This Isn’t The Way

Tonight, I can’t stop thinking, this isn’t the way. A third assassination attempt against President Trump was all too narrowly thwarted mere months after the actual assassination of another national political figure. We need to treat the illness these evil acts are the symptoms of.

We all know our political “discourse” is no longer a discourse at all. Everything we consume online is about how the nation is absolutely going to end if the other side’s guy gets away with whatever he’s doing. Even when, by any objective measure, he’s doing exactly nothing unusual. We don’t speak of disagreements on policy, we speak of the demonic evil that is whomever we disagree with. Terms once reserved for people who perpetrated mass genocide now get slapped on people just because we disagree with them.

Little wonder that the unhinged read what we all regularly and indiscriminately say and decide to “do something about it.” True, no matter how over-the-top what we share may be, most of us know not to take it any further. But, not everyone does. For the deranged, that all important filter is missing. And we need to remember that.

Will three individuals coming painfully close to succeeding against President Trump be enough to get our attention?

Tonight is bad, but we need little imagination to contemplate how much worse it could have been if the brave Secret Service members had failed to act quickly enough. The president, his officials, members of the press — any or all could be dead or injured. I mean it quite literally when I say, thank God that isn’t the case.

But, a veritable parade of those hit by the scourge of political violence were there and endured the latest attempt. Of course, the president previously hit by an assassin’s bullet had to be whisked out. But so too the newly widowed spouse of Charlie Kirk, just months after her husband was shot and killed for the “crime” of voicing his opinions.

Alas, they weren’t the only ones, either. There was the Congressional Majority Leader, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who continues to recover from an assassination attempt in 2017. And, surely dredging up the horrors of his youth, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was also there, having lost both his dad and uncle to assassinations.

Repeated assassination attempts should not be the norm. This is not the way.

When Kirk was assassinated last September, I wrote:

In a world so angry, every wrong is responded to by new wrongs. We’re all so agitated, we can’t even hear each other. We all know we need to do something different, but we keep doing the same dastardly things.

It’s time we did indeed do something different: turn to the Prince of Peace.

Frankly, it is disturbing how often I see Christians posting the online slop I mentioned above. We are far too participatory in the ugly side of politicking. And as we see the fruit of that political vitriol, we need to face up to that.

How can we say we serve the Prince of Peace when we encourage the opposite of peace?

Disagreement is good. Standing for principle is good. But, speaking in untempered ways is not just unfortunate, it is sin. (Sharing what other people say doesn’t get us off the hook, either.)

I’ve been saying this the entire time I’ve been a pastor and spanning varying administrations: we need to act differently than the world. And as we see the world’s choices bringing about violence on top of violence, we must learn from our mistakes.

Last September, we saw an all too brief glimpse of a better way. People of integrity, even those who normally opposed Kirk and his political viewpoints, paused and grieved the human tragedy. Many touching remarks were made by those who still disagreed with his viewpoints, but regretted the personal loss of a colleague or friend. Liberal activist and The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, for example, wrote an emotional remembrance of Kirk, concluding,

Since I’m on the left, I’ll go first. For everyone on the right, and most especially the Kirk family, I am so sorry for your loss. I share your grief and I want you to know our hearts are with you!

Tragedy does bring us together for a moment. But, then we forget again. We need to stop forgetting.

As we look at what happened tonight, whether we’re for or against the current president, my plea is for everyone and especially my fellow Christians to see that we have a part to play. We can all choose whether we are going to stoke the flames or do what is right.

Some will object: “I don’t want this nut to stop me from saying how awful I think the administration is!” I’m not arguing against genuine, principled concerns being voiced. But there is a way and it is not the way we are doing it right now. As Uygur wrote in his post,

If you really want to strike back at whoever did this, listen to each other instead of hating one another. They want us to hate each other. Treating one another as brothers and sisters, as a united America, would be a historic act of defiance.

To my fellow Christians: we need to rise to this challenge, whatever side of the political aisle we may fall on.

Keep in mind that during the New Testament era, the government actively killed Christians. What did the eventually martyred Apostle Peter say we should do in relation to our leaders? Honor them: “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17).

Likewise, the Apostle Paul wrote:

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Do you love President Trump? Then pray for him, honor him in the position God allows him to serve in and model the better way of the Lord as you do. Do you vehemently oppose President Trump? Do the same; disagreement precludes none of this. And we need to do the same for the next president and the next too.

”But the other side doesn’t do that” is no excuse. God calls us to the better way. And our society desperately needs us to show it.

I’m not saying that everything would change tomorrow if Christians lived in peaceful, quiet, godly and dignified ways. But, in a hurting world, it would suggest to that world what the only genuine hope actually is.

When others recognize this is not the way, how beautiful is it when there are living examples of what is the way.

And, by God’s grace, that way is the way that bears fruit. Fruit whose harvest is sorely needed.