University of Kwazulu-Natal

Erika Kirk Discusses Forgiveness Courage Discipline Family In First

Bonisiwe Shabane
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erika kirk discusses forgiveness courage discipline family in first

In the weeks since Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, his widow, Erika Kirk, has become CEO of the influential organization that Charlie left behind. In a wide-ranging interview Wednesday night, Erika shared the role that faith has played in her life and Charlie’s and how she intends to lead TPUSA in carrying on her late husband’s legacy. Here are some of the top highlights. During a high-profile memorial ceremony for Charlie in September, Erika shocked viewers when she chose to forgive Tyler Robinson, the young man charged with murdering Charlie. “I remember going over the speech the night before, and there was a portion in there that I remember putting about how Charlie was trying to save the Lost Boys of the West. He was trying to save the exact type of individual who murdered him,” Erika recalled.

“When I re-read that the night before, I thought, it just was weighing on my heart: forgive him. A lot of people in this world think that forgiveness is a weakness, or that when you forgive, you forget. And it’s the exact opposite, it’s a form of freedom.” “The enemy stole my husband. And if I didn’t forgive — it’s more so for me than this man — because the enemy would have my heart. And I knew that every day the Lord forgives me for things, so He forgives everybody else for things small or big,” Erika shared.

“And what an example of forgiveness. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy. It never is easy. But it’s freeing, it’s so freeing. And again, it’s not a weakness, but it’s a way for me to be able to say, ‘You’ll never get me.

You’ll never get me.’” Erika also shared that she will not weigh in on prosecutors’ decision whether or not to seek the death penalty for Charlie’s assassin. “I do not want this man’s blood on my ledger when I stand before the Lord. I want the government to decide what’s biblical, so justice will ultimately be served,” she said. She also shared that she believes that Charlie would not have chosen a different fate had God allowed him the choice. “He’s in heaven.

And he sees everything, full picture. And I truly believe that if the Lord — which, this does not happen — but if the Lord gave him an option to return back to earth, and if the Lord said, ‘This... Charlie’s death shocked many conservatives, as did the violent, celebratory rhetoric with which his death was met by the Left, but Erika and Charlie’s friends, including figures like Vice President J.D. Vance, have responded with courage. Fox News personality Jesse Watters asked Erika, “Do you feel safe?” She replied, “I do. What are they going to threaten me with?

Going to Heaven sooner to be with my husband?” Erika added, “I don’t say that to be reckless. I do not say that because I’m out in the streets like, ‘Here I am. Come find me.’” Instead, she explained, “It’s a fearlessness that’s rooted in the understanding that I will have my day and my time, whenever that is, when the Lord knows that I’ve completed my... We never lived in fear. If we did, we wouldn’t get anything done. And I can’t help run alongside this mission of Turning Point USA and raise my babies with fear.

I can’t, that’s not a life to live for anybody.” Home › Articles › Erika Kirk Teaches the World Forgiveness At the memorial service for her murdered husband, Erika Kirk said of the young man who shot her husband, “I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did. . .

. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.” These words stunned and amazed millions of people, including myself. I am inspired by her example. She follows in a distinguished line of Christians who forgave, including the Amish, who forgave the killer of their children; Everett Worthington, who forgave the man who raped and murdered his elderly mother; and...

John Paul II, who forgave his would-be assassin. What exactly did Erika Kirk do? Forgiveness is not forgetting. There is no way Erika will ever forget that her husband was murdered in cold blood. “Forgive and forget” is a nice saying, but if the harm is murder, then forgetting is never going to happen. So, to forgive is not to forget.

Nor is to forgive to forgo justice. Justice for crime is necessary for the well being of the community and the wrongdoer. Just punishments protect the wider community by deterring some would-be criminals from committing crimes. Just punishments also restore the order of justice that the criminal has disrupted. Just punishments can help a wrongdoer to understand and hopefully regret the wrongdoing. Just punishments can make the community safer by removing dangerous criminals from further opportunities to cause harm.

So, to forgive is not to forgo justice. Rep. Mike Lawler R-N.Y. joins 'Sunday Night in America' to discuss Charlie Kirk's impact and legacy following his death and the state of political violence in America. Who would have ever imagined seeing "grace" as a common theme on the news? Yet, the words of Erika Kirk have prompted exactly that.

Headlines, podcasts, news reports and blogs have reflected on her decision to extend forgiveness to the alleged assassin of her husband, Charlie. "That young man … I forgive him, I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it's what Charlie would do." She deserved the standing ovation she received because each one of us knows the challenge of forgiveness. Some people abandon the path of forgiveness because they perceive it to be impossibly steep. So, let’s be realistic about the act. Forgiveness does not pardon, excuse, or ignore the offense.

Forgiveness is not necessarily reconciliation. A reestablished relationship with the transgressor is not essential or always even possible. Even more, the phrase "forgive and forget" sets an unreachable standard. ERIKA KIRK'S FORGIVENESS OF HUSBAND'S ALLEGED KILLER SPARKS WIDESPREAD ADMIRATION “On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.’ That young man [Tyler Robinson], I forgive him… I forgive him because it was what Christ did… The... The answer, we know, from the Gospel is love and always love.

Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.” Erika spoke these words as she mourned the sudden loss of her husband, knowing her two young children would grow up without their father. Yet even in grief, she extends her forgiveness to the assassin of her late husband. Erika’s quote illustrates what Christ has taught us: to forgive and love our enemies. This is the heart of the Gospel message. Oftentimes, our first instinct is to seek revenge when we are wronged, and anger comes naturally.

It can be extraordinarily difficult to forgive – almost impossible. When someone wrongs us, betrays us, or insults us, we want to seek revenge or even vengeance. We want the person who caused us pain to feel the same suffering we felt in our pursuit of justice. However, our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go beyond our human desire for retribution and to love and forgive our enemies. Jesus Christ tells us in Matthew’s Gospel, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus continues in Luke’s Gospel, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).

Revenge is the easy path to a false sense of fulfillment. Revenge encourages sin, such as wrath, which clouds the moral conscience God has instilled in all of us. Forgiveness is to let God decide the wrongdoer’s punishment. By allowing God to have his justice, it saves us from blindly sinning. Instead of going “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a... In a way, forgiveness is the best form of revenge, for it is the most just and right in the way God wills it.

Forgiveness is not a feeling that comes naturally to us when we are wronged. It seems almost unthinkable, yet Erika chose the more difficult road of mercy and forgiveness. She chose to follow what Christ has taught us, which is to forgive as Christ forgives us, “…[Forgive] each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). “That man, that young man — I forgive him.” Erika Kirk softly spoke those words about the gunman accused of assassinating her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as she struggled to hold back tears last month during his memorial service. Her public declaration inspired another.

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