Jesus was a revolutionary but He fought His battles with words and not arrows or bullets. The Bible says we are in a war with satan and God’s Word is like a 2 edged sword. God’s Word and His principles must be our weapons and we all must learn to use them effectively to destroy the enemy-satan.  Our enemy is not those people with whom we disagree, but with satan’s perversive influence on people whom God created.  satan cannot be defeated with bullets but can be and is being defeated daily by God’s Word. 

Jesus brought peace by uniting people with vastly different opinions, traditions, customs and beliefs with words, and He taught His disciples to do the same. So that begs the question: How can we unite people who don't agree with us and others?   How can we turn discord into discourse? 

Scripture reminds us, “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us". (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬‬)

We must teach our children to be effective arguers - in theological terms its called apologetics. 

The United States was built on arguing. The records of the Continental Congress and the record of every Congress since are filled with debates because free people who are given free speech very seldom agree on anything. In the last 50 years only one presidential election was decided by a more than an 8% difference. In 1984, Reagan won by almost a 20% margin and averaged 60% of the 18-29 vote; he was called the great communicator.

Bernie Sanders appealed to the youth vote much like Charlie Kirk but unlike Kirk, Sanders never could get this demographic to turn out to actually vote. Many Christians don't like many of the positions of Bernie Sanders but this Facebook video of Senator Sanders explains a statesman's position that comes very close the Christian Apologetic.

Fox News illustrated the downstream effect in a recent article. "In the wake of Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination allegedly at the hands of a left-wing ideologue, a leftist gun club with ties to political violence posted recruiting flyers at Georgetown University with references to Kirk's death. "Hey fascist! Catch!" says a red flyer from the John Brown Gun Club posted on Georgetown's campus. The only political group that celebrates when Nazis die," the advertisement says. It is adorned with a QR code linking to a page that says, "We're building a community that's done with ceremonial resistance and strongly worded letters. If you want to make a real change in your community, let us know below."

You will never win all the arguments in your life because sometimes you let your prejudices cloud the facts and that is when you learn most; you change your mind based on realizing facts that you have not yet considered, or, in some cases, admitting the facts that you once believed were actually wrong. 

Jesus validated His statements with miracles and even persuaded Nicodemus. “After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. ‘Rabbi,’ he said, ‘we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.’”(John 3:2, NLT)

Every Christian should look to Jesus to teach them how to argue

“He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭18)‬‬

The AACS Youth Legislative Training Conference teaches students to debate--- in essence to argue effectively so that they can persuade others to adopt their position. The YLTC mission is to provide Christian high school students with a solid foundation in the constitutional principles of freedom, biblical leadership, and the most practical ways for a Christian to engage in public policy. Students are able to get a hands-on experience of the political world through a Christian perspective by engaging in mock senate debates. The AACS is teaching Christians the art of arguing. Could this type of education in all schools transform those people wanting to use bullets to express their grievences into those who use words to express them?

What could happen if we ask AACS to provide an online class on teaching all students how to turn discord into discourse? We don't know until we ask.