock performed last. He opened with Bawitdaba, a song with several problematic verses, and ended with a surprisingly touching tribute as he sang a cover of Cody Johnson’s ‘Til You Can’t.

If you’re not familiar, the song ‘Til You Can’t describes the way we often feel like we have all the time we want to do important things until it’s too late. He says you can tell your parents that you love them, you can go fishing anytime you want, and you can put off proposing to the person you love… until you can’t. Then, Kid Rock shared a personal story about how something woke him up early one morning and inspired him to add an additional verse to the song, with the following lyrics:

There’s a book that’s sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off There’s a man that died for all our sins hanging from the cross. You can give your life to Jesus and He’ll give you a second chance. ‘Til you can’t, ‘til you can’t.

I have to admit; it was a moving and surprisingly poignant reflection.

A number of posts on social media have that highlighted the hypocrisy of choosing Kid Rock to headline a show that is supposed to be focused on faith and family, since he has a history of making music and acting in ways that contrast with Christian values. While I understand that reaction, I think it is the wrong take. The entire premise of the Christian faith is that repentance and redemption are possible for anyone, with no exceptions. Past sin from people who claim to follow Christ should not surprise us, since we are all sinners before we experience Jesus. There is, however, a danger that is less discussed with this kind of messaging that I think we need to keep in mind.

It is very possible that a country music fan might have tuned into this show and felt genuinely moved by Kid Rock’s presentation of Jesus. But which Jesus did this show encourage them to follow? After watching the entirety of the show, who was on display? Were they introduced to Jesus of Nazareth or the “Jesus” of America? When songs about drinking and revenge are performed as enthusiastically as a message of salvation, what does that communicate about our faith? The experience brought a famous quote by abolitionist Frederick Douglass to mind: “between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference.”

I grew up listening to country music and I still enjoy many country songs. There is nothing wrong with liking a certain kind of music and of course, what you choose to listen to is your prerogative. There is, however, a dangerous trend in our country of blending faith and politics in a way that presents people with a false view of Jesus, and I believe Turning Point’s halftime show did just that. When a political organization hosts a performance that claims to center faith and family values, and then features songs that go against the teachings of Jesus, the stakes are much higher than the next election. I believe this show presented viewers with a false impression of who Jesus is and what He cares about. And this is serious, because when we introduce people to a false god, eternal souls hang in the balance.

So if this blog post ever comes across the desk of someone at Turning Point USA, I want to share a humble plea. Take Kid Rock’s advice and open your Bible (as I’m sure you often do). Read the words of Jesus again – even the ones that challenge your political narrative. A genuine reading of Scripture shows us that the Jesus we encounter in the Bible does not fit neatly into the political boxes we have created in this country. So what agenda do you want to be known for? Are you more interested in fundraising or saving souls? Because Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money.” Are you more interested in partisan political engagement or clearly and faithfully introducing people to Jesus? You can’t do both simultaneously.

The gist of my concerns with Turning Point boils down to this: presenting our faith as inherently linked to a political party is idolatrous. Furthermore, doing so without disavowing racism and xenophobia that have become increasingly prominent within the movement is anti-Christ. So if you are reading this and you have any say in the direction the Turning Point ship is heading, I ask you, humbly, to repent and help turn the ship around. And if you can’t, I hope you will disembark and head back to a more faithful following of Jesus.

In closing, I am not arguing that Bad Bunny was a more Christian halftime show. While I enjoyed the show, there were some elements that didn’t align with my faith and values. But here’s the thing. Two halftime shows took place during the Super Bowl and neither of them represented Christian faith and values perfectly, but only one claimed to. And after the way Jesus was portrayed, I believe they took the Lord’s name in vain. God takes His name and His glory seriously, and as His followers, we should, too.

The Image of God

An author named Kaitlyn Schiess often says that instead of just telling people that something is right or wrong, Christians need to tell better stories. So while I thought about sharing a one-sentence response to recent news, instead, I’m going to start this story from the beginning.

We know that Christianity teaches us that in the beginning, God created everything that exists. The Bible outlines each item that God created and says that He simply spoke them into existence. But when God created humanity, He went about it a bit differently - He created us in His own image – the very image of God. And He didn’t just speak humans into existence, like He did for the light and the darkness, the water and the dry ground. The Bible tells us that He “breathed into [the man’s] nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

Unlike the rest of creation, God breathed life into the humans He created. He made us this way so that we would reflect His image to the world around us. This is why many Christians feel strongly about the sanctity of all human life. We derive our belief that human beings have inherent dignity and worth from the fact that a good and holy God created us in His image.

Because humans were created in the image of God, it is no small thing when a person treats another human being as less than human. Portraying another human being as an animal is not a joke – it is the actual definition of dehumanizing – and it is an affront to the God who created them.

If you’re reading this, you probably know by now that President Trump shared a video online (before deleting it without apology) in which the Obamas are depicted as apes. You probably also know that depicting black people in such a demeaning way is not new – that trope has been used both in this country and around the world to justify slavery and segregation, among other evils.

While it is appalling that a sitting president would post something like this, sadly, it is not surprising at all coming from this president. In fact, it is consistent with the character President Trump has demonstrated throughout his lifetime and on the national stage over the last decade. What surprises me is that many Christians continue to look the other way or laugh off these assaults on the dignity of others.

To be clear, I am not bothered by Trump’s post because I can’t take a joke. I am bothered by it because I am a Christian – and dehumanizing other people who are created in the image of God is not funny.

When we see messages like this shared by the most powerful person in our country, it can seem like racism and dehumanization has become normalized, there are no consequences for this kind of behavior, and there is no relief to come for those who are victimized by it. But since we started this blog post at the beginning of the story, I want to remind my readers that we’re currently only in the middle of the story – and I don’t think we spend nearly enough time talking about how the story ends.

Christians believe that in the end, Jesus will return to establish a new Heaven and a new Earth. When He comes back, the Bible tells us that Jesus will redeem and restore all things – He will wipe away every tear and make all things new. We believe that people who exhibit sinful behavior towards others will ultimately answer for their words and actions.

This is both encouraging and a little stressful, because I know that I will have to answer for my words and actions, too - and lately when I think about this president and his administration, I confess that I find myself dehumanizing them as well, in less obvious ways. Sometimes I allow myself to think that the people who do these things are incapable of goodness, as if they do not also bear the image of God. Other times I find myself wanting Trump and others in his administration to reap the consequences of the injustices they have done in God’s name more than I want them to experience God’s love and repentance – a belief that shows how limited my faith in God can truly be. These views are sinful, and I pray that God will continue softening my heart so I can experience and display more of His love.

