Here’s the biggest problem with the “thoughts and prayers”:
“Dear God, please raise the dead back to life”? Nah. That’s a whole complicated issue.
“Dear God, please be with the wounded!”? Okay, yeah, that’s fine, that’s a fair one. But what about the dead? Are those the “thoughts”? Are you praying that their souls find release and peace? They were peaceful and happy right up until they got shot, so is this really a prayer matter? And is this what you’re praying for?
“Dear God, may no one else ever pick up a gun and shoot someone ever again!”? Well, now you’re getting into Free Will, and sadly, that’s a consequence we have to deal with because of that whole Knowledge of Good and Evil thing back at the start--God’s refusal to override free will is the whole core of everything, so we know that that’s not going to work. Even if such a prayer does turn a few thousand hearts and minds from violence, there will still be more, as we keep seeing.
“Dear God, may the families find peace and comfort and strength in these times!”? All right, that’s fair, you can do that, but isn’t this kind of like saying “Tell them to get over it!”? It’s a little callous, especially if you’re letting everyone know that this is what you think about it. “They’ll get over it”, dude, it’s been five minutes.
“Dear God, may someone find a solution to this!”? Okay, but have you considered that maybe the hundreds of thousands of voices screaming “GUN CONTROL!” might actually be offering a solution? Maybe God heard you the first time and so he made people who had the ability to say “Gun control!” and all you need to do is listen to them?
“Dear God, may the bullets stop in midair, or may the gun jam!”? It’s a little late for that. We need to think about next time. Maybe you can fund research that makes guns that automatically jam, or that limits the number of bullets people can purchase.
Thoughts and prayers are useless if you’re not pulling your own weight and helping out. If you’re praying for peace for the family, then write letters of consolation. Start doing that for every shooting victim. When your hand gets sore, you may begin to think about ways to stop your hand from hurting. Advocating for gun control might be one way.
If you’re praying for the souls to find peace, that’s great, but again, you should start thinking about how to make it so that you do this less often.
Work toward gun control, please.
