As someone who regularly speaks on university campuses, I’ve often found myself walking into controversial spaces with the gospel of Jesus. At Questioning Christianity, one of our core convictions is that “truth invites questioning.” That’s why we prioritise open Q&A, not just monologue.
Truth can be questioned – and it will stand under scrutiny.
But truth is harder to hold onto now than ever.
Since Russia launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, and again after the barbarism of Hamas on Oct 7, 2023, I’ve noticed a growing anxiety in the questions young people are asking:
- “How can we know what’s true anymore?”
- “In an age of bad news, breaking news, fake news, and deepfakes… what is real?”
- “What is the role.of the Church in all this chaos?”
Those questions became even more urgent today when I (like many others) woke this morning and, without warning, clicked on a video showing the assassination of Charlie Kirk – shot in the neck while speaking at a university campus event.
I didn’t know Charlie personally, but I’ve followed him online for years. He was a husband. A father. An image bearer of God. And now he’s gone. Just like that.
But what happened next was, in its own way, just as disturbing – and disturbingly predictable. News outlets and social media posts didn’t pause to grieve. They pounced. Label after label – “extreme right-wing,” “fascist,” “threat to democracy,” on and on. Even some politically sympathetic public Christian figures couldn’t seem to resist subtly sanctifying the violence by contextualising it through gun control talking points or “polarising” rhetoric.
To use Charlie’s death as a springboard for ideological irony or political point scoring is not prophetic – it’s parasitic. Shame on you.
We can grieve without qualifications. We can name evil without nuance. We can say this was wrong without footnotes.
We live in a world so poisoned by ideology that we no longer know how to disagree without hate. It’s like we demand atonement but because we’ve rejected the cross, we have to manufacture our own counterfeits by sacrificing people on the altars of our selective outrage.
And if the Church can’t lead the way in mourning without manipulation, then what exactly are we discipling people into?
So how do we stay discerning in an age of mass confusion?
- How about we start by refusing to dehumanise anyone – even (especially) those we disagree with? If your worldview runs on hate, if the only time you speak out is to tear down, it’s not conviction you have – it’s resentment of somekind masquerading as superiority. You don’t have to affirm someone to treat them with dignity. You don’t have to agree to honour their humanity. This is foundational.
- Test every spirit (1 John 4:1). We’re well past the point where naivety is excusable. The stakes are too high. The noise too loud. The manipulation too real. If we don’t learn to think clearly and see through spin, we will be led by fear, not faith. Don’t blindly accept, share, or parrot what an influencer or headline says. Ask: Is this true? Is it fair? And if you’re not sure – be quiet.
- To my Christian brothers and sisters, stay in the Word more than the world, and be offline more than you are online. If media disciples you more than Scriptures, your discernment will decay. The Word is living and active, sharper than any sword. Without it, we interpret everything through our fears, our tribe, or our trauma. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord not the fear of headlines, the crowd, or getting cancelled. And we need each other – don’t give up meeting together.
Today was a dark day for democracy.
We live in a time where we don’t just disagree with ideas – we apparently shoot at them. Civil debate has decayed into character assassination and now literal assassination. We’ve spent years fighting culture wars. Now, actual wars have broken out.
Is the Church ready? Shepherds, are you equipping your people? Some of us have trained our people to stand firm in culture. But do they know how to stand firm in rubble?
We need a Church that’s prophetically awake, pastorally grounded, and spiritually prepared. We must preach with fire about gospel faithfulness when homes burn, when nations fracture, and when our comforts collapse like the sandcastles they are.
The times are written for us:
- “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars…”
- “Nation will rise against nation…”
- “Brother will betray brother, and a father his child… enemies will be the members of his own household…”
- “Savage wolves will rise up even from within the Church…”
- And “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake…”
This is not a time for panic, it’s a time for preparation. Not anxiety, but awakening. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:7)
The Church has always flourished in hardship. But only when she remembers who she is. Not a PR brand. Not a coffee club. But the blood-bought Bride of Christ walking through the valley of death with resurrection in her bones.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