Tonight I am reminded that we currently find ourselves somewhere between the beginning and end of the story, and as long as that is true, we will unfortunately experience sin, dehumanization, and brokenness on some level. In this messy middle phase of human history, I hope we will remember that God is good, He is just, and vengeance is His – not ours. I pray that God will give us the power to speak up for those who are disrespected and dehumanized, the humility to soften our hearts towards those we find hardest to love, and the strength to live faithfully in this broken world. We can’t do it without Him.

Unidentified masked men descend on people with guns drawn

In the name of law and order, they say

A woman is shot and killed and her family is investigated, but the man who shot her is not

In the name of accountability, they say

A protestor is shot while surrounded by ICE agents and labeled a domestic terrorist before all the facts have come out

In the name of justice, they say

Many of you believe that reasonable immigration laws should be enforced and violent criminals should be deported. So do I. But ICE’s increasingly violent tactics, and their practically unchecked support from this presidential administration, are unjust.

When the most powerful people in America respond by reflexively blaming the dead, claiming that ICE has “absolutely immunity,” or (on the other hand), saying that ICE needs to “get the f— out,” we can expect only more violence, chaos and division. In times like these, we need leaders who lower the temperature — people who call for transparency and justice, whether it aligns with their partisan narrative or not. So why don’t we elect people like that?

Because we live in a democracy, I believe that our leaders are a reflection of us. They reflect our values and what we are willing to tolerate as a society. But in reality, our leaders do more than reflect us; over time, our leaders also shape us. The voices you listen to will shape the way you view the world and the way you view your neighbor. Ultimately, they will shape the person you become.

So if you hate violence, then hate violence— even when it comes from people with a badge. If you hate lawlessness, hate lawlessness— even when it’s done at the hands of government officials. If you like to say “don’t tread on me,” then keep that same energy and don’t let the government tread on your neighbor. And remember that protesting injustice because you believe your country should strive to live up to the noble ideals it was founded on is one of the most patriotic and American things you can do.

At the same time— how we respond to injustice matters. We can’t allow ourselves to react in ways that detract from the purpose of our protest. We should engage with the intention to persuade; not in a way that causes those who disagree with us to feel more justified in their position. I believe that our current generation of activists could learn so much from the history of the Civil Rights Movement in this country— their commitment to God and His justice, their strategy and careful planning, and their willingness to sacrifice for the greater good (you can learn more here.)

As a closing thought, whether you consider yourself a Christian or not, I want to encourage you to read Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Is your political engagement causing you to sound more like Jesus, or more like partisans on your side of the political aisle?

If there is only one verse in the Sermon on the Mount that you take away, I hope it is this: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

This is my prayer tonight, for all of us:

May we seek peace. May we love peace. May we, through the power of God, create more peace in our world— on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Jesus and the Patriarchy

Let’s dive right in today and talk about the patriarchy. Many people reject Christianity because they believe that the Bible has been used to accumulate power for men while depriving women of opportunities, both in the church and in society at large. I am sympathetic to that concern because many Christian cultures and subcultures have oppressed women throughout history, and some actively continue to do so. Because the Christian faith centers on Jesus Christ, I am going to start by sharing three stories of Jesus interacting with women in the Bible to give you a sense of how Jesus views us.

The first story I want to highlight is Jesus’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. It is worth noting that this is the longest recorded conversation that Jesus has with anyone in the Bible. Jesus was Jewish, and at the time Jews and Samaritans rarely interacted because they had deep-seeded historical, religious, and ethnic conflicts. Additionally, this woman was an outcast even among her own people because she didn’t fall in line with her culture's sexual ethic. According to their cultural norms, Jesus shouldn’t have spoken to her because it was not considered appropriate for a man and a woman who weren’t married to have a private conversation. But Jesus wasn’t concerned about social norms or expectations, He was concerned about her.

I want to pause and ask Christian readers to consider what they think would happen if someone like this entered their church – someone from a different culture or ethnic group with a public pattern of sexual sin. Would a woman like this be loved and welcomed by members of your church? If we are following the example of Christ, I hope so.

Jesus didn’t just look at this woman, He saw her. He knew that she was drawn to the well by her physical need for water but He also recognized that it was reflective of her deeper spiritual need. Jesus told her that “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus told her that He was the Savior that she had been expecting. She was the first person that He let in on that secret. After their interaction, she went back to Samaria and told people what had happened, and many left in search of Him.

The next woman I want to highlight is described in Luke 7 as “a woman who had lived a sinful life.” Many scholars assume that she was a prostitute, though that is not clear in the text. Jesus was eating dinner at the house of a religious leader named Simon when she walked in with an expensive jar of perfume. She broke down crying in front of Jesus, wept at His feet, wiped her tears with her hair, and anointed Him with the perfume. This is hard to understand from our current context, but this was a deeply symbolic event as it demonstrated that Jesus was the Savior and foreshadowed that He would die and be buried.

Despite understanding the Scriptures and the cultural significance of what this woman did, Simon responded with judgment. He said, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered, “Simon, I have something to tell you. Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii (about two years’ worth of wages), and the other fifty (about one day’s worth of wages). Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

Whether or not we call it “sin,” many of us recognize that we have a tendency to do things that we regret, even when we know better. Maybe you notice it when you argue with your spouse, react harshly to your kids, or snap at a coworker. Often, the people who are most aware of their sinful tendencies react with feelings of shame - but shame is not from God. Based on the story of the sinful woman above, I want to suggest that those who feel the depths of their sin most acutely are actually closer to experiencing the love of God than others who are unaware of it. Recognizing the weight of our own sin is not an obstacle to knowing God, but rather the opposite. It is a reminder that if you turn towards God and confess your sin, you will not only be forgiven - you will have unique insight into just how deeply you are loved.

The final story I will share is my personal favorite, and it takes place in John 20 when Jesus revealed Himself in resurrected form for the first time to a woman named Mary Magdalene. Mary had gone to Jesus’s tomb to mourn and saw that it was empty, so she stood outside crying because she thought someone had taken Jesus's body. She was so distraught that she approached Jesus thinking He was a gardener and asked him where Jesus’s body had been moved. When Jesus said her name she suddenly realized that she was talking to the risen Savior.

The main reason that I love this story is because there was no reason for Jesus to appear to Mary first. Women were not considered highly credible at the time, so most people would not have believed her if she told them that Jesus had risen from the dead (and in fact, they didn’t). But Mary was grieving and Jesus wanted her to know that there was hope because He was alive.

