The hostility toward Christianity is reaching a boiling point in some circles of our society. Evidently, a large segment of our society is offended and angered by the fact that we pray for one another when tragedy strikes.
California representative Ted Lieu walked out of Congress’ moment of silence that was honoring the victims of the massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs – a stunt to get attention to promote gun control legislation.
When Paul Ryan tweeted a relatively benign blessing it set off a Twitter firestorm.
The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now.
Of course, these days if Paul Ryan tweeted that puppies were cute or that the sky was blue, it would set off a Twitter storm. But this one was particularly harsh. And profane.
The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they’d still be alive, you worthless sack of [expletive]. (Star Trek actor Will Wheaton.)
Keith Olbermann, who is likely in the Guinness Book of Records for Smugness and Arrogance, had this to say.
Thoughts and prayers” again, @realDonaldTrump, idiot? These people were in CHURCH. They WERE praying.
That was the groupthink theme that was picked up by many in Hollywood and leftwing folks. Prayer does no good, they say. These Texans were praying and they still died. See? If prayer was useful, if it was real, their prayers would have turned aside the bullets of the madman and saved all their lives!
Evidently, Star Trek actors are not fans of prayer. Marina Sirtis piled on Wheaton’s remarks.
To all those asking for thoughts and prayers for the victims in #churchshooting , it seems that your direct line to God is not working.
Others added:
They were in church. They had the prayers shot right out of them. Maybe try something else. (Actor Michael McKean)
They were in a church that was full of prayers. They need a government who will enact common sense gun law. (Rosanne Cash)
Thoughts and prayers for people who were mowed down in a church sounds especially hollow. (Karen Tumulty – Washington Post)
Perhaps a Twitter user named April summed up the views of many others.
The victims were literally in a church. Your prayers are worthless. You need to actually do something. But you’re afraid of the @nra.
This is understandable, I suppose, in a world exposed to the “name-it, claim-it” style of prayer that focuses on using God as a means to an end, a way to achieve your goals and get what you want out of life. Heresy has consequences. And we cannot expect the lost world to understand us or even to try to accurately represent us. Jesus said they hated him and they would hate us. Stuff like this should never surprise us.
But that is not what prayer is all about. We do not pray to guarantee a certain result, to control God’s actions, or to prevent suffering. We pray to align our hearts with the heart of God and to bring ourselves under God’s authority. We pray to gain the strength to accept whatever comes. We pray for wisdom and insight, for understanding. We pray for the presence of God to comfort us and the power of God to sustain us.
We recognize this is an evil world. In an evil world, there are sometimes evil acts. Sometimes those evil acts are performed against God’s people. The Bible doesn’t promise us that only bad people will suffer hurt or that walking with God is a magic force-field to shield us from all harm. Job suffered horrors beyond my imagination. Jeremiah went to God repeatedly to complain about the circumstances of life. Habakkuk couldn’t understand the activity of God and was even more horrified when God revealed what he was about to do. This will only be a just world after Jesus rides down from heaven and grasps the reins of power. Where Jesus rules there will be peace and there will be righteousness. Until then, there are no guarantees. In a world of sin, there can be tragedy and crime and disaster.
There are many questions that are answered in the Bible, but one that is seldom answered is the question, “Why?” After the long argument between Job and his friends, when Job is increasingly frustrated with the unfairness of life, God finally steps in. He doesn’t explain himself to Job, but essentially tells him, “I am handling my job, trust me.” We believe that God is sovereign over this world and is working to glorify himself and accomplish his purposes. How did this do that? I do not know. I wouldn’t even start to try to explain. But God calls us to trust him. That is the difference between us. You don’t trust God. We do. We trust a God who sometimes permits bad things to happen to good people. We trust that this world of evil is moving toward a glorious conclusion. You don’t believe that. But we do. And so we pray.
We pray for God’s protection for our children, our grandchildren, our churches, and those we love, but we know that there are no guarantees. We pray for other believers, other churches, our nation. We even pray for people such as you who don’t believe in prayer. We don’t pray to prevent all suffering. But we pray because we believe in God and trust him.
