Sad. Tragic. Angry. Confusing. Apprehensive. Telling. Intolerant. Indignant. Hateful.

These are some of the words that I have seen describe the state of individuals on Social Media surrounding the events in Charlottesville. What I have a witnessed is a call to stand against the hateful racist evil. What is unclear in the demands is the “how”. What seems to me to be the consensus is that “standing against the evil” means posting your indignation and condemnation of the events and the people that are a part of it. Is this the best way, as Christians, for us to respond?

I want to be clear. Taking a human life is evil. It is one of the 10 commandments. Hating someone is subject to the same judgment according to Jesus in Matthew 5.

So how do we handle this in our culture? How do we address the injustice and evil in a rhetoric that lives on a platform (social media) that cannot be vetted, weighed and be held accountable? This is a hard question and I don’t have the absolute answer.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that we don’t wrestle against “flesh and blood”. That tells me that our fight is not against these people. The rest of the verse tells us that the fight is against “rulers of darkness in this world/spiritual wickedness in high places”.  That is SO HARD for me!!! I want something tangible… something that gives me… control.

Instead, Paul tells us to do something else. He tells us to “armor up”. We are to put on this armor of God so that we can withstand the attacks.

My challenge…to myself and to you… read Ephesians 6 today. Before posting, before engaging in conversations, understand and weigh each piece of armor that is described and have it inform your responses. I believe this is the only way to defend against the attacks of evil in this world.

Soli Deo Gloria

Jesse Horne