Jesus’s interactions with these three women show the incredibly high regard that Jesus has for women. He goes out of His way to affirm our dignity and show us respect in ways that society often refuses. What’s more, we are given a beautiful picture of just how deeply Jesus loves all people through these three stories.

Before I close, let's circle back to the patriarchy and how the Bible calls Christians to live both in society and in the church.

As it relates to society, it is worth acknowledging that Jesus could have turned the patriarchy on its head. Jesus could have given us a list of rules for organizing our societies that would have challenged the systems and structures we live by, but He didn't come primarily to reorganize Rome (or America, for that matter). Jesus came to give us access to a new and better Kingdom that is eternal - where the injustice and inequality that we face in this life will feel like a distant memory. As we live out our faith, I believe that Christians can and should draw attention to the way our institutions and governments often fail to honor the inherent dignity that all people possess, while keeping in mind that we will never feel completely at home here on this Earth because it is not our ultimate home.

As for how we should operate in the church, the Bible provides some specific guidelines for churches and church leadership but I believe Christians can disagree on how those guidelines should be interpreted and applied. While there is a wide range of opinions on the topic, my church allows both men and women to be deacons, staff members, and volunteers, while only men can serve as elders and pastors (I want to acknowledge that this policy doesn't mention people who identify as non-binary or transgender. In an effort to keep this post focused I will save that topic for a future conversation).

When our church was planted about four years ago, our pastors partnered with others in our church planting network to develop this policy after spending time praying and studying Scripture. In their view, this policy reflects what the Bible teaches about church leadership within our current context. While I have devoted less time to the topic, I believe their conclusion aligns with Scripture as well. Personally, I don't think or worry much about this policy because it doesn't limit my ability to do or say what I believe God is calling me to do and say. However, I understand that women who feel called to preach and people who interpret the Bible differently may decide to serve in other churches or denominations.

If what I said in the previous paragraph didn't sit well with you, I want to invite you to consider a few questions. If there is a God - a holy, eternal, unchanging God who has existed for all of history - would you expect Him to agree with you on everything? Would you expect Him to align perfectly with all of the views that your society holds, in this specific time and place in the world? If we're being honest, I think the answer is no. It would be unreasonable for us to assume that an eternal God agrees with us on every contemporary issue.

Furthermore, if a God like that exists, and you find as you are reading the Bible that you disagree with Him on this issue or something else, who wins the argument? The answer to that question will tell you who is the Lord of your life.

I believe that the holy and eternal God described in the Bible really exists and that He is the Lord of my life. We sometimes disagree on what I think is best, but He has shown me over time that He is trustworthy and my frame of reference is limited.

On the other hand, there are some churches that seem to read Bible verses that appear to dismiss or demean women and apply them directly without context or critical thinking. If there is one thing I have appreciated hearing from Charlie Kirk supporters over the last few months, it is the importance of reading quotes that appear inflammatory in context.* If context matters when considering quotes from the last decade, understanding the context of the Biblical text is even more relevant since these texts were written almost 2,000 years ago to specific churches for specific purposes. I am not suggesting that we water down or ignore verses that we dislike or find inconvenient, but rather that we put genuine effort towards understanding Scripture within the context that it was written.

In closing, I hope you have found some element of what I have discussed here to be surprising, challenging, or encouraging. I hope you were surprised by Jesus's counter-cultural, unconditional love for women. I hope you were challenged by our call to affirm the dignity of every person, and encouraged to make an effort to apply the Biblical text in good faith. But ultimately, I hope you will see that the patriarchy is not the point - Jesus is. All of human history hinges on His life, death, and resurrection. The patriarchy simply points us to a larger story - that we are lost without Jesus, and like the women we heard from above, He continually goes out of His way to find us.

Salt and Light

I am not going to dive too deeply into the Biblical creation story, but generally speaking, Christians believe that God created the world and everything in it. The Bible says that God created light, land, vegetation, the sun, moon, and stars, animals, birds, and humans. Lately I have noticed that while many Christians believe that God created everything, we live as if God then divided His creation into two halves: the sacred, or that which is connected to God, and the secular, that which is separate from God. From my perspective, it seems like many Christians behave as if God has authority over our churches, Christian media, and Christian music, but not over the rest of the world.

The Bible tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life.” Additionally, Psalm 24:1, says, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” If you’ve been living in this world for any length of time you know that the world we live in is no longer perfect as God created it. Christians believe that sin entered the world and fractured the loving relationship that humans once had with God. Sin now affects every aspect of God’s creation, and we see examples of that brokenness every day.

As Christians we believe that because everyone has sinned, we all need Jesus. I’ve noticed that some Christians avoid spending time with people who don’t have a relationship with God because they don’t want anything to distract them from Him but I think that approach hinders our ability to live out our faith. We are called to love our neighbors and to be salt and light in the world. How can we do that if we are isolated from those who don’t know Him?

When we interact with people from different faiths and backgrounds, I believe we should be curious but uncompromising. We can do our best to follow Jesus’s example, since He spent much of His time with sinners but never sinned. When we engage with things that were created for secular purposes, we should do so knowing that we can learn from the perspectives of others without compromising on what we know to be true.

Let me give you an example. The show Ted Lasso came out a few years ago, and it was wildly popular. While there were many themes I would not endorse or promote, I also noticed that there were elements that seemed to reflect God’s common grace. Common grace is a theological concept that describes the idea that God’s kindness and blessings extend to all humanity, regardless of their faith perspective. I believe Ted Lasso was appealing to people because it showed a world that was desperate for kindness what it looks like in practice. I don’t think Ted Lasso was divinely inspired, but rather that God’s common grace allowed people to see His nature through the show, even if they didn’t recognize that what they were drawn to was a reflection of God’s character on display.

I personally saw the impact of Ted Lasso, because my dad watched it. He mentioned often how much he enjoyed the show, and there was a line about being “curious but not judgmental” that seemed to resonate with him deeply. I believe that God planted that idea like a seed in his heart and watered it over time. I have always had a close relationship with my dad, but the political discourse of the last decade caused us to experience more conflict than either of us would have liked at times. I believe that God used Ted Lasso, along with prayer, Bible study, and church attendance to help us relate better to each other and the world around us.

The point I am trying to make is that we know that the world is broken because of sin, but we should not look at it as if it is bifurcated (split into sacred and secular halves). We shouldn’t retreat into sacred spaces to protect our purity and leave the rest of the world to fend for itself. Here is a Biblical example to demonstrate my point.

