By Alex Brickey

CIU Student Writer

“I challenge you at this time in 2020, perhaps one of the most disruptive times in history, to answer the question about what will you choose: chaos or community?”

That’s how Dr. Ken Blackwell of the Family Research Council (FRC) opened his Columbia International University Chapel message. Blackwell, former Mayor of Cincinnati and Ohio’s former state treasurer and secretary of state, currently serves as a senior fellow for human rights and constitutional governance at the FRC, and is one of the newest members of the CIU Board of Trustees.

Blackwell spoke on the present social climate and told students that the option of chaos or community lies in their hands. He then followed by offering an example of what to follow.

His grandmother once said, “I want you to remember that you’ve been raised to take care of three books; your datebook, your checkbook, and the Good Book.”

The datebook shows you how you spend your time, and how you waste it. The checkbook shows where you place your priorities, and serves as a mirror for personal reflection. But lastly, the Bible serves as a guide on how to balance life and how we are to think about life.

Drawing from his experience in government, Blackwell quoted from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

“Our human rights are not a gift from the government but the gift of God,” said Blackwell, highlighting that according to the Bible we are all made in the image of God and therefore are deserving of the dignity and respect of image bearers of the sovereign God of the universe.

“Respect discovers the dignity of others,” Blackwell said.

And that, he challenged, is not a spectator sport.

“You must discover the dignity of others … Stamp down the hate and engage in civil conversation.”

Hear Dr. Ken Blackwell’s entire message on CIU’s podcasts.

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