I used the word ‘worldview’ in my title instead of ideology, because worldview strikes me as more comprehensive. And that is the point.

I do not imagine that there are many people (though I tremble at the thought that there are some) who set out to embrace death, who hope to some day plunge off the cliff of nihilistic self harm and the harm of others. And yet we have many people who find themselves on that side of the equation.

I know, I know . . . I’m a pastor. So I’m supposed to be writing this morning about loving others.  Forgiveness, right?

I’ve decided instead to draw our attention to two different ways.

On the one side is the worldview of Christianity. Followers of the one who laid down his life for his sheep. The one who calls us to work for the betterment of others. The one who demonstrates reconciliation and love and peace and hope and growth through hardship. This side believes that man is beholden to a Divine Creator who will one day judge. This side believes that breaking an external moral law WILL have consequences.  The primary value found at the core of this side is the sacrifice of self for the good of others.  It has death at its core . . . But it is the death of self (even a daily metaphorical dying TO self) that is the central value of this world view that Christ left to His followers.

The other worldview sucks the meaning out of life and just leaves a shell. No God above. No heaven. No law. No rules. No true value. Nothing of beauty. Just atoms randomly colliding making chemicals  for eons until . . . (BOOM!) here we are.  This worldview is centered on the autonomous self.  My decisions, my body, my choice, my rights, my life, my hurts, my . . . This worldview is not truly centered on the self, but the by-product of an origin in nothing but random chance yields a logical self-centeredness that makes sense.  The primary value at the core of this worldview is the sacrifice of others for the good of self.

I woke up this morning brokenhearted.   I am brokenhearted for the family of Charlie Kirk.  I am brokenhearted for a world where there is so much violence.  I am brokenhearted for all those who are on the pathway of this second worldview. They have been spoonfed a worldview that will land them in terrible places.  Our culture has given up a worldview centered on sacrifice of self for the betterment of others,  in exchange for the sacrifice of others for the betterment of self.

Charlie Kirk spent his short life defending his worldview.  He defended it with words.  He defended it with arguments.  He eventually died seeking to defend it in Utah.

It is time for our culture to pivot.  It is time for Christian to rise up and say, this way IS better.  We’ve been silent and self-suppressed for decades.  Many of us have bought into the narrative that all worldviews are equal.  We’ve been taught that it is arrogant to say, that one worldview is better than others.  But I will say it.  My worldview is better than the worldview of self-centered, nihilistic atheism.  The way of Christ yields grace, mercy, and hope.

And yet it also leads to sacrificial husbands and fathers.  It leads to wives being cherished, defended, loved and listened to.  It leads to an ordered society that loves both law and the foreigner.  It leads to a value of justice to the wrong-doer, grace toward the confused, and meaning to the hopeless.  It leads to an education that instructs in self-sacrifice, community, honor, and duty.

I am hoping that the death of Charlie Kirk will not be wasted in this cultural moment.  I pray that this is the beginning of a shift in the worldview of many.  There is a pathway that leads to devastating everything else in the cause of self.  And there is a pathway that leads to flourishing and hope in the cause of others.

There could not be a more stark decision before each and every person.  Are you on the pathway of a worldview that leads to life?  Or are you on the pathway of a worldview that leads to death.

Again, I think very few people go down the pathway to a self-centered worldview with the goal of embracing death.  But the signposts along the pathway of the Christian worldview all boldly proclaim the destination: LIFE ETERNAL with our king.  The other road doesn’t want to post signs of where this is leading.  They’ll leave it up to you, and you’ll know it when you get there.

If you disagree with me, then I will boldly state that my worldview is better than yours!  Charlie would’ve agreed.  And he would’ve defended that claim much more eloquently than I ever could.