- We pray because we believe that God is big and powerful.
- We pray because we believe that he cares and that he can lift up the fallen and bind the wounds of the brokenhearted.
- We pray because he is present with his people, because he is the balm of Gilead, the Great Physician.
- We pray because we believe that God has the strength, the power, the sustaining grace that we need.
We pray not because we believe that he will protect us from all harm but because we believe that no matter what comes, God is our Savior, our Sustainer, our Supply, our Fortress, our Hope, the one we can run to and be safe.
You don’t know our God and you may even doubt or deny his existence. Obviously, that makes our prayer seem nonsensical. But we know and do not doubt. We have come to know God through Jesus Christ. We serve a Risen Savior and he is very real to us. In times of darkness, we have walked in his light. When evil has surrounded us, we have tasted of his goodness. When the power of the enemy has seemed too much we have learned that “those who are with us are greater than those who are against us.” (2 Kings 6:16) We have received his forgiveness. We have known his presence in the deep watches of the night. We have felt his healing touch when our hearts have been wounded. We know he is faithful and good. And so we pray.
We pray because we want the people of Sutherland Springs to know what we have known. We pray because we believe that the God who has helped us will help them. Are there some who say, “thoughts and prayers” as an empty phrase, as political jargon. I am sure there are. But that is not why we pray. We do not pray as an immunization from danger but because we believe in the awesome power and glory of the God we worship and to whom we pray. When we see such suffering among our brothers and sisters in Christ, we want them comforted by our savior. We pray because he is wonderful.
- He is Yahweh Yireh, the Lord who provides. What we need, he has. And so we pray.
- He is Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals. What is broken, he can fix. And so we pray.
- He is Yahweh Shalom, the Lord of peace. He gives peace in turmoil – true peace even in the worst of times. And so we pray.
- He is Yahweh Tsidkenu, the Lord of righteousness. Our sinful hearts he makes like Christ. And so we pray.
- He is El-Roi, the God who sees. He knows what is going on in your life. And he cares. And so we pray.
We understand why you would ridicule. You do not know our God and you have not experienced his grace. But we have.
We do not see prayer as a magic amulet to keep us from harm. We see prayer as a means of connection to the God of heaven. When the world explodes, he gives us strength. He is wisdom in confusion and hope in despair. He is joy in grief and love in a world of hate. He is and has been all that we need. He is our Savior, our Lord. He is faithful and good.
And so we pray.
My response to the critics has been to point out who is helping the victims and who is not. The people who believe in prayer are actually ministering to the victims and their families, while the critics of prayer are doing little other than spouting opinions from their respective ivory towers.
By the way, I just read that our own North American Mission Board has stepped up to pay the funeral expenses for the people who died in this shooting. I’ve never been prouder to be a Southern Baptist.
Yes. NAMB is paying for funerals. This is a good thing.
Ken, I was flying out of New Orleans airport back in 2007 or 2008 after we worked in Katrina relief. As I was walking through the airport I noticed group after group of youngsters with matching t-shirts – pretty much every single one was a church youth group arriving or leaving after spending a week there.
I suppose that the Atheists Alliance (if there is such a thing) may have sent a group, or perhaps they believe that taxes ought to fund government programs to support relief.
But the boots on the ground were the same group of people who had been offering prayers. The atheist/skeptic/anti-Christian meme that we pray and don’t do is contrary to reality. When disaster strikes in America, almost no one does like praying Christians.
As correct as you are Dave, there are a couple of other things that I believe should be said. One, I cannot help but feel that some use protestations of prayer as an excuse to not actually do anything. I am not saying Christians in general or Southern Baptists in particular are guilty at least in this instance, but the fact is, I cannot help but feel too many politicians fall into this category–especially those who use the vocabulary of Christians but rarely if ever darken the doorway of a church. Second, I suspect such criticism flows from the same frustrations many of us feel, feelings of impotence and powerlessness over a tragic loss of life. We who are in Christ know that prayer is not empty, but those who are not, cannot. And perhaps we should not be too hasty to lash out at the unsaved for acting like they are unsaved.