In Acts 10, the apostle Peter was praying and he became hungry. He saw a vision of Heaven opening up and a large sheet came down to the Earth containing food that he was not allowed to eat according to Jewish law. He responded, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” This happened three times, with a voice from Heaven responding, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Peter’s vision was a metaphor for the way the Gospel was going to spread from the Jews to the Gentiles, and therefore, ultimately to all of us. But what would have happened if Peter had insisted on a more narrow vision of what is “God’s”? If Peter had held to the traditional view of what he “should” do, those of us who are not Jewish would have been denied the opportunity to know Jesus.

Personally, I have experienced God in sunsets, in my job at a public university, in conversations with people of various faiths and backgrounds, in rap songs (I’m not just talking about Lecrae), among many other places. My point is not that we should seek out secular spaces to find God, but that we should be curious about the way God can reveal Himself through everything that exists – because ultimately, it is all His. We should engage prayerfully and with discernment, asking God to help us learn from and about others while guarding our hearts to keep us from compromising our values.

In closing, if you have found yourself spending most of your time in Christian bubbles, enjoying the safety, peace, and like-mindedness you share with those around you, I want to say first that I understand that feeling. I lived almost exclusively in various Christian bubbles from junior high through college and God had an intentional purpose for me being in places like that at that time. However, I hope you will also be willing to entertain the idea that those spaces can lead us to have a much smaller view of God that I think we should. We serve a God that exists outside of time – He is not limited by geography or any of the constraints that humans experience. When we spend most of our time with people like us, it can be easy to think that God reflects our image rather than the other way around.

If we think that our holy and eternal God aligns perfectly with a political party in this particular time in this specific country, perhaps the God we are picturing in our heads is too small. If the God we imagine has nothing to say about real atrocities, like the suffering of people in Gaza or the murder of Christians around the world, then perhaps our vision of God is not reflective of the One True God. The best way to develop a bigger vision of God is to set aside the narrow lens of our own life experience and learn to see Him more clearly through the diverse and varied perspectives of all of His creation.

As you venture into the world, you will inevitably experience sin that you had not encountered in your Christian bubble. When that happens, I hope it will not cause you to recoil in fear, but rather to be encouraged that your God is even bigger and more powerful than the darkness. He told us that in this world we will have trouble. But take heart! He has overcome the world.

Faith in a Big God

When I lived in New York City, my roommate and I used to enjoy walking all over the city together. She would often ask, “Did you see that?” and proceed to describe a person’s funny outfit or strange antic and I never seemed to know what she was talking about. Finally, she jokingly asked, “Do you just walk around with your eyes closed??”

If I’m being honest, that is a good way to describe how I feel a lot of the time because I often miss things that seem obvious to the people around me. I’ll share a few funny examples.

While I lived in New York, part of my job was to work with volunteers who supported our small nonprofit. One day, a few of the volunteers invited me to their Spice Girls themed birthday party. I love themed parties, so I bought a hot pink dress, put my hair in Baby Spice pigtails, got my bubble coat (it was February after all), and took the subway to their apartment in Harlem. When I walked in, it was immediately obvious that everyone else understood that it was not a costume party. To postpone my embarrassment, I said I was cold and tried to avoid taking off my coat, but my hair style gave my costume away.

You would think I would have learned from that experience, but the next year I moved to Spain and a few months later I was invited to a Halloween party. I hadn’t yet learned that in Spain people almost exclusively dress up in scary and haunted costumes for Halloween, so I bought a bumble bee costume. As you can imagine, I was met with a similar reaction when I walked in. Although I had a sense of humor about it, I couldn’t help but wonder, why does this keep happening to me? Why do I keep missing things that seem so obvious to everyone else?

Rather than saying that I walk around with my eyes closed, I like to think that I walk around with my head in the clouds. I have little interest in small talk and I tend to be forgetful about the things that are right in front of me because I am often distracted by pondering deep topics or wondering what God might be doing in the world. I have spent most of my life trying to learn how the world works so I can apply my faith by trying to build a better, healthier, and more flourishing world for the glory of God and benefit of all of His creation. From junior high through college, I attended Christian schools where I was taught about a big God who can do more than we ask or imagine - and I took that personally. But when you believe in a God who can do anything, it can be disorienting when it seems like He is choosing not to.

I had an experience like that when I first moved to San Diego. Longtime readers already know the story, but almost a decade ago I prayed fervently for God to intervene in someone’s life (admittedly, for somewhat self-serving reasons). When it became clear that God was not intervening the way I wanted and according to my timeline, my faith, which had previously felt big and vibrant seemed diminished. I had only been asking God to intervene in one person’s life, after all—so the fact that He didn’t answer the way I wanted him to made me question God’s power and His goodness. The experience caused me to shrink my hope and faith in God so that I wouldn’t run the risk of being disappointed again. That feeling lingered for longer than I would have liked – years, in fact. I realize now that just because God didn’t answer my prayers the way I had hoped, doesn’t mean He didn’t answer at all.

When we pray, it is helpful for us to remind ourselves that God isn’t a slot machine or an ATM. God is more likely to say “yes” to prayers that are aligned with His will, and we can learn what His will is by reading the Bible. We should also remember that we sometimes think God is saying “no” when He is really saying “not yet.” We live in a culture of instant gratification and God often moves much more slowly than we may like.

Recently, and by the grace of God, I started to notice that my faith that God can do big things is back. My sense that God can and will do more than we can ask or imagine feels real and tangible again, and I didn’t realize how much I had missed feeling that deep sense of anticipation and hope. And yet…

When I look at the world around me, it is dark down here right now. SNAP benefits expired over the weekend, leaving 42 million Americas at an increased risk of food insecurity. A friend reached out last week and said that an ICE raid had gone through her neighborhood, instilling fear in her community. It feels like we are constantly confronted with violence and suffering, both in our country and around the world.

So in light of this, what do we do when God feels distant, apathetic to our pain, or powerless to stop it? What do we do when we relate with the disciples during the storm when they asked Jesus, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:35-41).

Here are a few things that I believe we should do when we feel the weight of our broken world and we find ourselves longing to see God move in big ways:

First: pray. Pray that you would see and experience the love of God and that He would help you keep your heart soft in this dark world. Pray not just for your own comfort, but for the ultimate good of your friends, your neighbors, and even your perceived enemies. Pray for God to move in situations that seem bleak or hopeless, and ask God to remind your heart that nothing and no one is ever really hopeless, since we serve a God who has overcome death itself.

