Before Charlie Kirk was killed, I had no knowledge about him. I had never even heard of him, but I am not a young person on a college campus. I am an eighty-year-old living in a retirement community most of the year. Over the past 2 days, I have read about and seen news segments about Charlie Kirk. I recognize that he is a polarizing figure.
It is interesting
to me that people can look at the same individual and see two very different people. One group sees him as a kind, thoughtful,
intelligent man who had the ability to speak truth and engage in
discussion. The opposite camp sees him
as mean and hateful. How can this be the
same person?
It appears to me that those who were in close personal relationships are the ones who see him as kind and thoughtful. It is those who disagree with what he boldly proclaimed that see him as hateful.
I am not a MAGA
person, although I do tend toward conservative viewpoints. I agree with some Trump policies and not
others. I could refer you to a blog I
wrote years ago in which I expressed horror that Trump was to be the Republican
candidate, so obviously I would not be in total agreement with Kirk’s support
of Trump, but I do believe that Kirk was a truth-teller.
When a person
hears someone express that their lifestyle is wrong, sinful or immoral, they
don’t want to hear it. If they defiantly
hold to their position, they become angry.
They perceive the truthteller as hateful. Over the course of my life, I have had some
experience with this. I have at times
been hated for telling the truth.
However, I can also think of someone who later thanked me for speaking
the truth when no one else would. It had
made a difference in her life.
At the point where
Kirk was shot, he had just been questioned about how many transgender
individuals had been involved in mass shootings. Someone has viewed his response as “flippant.” That is not what I hear when I listen to the
video. He obviously could not have
answered the question he was asked with a specific number. After the follow-up question, he asked a
question for clarification. If this is
what triggered the shot, the individual was just looking for an excuse to fire…which
given the amount of preparation required was almost certainly the case.
I believe all
human beings deserve compassion, and that includes transgender people. But we need to be honest, that transgenderism
is harmful to the people who are practicing this lifestyle. Promoting it and normalizing it is not
helpful to anyone. I do not believe that
suicide rates are higher among transgenders because they are not accepted by
society. I believe they cannot accept
themselves. When we hate ourselves, the
hatred bubbles over to others.
Our nation is being
torn in two by opposing viewpoints. The
answer to this is not violence. I am
appalled by calls for civil war. We
cannot answer violence with violence, but I do fear for what may happen. Our society is on a wrong path. Things I believe to be truth are being called
“hate speech.” Most conservatives have
tolerated angry rhetoric, because we live in a country where we are supposed to
have free speech. Apparently,
conservatives are not granted the same privilege.
“For the time will
come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear. They will turn their ears
away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
But you, keep your head in all situations…” II Timothy 4:3-5
