A panel of Christian thinkers confronts tragedy, culture wars, and the path toward healing and renewed faith in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination.
Thank you for this very substantive conversation! One major takeaway for me is that there are more valid and valuable perspectives on Charlie’s death and legacy than I had realized. When wise Christian men are forced by shock and grief to go deep into their souls, they find treasures which probably could be mined in no other way.
There is however one question I’ve not heard much mention of, and which happened to be the one most on my mind the following morning. It’s the question, “Where was God?” But I asked that not in despair, but rather because I have learned to look for Him in life’s hardest places.
Because I believe strongly in both God’s sovereignty and His goodness, I knew what seemed tragic and wasteful from our view wasn’t so from His. And as was so often mentioned in your discussion, there is some remarkable fruit being borne out of the sacrifice of one heroic life.
However, my thoughts that morning lay elsewhere. For a number of reasons, I believe our nation is facing increasingly difficult days, and we will be ill prepared if we retain the common mindset that these hard times are transitory, that things will eventually right themselves.
This is not to negate our hope and prayer that the pervasive lies will be broken in many precious lives, and that many will come to find redemption through Christ. But a spiritual harvest does not guarantee societal cleansing, and based on patterns in Scripture and history, I do not anticipate our situation will be different.
In the event I’m right, I interpret the recent traumatic events as being God’s gracious means of getting our attention, calling us to seriously strengthen our relationship with Him, along with reducing our entanglement in worldly priorities and pursuits. If we ignore these vital preparations, we may eventually find ourselves caught a whirlpool from which there is no escape.
Thank you for this very substantive conversation! One major takeaway for me is that there are more valid and valuable perspectives on Charlie’s death and legacy than I had realized. When wise Christian men are forced by shock and grief to go deep into their souls, they find treasures which probably could be mined in no other way.
There is however one question I’ve not heard much mention of, and which happened to be the one most on my mind the following morning. It’s the question, “Where was God?” But I asked that not in despair, but rather because I have learned to look for Him in life’s hardest places.
Because I believe strongly in both God’s sovereignty and His goodness, I knew what seemed tragic and wasteful from our view wasn’t so from His. And as was so often mentioned in your discussion, there is some remarkable fruit being borne out of the sacrifice of one heroic life.
However, my thoughts that morning lay elsewhere. For a number of reasons, I believe our nation is facing increasingly difficult days, and we will be ill prepared if we retain the common mindset that these hard times are transitory, that things will eventually right themselves.
This is not to negate our hope and prayer that the pervasive lies will be broken in many precious lives, and that many will come to find redemption through Christ. But a spiritual harvest does not guarantee societal cleansing, and based on patterns in Scripture and history, I do not anticipate our situation will be different.
In the event I’m right, I interpret the recent traumatic events as being God’s gracious means of getting our attention, calling us to seriously strengthen our relationship with Him, along with reducing our entanglement in worldly priorities and pursuits. If we ignore these vital preparations, we may eventually find ourselves caught a whirlpool from which there is no escape.
If you are interested, this is what I wrote that morning: https://dianewoerner.substack.com/p/when-a-hero-dies