Charlie Kirk and an Uncompromising Faith

I let this sit. I said nothing yesterday when it happened. Partly because gut reaction is one thing, but I need time to process things, not that I’ve completely done so yet. Words are how I get things figured out. I am not known for flying off the handle. I am quiet. I don’t speak unless I have something to say. If you want a question answered in a group there is a strong chance I am not the person you want to ask. Not because I refuse to answer, but because I’m not going to answer if I don’t have something I feel is important enough to say. That being said the following is about the murder of Charlie Kirk. If you didn’t like the man, agreed with his death, or just don’t care either way this is your warning to stop reading.  

 

 

Charlie Kirk is a martyr. Charlie Kirk was murdered for what he believed in and because he wasn’t willing to compromise those beliefs because others didn’t agree with him. Charlie Kirk inspired a generation, and his death is only going to inspire those same people and more like them. He was a husband, a father, and in my opinion one of the best debaters to ever live. I told two of my friends last year while watching one of Charlie’s campus debates that I wish I could debate as calmly as he did. I say that, not just because his biblical beliefs are like my own, but because if you watch him debate he handles himself better than any political candidate on either side of the aisle in decades.  

In an age where the response to people disagreeing with you leads to shouting, name calling, and what I would consider childlike tantrums he never disgraced his faith by acting unkindly to those he was speaking with. We can’t say that about our political candidates and I don’t care who you voted for. You want to learn how to disagree with someone? Watch Charlie Kirk.  

I think he had the reach that he did because of how he carried himself. He gave young people something to emulate that wasn’t showy it was grounded. He made no excuses for his faith and had no problem telling folks that his faith informed his belief on subjects. That is what faith is supposed to do. It should permeate how you live and form the foundation of what you believe and how you make decisions on things. I think if he’d been loud and vain he would have not drawn as many people. Charlie knew what he was doing. He was an example of living out his faith in the public square that wasn’t counter to that faith.  

My journey to faith in Jesus was heavily influenced by stories of people like him killed because they had beliefs that were counter to the culture they lived in. Men, women, and children who were killed centuries and decades before I was alive because they knew Jesus and refused to recant their faith in him fueled an intense curiosity in a young kid who had no idea how you could believe in anything so strongly, much less die for that. A belief like that was worth listening to and I would eagerly listen to any story of martyrs I could find.  

For years I’ve sat and told students that we don’t face persecution like the global church. Bulllying is the worst thing done in the United States and that paled in comparison to torture and murder that is the reality for believers around the world. Yesterday I watched those same students realize that persecution no longer just meant being made fun of in America. You can say oh he was just killed because of his political beliefs all you want and you’d be wrong. Make no mistake Charlie Kirk was not killed simply because he voted republican. Charlie Kirk died because his beliefs informed his stance on subjects and people don’t agree with those beliefs. His faith informed his politics, not the other way around.  

The last three weeks those students have been looking at what it means to follow Jesus within the context of Matthew 16:24-26.  

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[a] Is anything worth more than your soul? 

Following Jesus requires realizing that sometimes following him means physical death. Following Jesus means all in or nothing. There is no halfway. It is a lesson that until yesterday I’d seen only in stories of believers a half a world away. I said in the beginning that he inspired a generation to come, and I meant that. I don’t mean politically, although I think he was changing minds in that arena. I mean in faith. He showed a generation what it meant to boldly live their faith no matter the pushback around them. In a world that says if you disagree with me you should die he was a steady influence that didn’t bully his way around he just lived what he believed without compromise.  

There are days I will remember until my body cannot hold memories any longer. September 10, like September 11, will be one of those days. I will be able to tell you exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. September 10,2025 marked a shift that will go down in history as much as 9/11 for almost exactly the same reasons. One person didn’t like the way another believed. The list of deaths was much smaller, though no less tragic.  

Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to die. His children don’t deserve to grow up without a father. His wife doesn’t deserve to be a widow. But in the coming years Charlie Kirk will be remembered as a man that helped show the world living your beliefs comes at a cost, but it can be done without compromise.