John, you seem to be making some of the same points I made in my article, as if they are contrary to it.
If you think you are making a different point than I was, either I didn’t write clearly or you didn’t read clearly.
Of course, it has to be the latter!
The critics see prayer as an escape from doing something tangible that will help or avoiding actually doing something. We would point to a verse such as “be warmed and filled…”
But you are correct to point out that many critics go further to criticize the importance and efficacy of prayer. They do this because they are ignorant or hostile, or both.
And they serve pushback. Your article is great.
If all Christians ever did was pray, or if we offer that as a meaningless bromide, then we deserve criticism. If I ever tell someone “I’ll pray for you,” I almost always pray that moment for them, silently, so that if I forget later I won’t be a liar!
But Christians are the ones who respond in DR, in rebuilding, in mission teams, in eleemosynary ministries.
Meant “deserve”.
I suppose I view prayer different than most here on Voices. Prayer brings us closer to God and in turn God gives us a heart of compassion which causes us to open up our pocketbooks or minister to folks in every way we can.
Did you know that much of the good we Baptist’s try to do would be nonexistent if it weren’t for the folks that don’t pray. Yes, Corporate entities give to very important programs we Baptist’s have. These tax exempt programs would shut down because the churches give so little.
I agree there is no magic wand in prayer. Prayer helps us to help someone else as well as to benefit ourselves Spiritually. If prayer becomes something other than what I have mentioned here I think we begin to swing that magic wand. The gift of healing left us when the early church did. There must be a pair of feet on every prayer or we are just spitting into the wind.
Essentially, if I understand what you are saying, you do not believe in the power of God or of prayer, but only in our own works.
Of course, we have to be willing to work as well as pray. But sometimes there is nothing we can do physically but we still believe in the power of God to touch hearts and minds, to heal people, to bind the brokenhearted. God is not dependent on my works, Jess, to display his power.
It seems your God is too small if you believe his answers to prayers are dependent on our works. He is able beyond our abilities. Prayer is no excuse for laziness, but it does tap into a supernatural power that goes beyond anyplace our feet can go or anything our hands can touch.
I do not believe you understand the power of God or the nature of prayer, Jess.
The naysayers will, tragically, have a face-to-face opportunity to explain why, in a time of national tragedy, they felt led to ridicule and not to pray. To God Himself. And they will regret it mightily.
They are to be pitied.
Yes, and one of the points that I am making here (subtly) is that the Bible teaches that the lost are blinded in their minds and hostile in their hearts. But that doesn’t mean we should treat them as enemies – they are our battlefield, not the enemy against which we fight.
Two random, disjointed thoughts:
I find the level of disrespect growing in our country towards the Lord God Almighty frightening and “awful” in the sense of being awed by the depth our corporate depravity is reaching. Reread the statements out of Hollywood but substitute instead of “Christians praying in church were murdered” with “lgbtqp folks were killed at a gay pride march” or “top ecologists were murdered at a global warming rally” or “muslims killed in raid on mosque”. Can you imagine those folks saying the same sort of things in those situations? We are seeing the Enemy of our souls on the attack. It includes the dead stinking (unsaved acting unsaved) but it is MUCH more.
And pray for another group of potential victims: the family of the shooter. I don’t know them. They may be royal jerks who raised him wrong and produced the disaster. Or they may be decent people who tried their best to get him help for either a broken brain or broken soul but failed. I know from bitter experience as the parent of a violent offender judged mentally ill that “if you see something say something” often doesn’t work. We started contacting the mental health care providers when our son was age 8. The mantra is “we don’t confine people for what they MIGHT do.” While thankfully our son’s violence was not this over the top (so far!) it often takes an act of violence for the system to act.
Whether they are good folks or evil beings, they need prayer also. Normal life ended for all of them–parents, siblings, grandparents, etc on Sunday. Pray also for the shooter’s in laws, for his ex wife and her family, and all those who are now going to be “damned by association” and blamed for his wretched actions.
Sarah, that is a great thought (about praying for the shooter’s family).
I’ve read things about the Hinkleys, a Christian family, and what they went through after their son’s crime. Families can go through horrible times.