Next: do the next right thing that God puts in front of you. It is easy to feel discouraged by large, systemic issues like the loss of food assistance, but don’t let the enormity of a problem keep you from doing something to help the people that God has placed in your life. If God puts hunger and food instability on your heart, ask Him for wisdom about how you can help feed your neighbors or others that He puts in your path. Do for one person what you wish you could do for all (I credit @SharonSaysSo for this concept).

And: keep believing in a big God who can intervene in big ways. God often works through small gestures, like loving conversations and acts of kindness, but He is capable of responding in big ways as well. Don’t let the darkness of the world diminish your faith in a limitless and all-powerful God. It may be dark right now, but it is always darkest before the dawn.

Few of us have studied history enough for us to recognize the times that God has intervened in our world in dramatic ways, but He has and I hope that He will again soon.

Throughout history and all over the world, God has initiated revivals, which are periods of unusual blessing for the church, typically beginning with repentance after a period of moral decline, and awakenings, broader cultural events in which God’s spirit leads large numbers of people to believe in Him, often leading to cultural or societal change. I believe that we desperately need both of those things right now - for the American church to repent of the ways that it has sought after power instead of Jesus at the expense of our neighbors, and for God to bring cultural change that puts His glory on display for the benefit of His whole creation.

When I think about the potential for God to move in such a dramatic way, the words of Habakkuk feel extremely relevant (Habakkuk 1:2-5):

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. The Lord’s Answer “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

The idea that God has intervened in our broken world before and that He will do so again is Good News. When Jesus came to Earth, He said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." If that is not the kind of Gospel that you are hearing in your church, you may want to reflect on that.

As I close, I want to come back to idea that I often walk around with my head in the clouds. Theologian and author CS Lewis once said, “If you read history, you will find that Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” That is the kind of legacy I would like to leave behind. I aspire to be the kind of woman who is so consumed by the glory of God that I am able to bring Heaven to Earth, in whatever way God decides to use me.

People who have followed my blog for a while know that I first hinted at my opposition to the death penalty almost a decade ago. Recently, a few current events have brought the death penalty back into the headlines, so I decided to do a deeper dive on the topic. This blog post is intended to share my personal and political belief that we should eliminate the death penalty, a view that is rooted in my Christian faith.

There are a few ways that I could build my case against the death penalty.

• I could appeal to your sense of justice, and argue that mistakes will inevitably made it would be worse for an innocent person to die than a guilty person to live.

• I could appeal to the widespread belief in government inefficiency, and say that if government is so prone to error, why should the state be allowed to decide who lives or dies?

• I could make a legal argument that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, which is forbidden by the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

• I could make a practical argument that the death penalty is ineffective, since there is no evidence to show that it deters crime.

• I could make an ethical argument like Civil Rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson in his book Just Mercy. In his book, Stevenson argues that the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit – but if we deserve to kill.

• I could ask you to consider the perspective of a victim’s mother, specifically Marietta Jaeger-Lane, whose daughter Susie was kidnapped and murdered. Marietta said: “Susie was a sweet, beautiful girl who deserved a more beautiful and noble memorial than a state-sanctioned cold-blooded killing.”

• While I don’t think this is an appropriate way to make decisions about human life, I could make a financial argument, since it costs more to kill someone than it does to keep them incarcerated for life.

• I could make a faith-based argument since our Christian faith teaches that human dignity starts from the very beginning and lasts until we draw our last breath.

But rather than diving into any of those arguments, I want to ask you to consider the life of the Apostle Paul. As we know, Paul (formerly known as Saul) was born into privilege through his Roman citizenship and Jewish heritage. He was well-educated and even became a Pharisee (teacher of the law) himself. Before he encountered the risen Jesus, he was known for his zeal for Judaism and his hatred of the early Christians. He believed that they were blaspheming God so he became one of the earliest and most passionate persecutors of the Church. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr, and he imprisoned and punished many Christians. Many of us would look at Paul’s life and think that he was irredeemable. But no one is irredeemable in the eyes of God.

In fact, after his dramatic encounter with the risen Savior, Paul dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel. He took several major missionary journeys, wrote letters that make up 13 books of the New Testament, continued to preach, teach and write while imprisoned and was likely martyred for his faith. God used the Apostle Paul to expand the reach of the Gospel dramatically and specifically to share the message of Jesus with those outside of the Jewish tradition. God used the Apostle Paul to spread the Gospel to people like me.

But what if his life had been cut short? What if the governing authorities at the time had decided that persecuting and calling for the death of Christians was so heinous that he should have to give up his own life? If Paul had been subjected to the death penalty, he would have missed the redemptive arc of his story and we all would have missed out on the incredible way that God can bring beauty from ashes.

I am against the death penalty because no one, as long as God continues to give them breath on this earth, is beyond the reach of a good, loving, and holy God. If he’s not finished with them, we shouldn’t be either.

Turning Point

This is the fourth post in a four-part series. Please read my earlier posts for context before reading this one.

I took this photo of Medgar and Myrlie Evers’s home when Jon and I visited Jackson, Mississippi in 2022.

While I typically share personal or theological reflections on my blog, this post is going to take a bit of a different format. Today I am going to share some historical context that I think will make it easier for us to understand our current political moment. I invite you to travel back in time with me to explore the story of a political activist in his thirties who was a husband and father to young children until his life ended too soon because he was assassinated. The man I am referring to is named Medgar Evers.

If you are like me, you probably learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in school, but you may not be as familiar with Medgar Evers. Medgar Evers was an American Civil Rights activist who was born in Mississippi. As a young man, he served in the US Army during World War II on the beaches of Normandy. After the war he returned to Mississippi and started selling life insurance. Once he was back home, he experienced racism and discrimination that he hadn’t faced in Europe while fighting for the American ideals of freedom from tyranny. The cruel irony bothered him, so he fought for change by becoming the first field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Mississippi (NAACP).

In his role at the NAACP, Medgar Evers investigated racially motivated hate crimes, led voter registration drives, organized boycotts and worked to integrate schools. His position made him highly visible and was therefore very dangerous because of the amount of hostility he encountered from the white community at the time.

In 1963, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi gave a 17-minute televised speech in which he said that Jackson didn’t have a race problem. At the time there was an FCC policy called the fairness doctrine that meant that broadcasters had to contrast opposing viewpoints on controversial issues of public importance, so Medgar Evers was granted the same amount of time to share his perspective. In his speech, he pointed out that “there is not a single black police officer, school crossing guard, fireman, clerk, stenographer, or supervisor employed in any city department or in the mayor’s office in other than menial capacities except those who worked at segregated facilities.” He believed “that Jackson can change if it wills to do so. But whether Jackson and the state choose change or not, the years of change are upon us. History has reached a turning point.”

