On Guns and Their Control ~ Thoughts and Prayers

Greetings Dear Reader,

My Sons and I used to regularly play paintball in a private wood.  We would spend an afternoon hunting each other and then cool off in the land owner’s pool.  One particular day my eldest Son would often be about to shoot me and I would somehow still get the upper hand.  I had always made it a practice to remind my children that I loved them whenever I would win at a game.  After shooting my Son for the fifth time in one day I called out, “Hey Son…”

He responded with a very frustrated, “I know dad, you love me.”

One of the things that saddens me is when things that I take seriously are mocked by those who do not understand or do not agree.  I do not mock anyone who believes differently than I believe.  It is not only unkind but it is wrong. 

I noticed that in social media there is mockery of the expression of thoughts and prayers.  The gist of the meme is that our thoughts and prayers are useless.  I will never agree that praying for others when they are in crisis is useless.  I will agree that if someone is in crisis and I only express that I am praying or worse “thinking about them” it can be insulting. 

It is like walking by a homeless person in winter and wishing them to be warm and well fed.  Jesus’ brother James points out that doing this is useless: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

It is wrong to simply tell others that you wish them well and do nothing.  I am not sure what should be done but until we find a way to stop the violence we need to shut up with our epithets.  I do not mean that we should not pray.  I mean that we should not talk about it publicly. 

Jesus makes it clear that prayer should be private: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  

If we really want to make a difference we need to put action with our prayer.  If you follow Christ then you know you are required to love your enemies.  How is killing anyone showing love?  I am not saying there is no need or use for a gun.  I am saying that guns designed for hunting humans violate the premise of loving our enemy. 

The alignment of the two issues, our lack of love for our enemies and expressing our “thoughts and prayers” without doing things that make a difference have caused mockery of the genuine expression of our faith.  There will always be those who mock God and us for believing.  We cannot change this. 

What I can do is assure that any expression of my faith is accompanied by action.  I must pray privately for those in need and in pain.  I must also work for new ways to show love to everyone including those who hate me.  If I fail to put action with my faith it will be useless and I will deserve the mockery.  Once again, Dear Reader, it seems that the problem is not the gun.  It is us.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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