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We don’t need thoughts and prayers? Wow this surprised me! I was sitting on the couch writing one evening when my husband came into the room and turned on the news. I was not surprised when the news was covering stories of the latest school shooting, or even the fact that there were now massive gun protests going on all over the country…what surprised me was some of the signs people were carrying. We don’t need thoughts and prayers??? Really??? The Bible encourages us to pray…in fact to pray first, often, even unceasingly! (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18, and many more).
So you may be reading this and thinking…well that’s nice, but what does prayer have to do with shooting in schools? This does not solve the problem…innocent people died, these shootings are happening more frequently and we need to do something. Yes, innocent people did die, what happened was a tragedy! And yes it is happening more often…and unfortunately it will continue to get worse unless we do make a change.
Many today believe that gun control is the answer, some even believe that outlawing gun ownership in its entirety is the solution. Making it harder or impossible to own a gun will not keep people from doing evil things. The attacks on 911 were not done with guns, they used box cutters and knives. What the people protesting don’t realize it that prayer IS the answer.
In 1962 Engel v. Vitiate prayer was taken out of our schools. In 1963 Abington School District v. Schempp the Bible itself was removed. In 1963 there we very little gun restrictions and yet there were hardly any gun related deaths. While President Kennedy who was shot on November 22, 1963 was not the first man to be assassinated it was still a shock…these things just did not happen as a ‘norm’. Just read this paragraph taken from Wikipedia…
“On the day of Kennedy’s funeral, November 25, 1963, people around the world attended memorial services.[43] This was a day of national mourning in the United States and in many countries around the world.[44] Events were called off because of the mourning. Town streets were deserted while services were held. Everyone who could followed the proceedings on television. Others heeded the call for the day of national mourning by going to their place of worship for a memorial service.[45] Around the world, footage of the funeral procession was sent abroad via satellite.[46] Many schools, offices, stores, and factories in the U.S. were closed.[47] Those that were open scheduled a minute of silence.[44] Others permitted employees time off to attend memorial services. During memorial services, church bells tolled. In some cities police officers attached black mourning bands to their badges.[48]
In many states, governors declared the day of national mourning a legal holiday, allowing banks to close.[44] There was silence across the United States at 12:00 EST (17:00 UTC) for five minutes to mark the start of the funeral.[44][49]
In reading this artical did you niotice that there was no division…no left wing, no right wing…no protesting in the streets. Instead people were encouraged to come together and pray. Nowadays whenever I happen to hear about a bombing or a shooting on the news, while it is heart breaking and saddens me, I will admit I am not at all shocked. Nor have I gone to my place worship and prayed. (I have prayed, but not as a community of believers). The sad truth is events like this have become ‘normal’ for our generation, and the enemy is using them to divide our nation even more than we already are.
In 1968 after the death of president Kennedy more rigid gun laws were pushed through congress…and have been ever since then. Today we have 20,000 gun laws/restrictions on the books…in 1963 two. That is a huge difference! And yet if gun laws protect us then why are there more shooting today with 20,000 gun laws than there was back in 1963 with only 2? Well to me its pretty obvious…we removed God from the schools.
Before 1963 each school day started with prayer and in many school districts a reading from the Bible as well. WAIT STOP…you might be saying…Separation of Church and State! Well the truth is we are not taught in schools today what that really means; and while I wont get into it here…please check out this article which does a great job explaining the true meaning of separation of church and state and how it relates to us today.
How to Respond to “Separation of Church and State” – WallBuilders
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