He was right—history had reached a turning point. His speech was met with intense backlash from many of his fellow residents, and less than one month after delivering that historic speech, he was shot to death in his driveway. His final words were: “Sit me up. Turn me loose.” His death, combined with that rallying cry, was a catalyst for change and it was one of the factors that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act the following year. The Civil Rights Act was a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in public spaces, provided for the integration of schools, and made employment discrimination illegal.

When we learn history, it can be easy for some of us to disconnect from the significance of what we are learning, so let me make this more personal. Men like Medgar Evers died so that men like my husband can work jobs that they have earned, marry the women that they love, and raise their families. Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Jon and I wouldn’t have been able to drink from the same water fountain.

I also want to stress that while this story is a part of our history, it wasn’t that long ago. The year after Medgar Evers died, the man who shot him was tried for murder twice, but all-white juries couldn’t reach a verdict, so he went free. However, Medgar’s wife Myrlie kept seeking justice. She continued his legacy of activism and waited until a new judge had been assigned to the county. Thirty years later, in 1994, his murderer was tried for a third time and finally found guilty. We often think that stories like these are ancient history but 1994 is in my lifetime. In fact, you can still go to Jackson and visit Medgar and Myrlie Evers home and see the driveway where he was killed. You could even still reach out to his wife Myrlie Evers if you wanted to – she is still alive.

The reason this context is relevant today is because in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, I have seen a significant number of white Christians on social media posting that he was somewhat of a martyr for the Christian faith or at least a great representative of our faith and values. People who hold this perspective seem to feel that his views on race have been taken out of context and used to distort his legacy. What I am hoping you will see is this: in the later part of his life, Charlie Kirk became more outspoken on racial issues, including his view that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a mistake. His opposition to the Civil Rights Act was something he acknowledged publicly and said he had thought a lot about, not simply a soundbite taken out of context.

As I stated earlier, 1964 was a pivotal turning point for our country, and many are saying that we stand at another turning point in our history now. If we do not learn black history, which is really just our collective American history, we stand to miss both the significance of this cultural moment and where we stand in relation to it. We know that those who fail to learn history are likely to repeat it, so it is important for us to truly understand what we are at risk of repeating.

If you are interested in learning more, a new documentary about Medgar Evers was released recently on PBS called Everlasting: Life & Legacy of Medgar Evers.

Prove Me Wrong

If you are coming across my blog for the first time, please read my last two posts (The Murder of Charlie Kirk and The Legacy of Charlie Kirk) before starting this one.

How did you feel when you clicked on the link to read this article? Did you feel your defenses come up? Did you feel your shoulders get tight or your breathing change as you anticipated a clash between your opinion and mine? Did you feel calm and open to receiving a new perspective or ready to vigorously defend your point of view?

To learn, grow, and change your mind requires humility. But when confronted, most people aren’t postured in such a way where they can receive new information. Asking someone to prove you wrong can physiologically cause your opponent to close off, rather than allowing them to open up. It works against your goal if, in fact, your goal is to persuade.

Most people on the internet are not actually trying to persuade others. Most are, as Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox recently noted, “conflict entrepreneurs.” Originally credited to journalist Amanda Ripley, I think this term is a concise way to describe people that Romans 16:17-18 warned us about: “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites...” This phenomenon is rampant in our current political environment and it is amplified by the way most of us consume media because short clips full of “gotcha” moments go viral much more quickly than thoughtful, engaging content that seeks to understand and persuade.

In fact, you may have noticed from your personal experience on social media that when you are challenged, you tend to dig in on the opinion you already held rather than considering new information and changing your mind. Confronting people who hold a different perspective without first establishing a relationship with them usually doesn’t work.

I chose “Prove Me Wrong” as the title of this blog post in reference to the debate series that Charlie Kirk created, where he challenged students to debate him on political and cultural issues. It’s a bold title, and one that seemed intended to cause a reaction. But is that communication style persuasive and effective, or just provocative?

I am asking you to consider two things: 1) rather than being confrontational, we should follow Jesus’s example for how to engage with the world around us and 2) debating with others is typically not an effective way to change their heart or mind.

Of course, there were times in the Bible when Jesus said things that were harsh or confrontational, but the general posture of His life and ministry was of humility and kindness. Jesus cared for the sick and the suffering, the sinners and the outcasts, the weak and the vulnerable, His followers and His enemies. He used harsh words sparingly and reserved them mostly for the hypocrisy of religious leaders, people who sought Him with impure motives, and His followers when they misunderstood what He was called to do. As followers of Christ, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20), so we would do well to follow Jesus’s example and display grace and kindness more frequently than conflict and resentment.

In order to do this well, I believe it is helpful to distinguish between our identity and our identifiers. My deepest and most cherished identity is that I am a follower of Christ. There are several identifiers that also describe who I am: I am a wife, a mother, an American, a white woman, and I am currently more liberal than conservative. These identifiers are true about me, but they do not define me. It is much easier for us to engage productively in tough conversations on topics like race, politics, gender, and sexual orientation if we recognize that these identifiers do not define who we are on a core level. When we confuse our identity and our identifiers, our disagreements become both more personal and less productive. I believe that God calls us to recognize the difference between the two, and to keep them in the right order.

Theologian AW Tozer famously said: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” That is both provocative and worth considering. When you think of God, do you think of an angry old man who only loves you when you do what He wants? Or maybe you think of a passive God, who doesn’t care what happens to you? Now imagine that God is a warm and loving father who went to great lengths to show His love for you, who couldn’t love you any less no matter what you said or did? While God doesn’t change based on our perceptions of Him, your response to God will vary greatly depending on how you view Him. I believe that the most important thing about you is who you say God is and who you are in relation to Him. While of secondary importance, our identifiers give us a unique lens into who God is and what He is doing in our world.

Because I am a white American Christian, I mostly write with that audience in mind. While all white American Christians won’t agree on all things, I generally understand the lens that demographic is using to view the world because I am a part of it. However, since I’m not politically conservative, I can clearly see the damage that is done when white Christians seem unaware that there is a difference between the Christian faith and political conservatism.

If my writing is effective, it is because I am writing to an audience that I love and understand on a deep level. I was raised in the same spaces as many of you, I know how many of you think and how many of you feel. I can anticipate the objections you may have and frame my arguments accordingly. Sometimes I say things that are hard to hear, but I try to say them in a way that connects with you, so I choose words that are more likely to resonate with you and avoid those that might cause you to shut down. When I say hard things to other Christians like myself, it is not to be harsh, but because I am grateful that someone once had the grace to say them to me.

