It’s important to understand why this is a significant misunderstanding of the nature of free will in a Christian worldview.Ĭhristians believe God created humans with the ability to make morally significant choices. Many people, like the Twitter user below, seem to resent that Christians and other theists still believe in God when our past prayers didn’t “work” to prevent school shootings-in other words, could we all just dump this crazy belief in God already? ![]() But for purposes of this post, it’s more important to understand what Christians don’t pray for…Ĭhristians don’t pray expecting God to rid the world of free will. So what do Christians pray about in a situation like this? A number of things, such as comfort for the victims’ families that God would bring some kind of good from the tragedy, that those who are injured would heal, that the families of the kids who survived would know how to get the help they need, and much more. The Bible clearly demonstrates that God asks Christians to pray and take other action. Note that some people are complaining specifically about what they see as the hypocrisy of leaders who offer thoughts and prayers and allegedly do nothing else, but that’s another issue. Kim Kardashian’s recent tweet is one example of such faulty logic: Commenting on how prayer won’t do something, but (fill in the blank) action will, betrays the incorrect assumption that Christians think only prayer is needed. We don’t, for example, say we’re praying over the school shooting, and therefore we don’t need to have discussions about gun control policy, about how to provide for the financial and physical needs of victims, or about school security. When Christians say, “We’re praying about this,” it doesn’t mean we don’t think anything else should be done. That leads me to the next point.Ĭhristians expect to pray and take other action. However, there’s no reason to be sick and tired of Christians praying to the God you don’t believe in unless you hold the faulty assumption that Christians see prayer as an alternative to other actions and you’re resentful of that presumed choice. ![]() In that case, it makes more sense just to say, “I don’t believe in God, so I don’t pray as part of my response, but here’s what I think we should do…” ![]() By saying, “I’m sick and tired of thoughts and prayers because they don’t matter,” you’re basically just stating you don’t believe God exists. People are praying to a supernatural being who isn’t there. Thoughts do nothing, and prayers do nothing. Now, some people would say, “There’s no difference between those inconsequential thoughts and prayer. “Sending thoughts” is simply an expression of solidarity with no practical consequence. This is something that Christians and non-Christians should all be able to agree on. But just thinking something-no matter how charitable those thoughts may be-does nothing. The “thoughts and prayers” verbiage became part of our cultural lexicon because people wanted a way to request help and/or care from a mixed audience of religious and non-religious listeners. Let’s start here: the phrase “thoughts and prayers” lumps two completely different things together. Second, I hope non-Christians will take the time to read this and better understand why being “sick of thoughts and prayers” because shootings still happen doesn’t make sense if you know what Christians believe. ![]() The war on “thoughts and prayers” is one they need to understand given the unfortunate frequency with which this subject is arising. First, if you’re a regular reader of my blog, this is an important subject to discuss with your kids. With that in mind, I’m writing this post for two reasons. The online commentary often reflects a serious misunderstanding of what Christians believe. Scrolling through these articles and social media posts, I can’t help but wonder how many people who make such comments understand the Christian worldview and the role of prayer within it. My own Facebook newsfeed is filled with similar posts and comments. The hashtag #thoughtsandprayers is trending on Twitter, with scathing tweets about how worthless thoughts and prayers are. Popular articles feature headlines like, “Everyone Is Finally Realizing ‘Thoughts And Prayers’ Are Not Saving Our Kids” and “People Sick of ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ Demand Action After Florida School Shooting.” In response to the latest tragic school shooting, social media is on the warpath against anyone who dares to offer “thoughts and prayers” for the situation.
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