This has been said, but I’ll add to it. There is no doubt some of the comments about thoughts and prayers are directed against people of faith. But to be fair a lot of it is the difference (in their minds, whether you agree or not) between whether the killer is a white guy, or a muslim. It does seem like if the killer is just some random white guy with an assault rifle, the thoughts and prayers comments look basically like shoulder shrugs.
Bill Mac,
I’m not really understanding your thought on the white guy versus Muslim part of your comment. Could you elaborate a little on that?
Scott:
Sure. What I’m hearing is this: When there is a mass killing by a muslim, or possibly other non-white person, there are immediate and vociferous calls for action. When the perpetrator is just a run of the mill white guy with an assault rifle, the response is “thoughts and prayers”, basically saying there’s nothing else to be done. As I said, you may or may not agree with the criticism, but the reaction to the “thoughts and prayers” is often something other than an attack on Christians.
Bill,
Thanks for the clarification. I see now what you are saying. Not sure I agree completely as anti-Christianity is a core part of today’s left wing ideology.
Bill Mac,
Mr. Kelly was not the “run of the mill white guy” with a rifle.
He was an evil man who with forethought, planning, and blood lust who took a firearm into a church and systematically killed men, women, and children.
He was not the “run of the mill” anything. He was a man consumed with evil for most of his adult life (maybe all of his life) who fulfilled his desire to do harm to his fellowman as the final act of his life.
Mr.Kelly was anything but “run of the mill.” He was as Proverbs 30:14 describes. “There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords and his jaw teeth like knives, to devour the afflicted from the earth and the needy from among men.”
I, for one, am glad Mr. Kelly was not the “run of the mill white guy” with a rifle. The “run of the mill white guys” with rifles do not go into churches and kill women, children, and men. For this, I thank God.
CB: I don’t disagree. I’m looking at this from the perspective of seeing a guy who doesn’t identify with a group or ideology that is considered the enemy in today’s culture. It is easy to call for action and laws and death for those who come from outside our culture, but we live in a country that is growing increasingly dark and the enemy is often indistinguishable from us.
I agree with CB.
There’s also another issue at play here, Bill.
Plainly, no matter what skin tone or nationality this evil person was – if laws already on the books had been adhered to – it would have been much difficult for him to have gotten a gun.
Solutions I’d offer, and they have nothing to do with the color of his skin but how we might prevent as best we can – people like him “slipping through the cracks” and acting like he did….I also am disgusted by the actions of others that I think actually enabled him.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less what his skin color is! He was an evil man who perpetrated evil deeds.
1. State legislators should Make domestic violence a felony in all 50 states…and such conviction should carry a lifetime ban from owning or possessing a firearm.
2. Immediate firing and possibly federal Criminal charges (if negligence is a pattern with them) against state/federal employees who fail to input disqualifying data into the FBI/ATF background check database as required by law.
3. Along with number 1….States and certainly the military should increase mandatory prison time for domestic abusers.
I might think of more later.
Also – people who knew about his evil proclivities and patterns and didn’t report it to authorities seem to me to be guilty of enablement too.
Tarheel,
I also don’t care what his skin color, nationality or religion was. But it’s hard to deny that there is a different public reaction when those things are in play.
Christians trying to force all people to live according to their rules create Anti-Christianity. I think because Christianity is so gun ho to support extreme right winged ideas concerning Insurance, guns, Corporations, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and trying to legislate the way people are to live, we have brought Anti-Christianity upon ourselves. There has been some degree of Anti-Christianity all through history but now it’s become a deep seeded hatred by unchurched people. If we don’t start preaching Christ, his death, and resurrection we will lose it all. We will be crying on the streets, “Why does the world hate us so much?” When it’s our own fault! At one time Christians were respected in our country. Sin hasn’t changed one bit, but we Christians certainly have by engaging with and endorsing our political favorites in order to grab a crumb that falls from their table while yelling our God is great. We should be ashamed of ourselves, but we are not.
You really seem to harbor a lot of hostility against Christians, Jess.