So whether you agree with me politically or not, if you find this style of dialogue to be effective, I want to share my secret so you can replicate it in future conversations. I believe this will allow you to be more effective in communicating things that are important to you. I invite you, in fact, to use these tools against me in the areas where we disagree.

When a difficult topic comes up, I seek out perspectives from people who either experience life differently than me or think differently from me. I avoid “conflict entrepreneurs” and prioritize voices that operating in good faith.

I talk to God about the issue and compare what I am hearing to what I know to be true in Scripture.

I pray for people who disagree with me on topics I consider important, and I remind myself that it is not my job to change their perspective. I know that only the Holy Spirit can change a person’s heart. My responsibility is to speak the truth in love and leave the outcome to Him.

I primarily address issues that come up with people in my “in group” and I do so by appealing to our shared beliefs and values. I start there because that is where I am most likely to have an impact.

I sometimes feel called to share my faith with people who don’t believe in Jesus, and I try to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

I remember that it is not just my intended audience that is paying attention, but my friends and neighbors who don’t know Christ may also be watching both what I say and how I say it (Hebrews 12:1).

Then I do it again. Saying hard but necessary things requires a long obedience in the same direction.

Some of the things I have written in my last few blog posts are things that I have been saying in one way or another for years. If you have been reading for a while now and it is only just starting to connect with you, it is probably not because I have improved my rhetorical strategy. You may be hearing it now because the Holy Spirit has been faithfully nudging you over time, and you are inclining your ear to listen.

I’ve noticed a funny pattern when it comes to writing this blog. Sometimes I pour my heart out for days, writing, re-writing, and trying to find just the right words to articulate something that I know will challenge my readers. When I share it, I occasionally get messages from people like me who say that what I shared was brave or courageous. When I show the blog to my husband, he looks at me kindly and says: “It’s good, but did you really need to do all of that explaining?” What to me seems like a complicated subject in need of great nuance is to him the most obvious thing in the world simply because of the difference in our life experiences.

So hear me when I say this: we need each other’s perspectives to develop moral clarity on complicated issues. People who think or experience life differently from you can clearly see things that may be hard for you to discern. They can pick out your blind spots. Let me give you an example.

There are people (I hope) who vehemently disagree with me politically who have read my last few blog posts. There are probably things that I am missing that seem obvious to you. In fact, those things may be so obvious that you sit behind your screen thinking, “How does she not realize…XYZ?” That’s why we need each other. You can see my blind spots as clearly as I see yours, and we need each other to follow Christ faithfully.

If everyone in your community thinks, votes, acts, or worships like you, you are most likely unaware of your own blind spots. That lack of understanding can cause you to formulate weak and unpersuasive arguments because you don’t truly understand someone else’s perspective. It also leads you to create spaces where only people who think, vote, act, or worship like you feel welcome. When you are part of the “in crowd” in your community, it’s hard to notice. But when you’re in the “out crowd” it’s glaringly obvious.

So if Charlie Kirk inspired you to have the courage to say hard things, then keep doing it—but change your audience. Rather than confronting the “other side” to win an argument, approach people who think differently from you with curiosity since they can see more clearly what you may be missing. Engaging with others will help you to take the plank out of your own eye before you try to take the speck out of theirs (Matthew 7:3-5). Then you will be better prepared to have tough and persuasive conversations with the people closest to you on the topics that matter most.

But why should you care how you argue, or if your argument is persuasive? And why did I care enough to write this to you? I write this with sincere love for the white Christian church in America because I want you to know that there are a lot of people in this country who can’t see Jesus clearly through your politics. I am sorry to say that people have told me that they want no part of Christian fellowship because of the way they have seen Christians conduct themselves politically over the last decade or so. Often, people who say this after not offended by the Gospel, they are offended by those of us who claim to follow it.

I hope that after reading all of this, some of you are recognizing that you have been influenced by leaders – whether they are pastors, podcasters, or cable news hosts - who claim Christ and then lead their followers to the right or left politically. To you I say gently: pray for discernment and reassess the voices you are listening to. Ask God to help you grow, not to the right or the left, but down the narrow path that leads to life. (To be clear, I am not encouraging you toward political neutrality, but away from partisanship.)

On the other hand, some of you are the leaders I am referring to. To you I offer a reminder from James 3:1: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” I am appealing to you because I know that you know what God’s voice sounds like. You know that His kindness leads us to repentance. You know that there is an inconsistency between the message of the Gospel and the political commentary of the day. So if, despite knowing these things, you insist on engaging with society in a partisan or adversarial way, I humbly ask you to do it in the name of your politics and not in the name of our God. I, like you, want people to see Jesus and see Him clearly, and your witness impacts mine.

If this is convicting to you, I want to acknowledge that I know how difficult it can be to change your mind. A change of heart on this topic will require you to say things that may be hard to hear to people who are used to hearing you say something different. But don’t worry too much about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, because you know that the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what to say (Luke 12:12). The people who follow you would not be able to hear this message from someone outside of the church or across the political aisle. But they will listen to you because you know them and they know that you love them.

I have said some hard things over the last few blog posts, and I have been surprised to have received no pushback whatsoever. I have honestly been a bit disappointed that no one who typically disagrees with me has reached out. It is possible that we are so polarized that if you disagree with me politically, my posts are not showing up in your algorithm – or that you are so accustomed to conflict online that you weren’t interested in reading my posts until I baited you with a combative title. But, this time, I suspect that is not the reason why I haven’t received any pushback. I am hopeful that if you are still reading this, it is because you are starting to understand what I have been saying. If that is the case, I hope you know that I didn’t “prove you wrong.” On the contrary, I am immensely grateful that God allowed me to play a small role in helping you see Jesus more clearly and follow Him more closely. If God is softening your heart and changing your perspective then that is His work, not mine.

In closing, if you were inspired to get more political because you want to see our country draw closer to God, and you are convicted by this post, then be encouraged- because revival starts with repentance.

The Legacy of Charlie Kirk

I know what you may be thinking. After all that has been said over the last week, what could I possibly say about the legacy of Charlie Kirk that would add any value to the conversation? I have previously stated that his brutal murder was wrong and no one deserves to die in such a cruel manner. I want to double down on that here and say that while I disagreed with him, I wish he were still alive so we could discuss our differences of opinion. I respect that he sought out people who thought differently to discuss the issues he valued most.

My intention in writing this post is to clearly state what Charlie Kirk said he believed so that you can decide if you want to align yourself with his movement, which will inevitably continue (and probably grow) now that he is no longer here.

Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist who created Turning Point USA, a grassroots organization whose mission is to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government. He was one of Trump’s most effective spokespeople, especially at engaging young and predominately male audiences. He was outspoken about his Christian faith and that he seemed to believe that one of the best ways to advance Christianity in America is through enacting conservative policies. He was vocal about issues of immigration, race, gender, sexuality, and guns. He was bold, unapologetic, and he built his platform on going toe-to-toe with people who disagreed with him. He made young Christian men, especially those who feel like society overlooks or mistreats them, feel like they have a voice and they should use it.

For the purpose of this post, I am going to focus on his views on guns and race in particular.

Charlie Kirk was a staunch defender of the Second Amendment. He believed that the right to own guns was necessary for Americans to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. He urged people to have an “honest and clear reductionist view of gun violence,” “not a utopian one.” There is a video circulating online in which he went so far as to say, “You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel. But, I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have the cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.”

If I were to say that about him — that his death was worth the cost to protect our right to own guns — what would you say? Would you say that I was being cruel— or at least insensitive? Would you say that wasn’t the way a Christian should respond to tragedy? You probably would — and I think you would be right.

As a Christian, I shouldn’t respond to his death with anything less than heartfelt sorrow. We are called to recognize the humanity in each person and to grieve with those who grieve. As people who have been shown great mercy, we shouldn't give out compassion based on the compassion shown by others, or respond to tragedy the way others responded to past tragedies. To hold ourselves to the standard of other fallible humans is a quick path to moral decay.

While I disagree with Charlie Kirk’s assessment of the best way to reduce gun violence, I am not going to share my political opinion here because I am writing to you, fellow Christians, to make sure we can clearly discern the difference between faith and partisan politics.

In regards to race, Charlie Kirk was outspoken in his belief that the Democratic Party has failed minorities through government and social programs like welfare because he believes that they create a victim mentality. He said repeatedly that the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which outlawed discrimination and segregation in public spaces, was a mistake.

Why did he think the Civil Rights Act was a mistake? That is a political question, so I’m not going to address it in this post, but if you are interested, you can find his answer online.

Additionally, he disagreed with affirmative action and said that it causes people to distrust the qualifications of African American professionals. On the topic he said: “If I see a black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” To further his argument, he said that prominent black women “do not have the brain processing power” to be taken seriously without affirmative action and that they “had to steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.” Why affirmative action policies were created is a historical question. Whether or not they are effective is a political question. If a Christian should use their influence to cause others to question a person’s competence or qualifications based on their race is a moral question.

Spreading negative stereotypes about black people — the assumption that they aren’t smart enough or qualified enough — is degrading to black Americans and it can cause people to see them as “different than” and “less than” others. These types of comments can be especially painful given our country’s history. Regardless, he chose to share these views widely. He presented these negative stereotypes as if they were not inconsistent with conservatism. Furthermore, because he presented his faith and politics as inherently linked, he may have made Christians feel like there is no conflict between their faith and holding a negative view of other people who are made in the image of God. And then he went further. He told them it wasn’t just acceptable to think these things — they should share their thoughts, boldly, confidently, and unapologetically.

I should acknowledge that there were times that he spoke highly of black people who were aligned with his political views. This brings to mind Luke 6:32-33: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.”

If you have been following Charlie Kirk for some time, you already know that he held these opinions. Chances are, you don’t disagree with what I have written because I am simply restating his views. If that is you, thanks for reading. I have more to say to you later.

But if you just learned about him this week, you probably have a very different impression based on what you have seen online. Please understand that when people say that Charlie Kirk was opposed by the world because of his Christian faith, that perspective fails to tell the whole story. Some of his views, in my opinion, should be opposed by those of us in the church.

I feel that it is important to share his views on these issues because this is the platform he created for himself. These opinions, which he shared frequently, comprise the legacy he now leaves behind. While it is never my place to question the sincerity of someone’s faith, I don’t feel any hesitation saying that some of these stances contradict Christian values. And it seems that his platform grew, not in spite of these views, I fear, but because of them.

Charlie Kirk and I shared the belief in the transformative power of Jesus Christ as well as a belief in the importance of dialogue across the political aisle. However, I no longer believe that the best way to create a more Christian world is through legislation or even debate. I know far more people who were drawn to Jesus through a thoughtful conversation rather than an argument. I also think linking Christianity to any political party is dangerous, because it forces us to make too many moral compromises. And I don’t think that our Christian faith is strengthened by political power — I believe that Jesus Christ has all the power that He needs without using the government to force people into moral compliance.

If you are still reading this and you looked up to Charlie Kirk, I want to share two final thoughts with you. The first is that you clearly learned from what I consider to be one of his best qualities — the willingness to engage with people who think differently. I hope you will consider the possibility that people like Charlie Kirk may have appealed to your shared belief in Christ but then focused your attention primarily on political topics, rather than spiritual ones. Hear me when I say that there is nothing wrong with being passionate about your faith and engaged in politics. The concern is when we can’t recognize where our Christian faith ends and our allegiance to our political party begins.

As I stated at the beginning, the mission of Turning Point centers around the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government — those are political ideals, not spiritual ones. I fear that some of you were attracted to the cross but you now find yourself defending political conservatism in Jesus’s name. I worry that people like Charlie Kirk have taught you to spot ideology on the left and not on the right.

But lastly, and most importantly, Charlie Kirk’s murder was tragic and your grief is warranted. If you watched the video of his murder and thought:

That could have been me. That could have been my husband. That could have been my son.

Hear me say this: I know what that feels like.

It’s absolutely agonizing. If you’re like me, you watched the video and felt a stirring in your soul that says: this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. And you’re right.

But soon after, you’ll be confronted with two other voices. The first one responds to your pain by shouting: Fight back!

The second voice is quieter. It is harder to hear unless you tune out some of the noise to make sure you are really listening. The second voice whispers: Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.

How do we discern between the voices we’re hearing? The voice of partisanship capitalizes on your fear and anxiety. It tells you that people who disagree with you politically are enemies to be challenged rather than neighbors to be loved. It may lead you to pride and the oversimplified view that people are entirely right or entirely wrong based solely on their political affiliation.

But the voice of God? The voice of God displays the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The voice of God says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The voice of God reminds us that redemption and forgiveness are always possible, even in the face of our deepest pain.

So what will Charlie Kirk’s legacy be? As someone who followed him, now it’s up to you. Will you choose to listen to the voice of partisanship or the voice of Christ?

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