It seems to be because of your extreme commitment to making everything about politics.
I think it is better NOT to make everything about politics.
And, Jess, a reply of yours that did not get posted accused me of hating you. I don’t. I pity you because you seem trapped in so many false ideas, bad theology, and you are so dogmatic and stubborn in your falsehoods that you will not listen and you will not learn.
There are some people on this board you could learn from, people that could help you correct some of the stuff you spout that is blatantly unbiblical. It would be great if you’d listen. I know you won’t listen to me, but there are some wise folks here.
But when you spout theological falsehoods, I am likely to either put them in the trash or answer them. That’s the way it goes. You aren’t going to control the discussions here with your trolling.
Jess, your comments do not seem consistent with Scripture. Jesus said, “if the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19). Paul reminds us that “the preaching of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness (1 Cor 1:18) and when “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness” ( 1 Cor 1:23). Our culture is not in the mood for any preaching of a gospel with only one Savior for all people. The world hates the biblical Jesus and the people who love Him.
I find that to be a common assumption, Jerry. If the world hates us, we must be doing something wrong. In reality, if the world doesn’t hate us, perhaps we ought to be concerned. Jesus promised us the world would hate us. The myth that sinners loved Jesus – yeah, when he was healing and performing miracles. But John 6 says they began to turn away when he started teaching the tough stuff.
On this subject: a few years back, Barna Research — an evangelical market-research company, if you’re not familiar with it — put out a slender little book called “unChristian.”
It’s a report on how unchurched people feel about Christians and why they feel that way, *in their own words* — which is key! — but it’s also statistically rigorous. If you’re interested in understanding how outsiders see you, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you read it; it costs about $10 and takes maybe 2-3 hours.
I’m not sure it’s kosher to put links here (especially to Amazon pages), but Google for Barna + unchristian and you’ll get there.
I mean, shoot, Dave, if you promise to read it — I know time is scarce! — I’ll buy you a copy. Really and truly. Drop me an email and I’ll send you an Amazon gift card, or let me know what church you pastor and I’ll send it to you there. 🙂
All this is my gentle and diplomatic way of saying that, from an outside perspective, in fact the church *does* seem like a pugnacious, unloving, judgmental, and fearful wing of the GOP. I say this with love in my heart, and I really don’t want it to sound like an attack although I know that it very well might. Let me add as an aside that church ladies with casseroles are a thousand times over my favorite part of Christian culture; they’re absolutely doing God’s work. But you have to remember that most outsiders *don’t see the church ladies*; the face of evangelicism, for many of them, is Jerry Falwell Jr and the like.
That may not be *fair,* but that’s what you’re dealing with. It seems very unwise to dismiss our perceptions as “hating the church because of Jesus”; in fact, my impression of *individual conservative Christians* is that they’re relentlessly decent and caring. But my impression of *the conservative Christian church* is pretty darned close to what I said above. And both of these views have been formed, not by a hatred of Jesus, but *by living in America in 2017 and using my eyes and ears and brain.*
P.S. The offer to buy you that book is 100% sincere! I hope this doesn’t make you suspicious of it; Barna does really good work.
I am aware of that book.
I am also aware of the balance to what I was saying – that Christians can be jerks. Obviously. The GOP is working hard these days to make Christianity look awful.
But the fact is that no matter how well we act, the world will still hate us.
Our goal is not to be loved and respected by the world, but to please Christ. And there is a difference.
There is an old story (cannot attest to its truth) of a missionary entering a gathering of Chinese believers who were obviously troubled and repenting. The missionary asked what was wrong. They replied that they had read the verse, “Those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” They were not being persecuted and assumed it must be a sign of their lack of godliness.
My only quarrel is this: We cannot judge the validity of our Christianity by the approval or disapproval of the world.
In the same way you cannot say that if the world hates you, you are doing something wrong, you cannot say that if the world hates you, you are doing something right.
Quickly think of all the Christian jerks you know.
This is *very* eloquent– have you considered shopping it around to secular outlets? I think the work is good enough (and useful enough for a secular audience) that it deserves to be seen as widely as possible.
Excellent piece!