By GLEN BIEGEL
“Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.” Those are the words of former Biden White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, as written on X.
A lot is going on here. We should take some time to discuss the prayer/action process with religious, non-religious, and irreligious people.
Psaki claims she was saying that she wants people to act, and that prayer isn’t going to get the job done. Psaki, and most left-wingers who do not want a deeper look into the real evil acting in Minneapolis, believe that the action needed is gun control. We can talk about action after we cover prayer and what Psaki seems to be missing.
Psaki and many millions of poorly educated believers and non-believers tell us to stop praying. They argue praying is not an action and that we need control. The appeal to God is not control for Psaki, and I would like to answer her X rant with a short review of prayer, why it is performed, and what we hope to accomplish by it.
By denying human evil and ignoring its causes, the Left distracts us with their easy ‘answer’ of gun control. The problem is that gun control ignores root causes, such as fatherlessness or false, quasi-religious, woke ideologies and political movements.
Let’s cover some fundamental theology first, as the two sides are really talking past each other. Psaki is not only asking why we are praying regarding this killer’s actions, but why pray at all? What does it mean to pray? Who are you praying to, and why would it matter?
- God created the universe. (The ontological argument stems from the logical fallacy of infinite time. Infinite time is impossible – therefore God is the first mover, the uncaused cause.)
- A non-intelligently designed universe does not create a clock by chance, much less the double helix or consciousness. The universe is designed.
- God sent his only Son Jesus to show that He loves us.
- Jesus told us to pray, always.
- Jesus prayed before all his major decisions; therefore, we need to pray before ours.
- Jesus prayed that the cup of his death pass from Him, but not as He willed, but as God willed, showing us that prayer does not remove all suffering.
- When Jesus said the poor, we would always have with us, he was speaking not only of material poverty, but poverty of goodness as well. We will fight evil all our days, both inside ourselves and in our enemies.
- Evil is a core component of the world. Hundreds of millions died in various wars, from communism and abortion, and we prayed for it to end. These ended when good overcame evil with might, power, and prayer.
Let’s discuss why we pray and what a believer is hoping to accomplish when we pray for the lost souls and those who remain in Minneapolis. For instance, we can pray, thanking God for the actions taken by the Church that stopped people from entering after Mass began. I am sure the killer would have had many more victims if he were inside the Church instead of locked outside.
For the Minneapolis shooting and Psaki’s demand that we stop praying so we can act, let’s cover a few prayer basics.
- Jesus prayed, so we pray. Even if we knew no more than this, He is our guide, our example, our savior. When you tell us not to pray or attack prayer as insufficient, you place yourself against God by demanding a legislative form of “evil control” that God does not grant us. We cannot legislatively banish evil, and we must pray as we struggle against a world awash in it.
- We pray for clarity. Prayer quiets us so we can understand what God wants us to do and how eternal truths affect the physical world. God’s requirements for believers can be complex: we have the right to physical self-defense when confronted with force, but we are also expected to turn the other cheek when only our pride is insulted. We love both our friends and our enemies, and we are to pray for them both.
- We pray for protection and comfort. At times, loss feels greater than any in history. But people have been murdered at the hands of fellow humans, dictators, vile political movements, and false theology throughout time. Prayer gives us strength to work with the Holy Spirit and provide comfort, healing, and protection.
- We pray for guidance in action. With the four cardinal virtues (Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, and Prudence), we discern the best way to confront evil. Action is almost certainly called for in this tragic situation, but our first step is to identify where evil comes from. Only humans are capable of evil, not guns, cars, or matches.
Armed with prayerful wisdom, we can consider what actions are called for.
Now that we have some basics on prayer, we also need to talk about gun-control laws and what they represent for Psaki and her allies: “evil control.” Psaki believes that gun control is direct control over evil, which praying to God does not accomplish. In her view, more gun control means less evil. In this, she is wrong.
Let’s also be clear about what type of gun-control legislation would be Psaki’s answer to this transgender psychopath as he finishes the last act of his tragic play—full-blown gun confiscation. The killer had handguns, shotguns, and a high-capacity rifle. Taking only one would not change the equation. Less than 4% of firearm homicides are with these large capacity rifles. These folks mean to confiscate every American weapon.
But Psaki’s solution would neither fix the evil in this man nor change the outcome. Evil people are deadly with knives, guns, cars, rocks, matches, or gasoline.
I will close with Psaki’s demonstration of the discordance between left and right regarding evil. The left believes they can prevent atrocities by removing core components of liberty, like guns or speech, and the broken person will be better. The right understands that we need to keep broken people in jails and try to identify dangerous people before they commit atrocities. The left believes rights can be traded for protection from evil, while the right understands that taking certain fundamental rights from law-abiding citizens will only result in chaos, ensuring government powers become the evil we need protection from.
Let us pray that these attacks on prayer from Psaki are unsuccessful. As we discern and confront the causes of this evil in Minneapolis, I hope you hold even more firmly to your need to pray.
Glen Biegel is a technology security professional, Catholic father of nine, husband to a saint, and politically active conservative.
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What she said was, ‘prayer isn’t enough’.
Are you completely unable to parse the English language, or do you believe praying will fry your eggs for you?
I think that as a Catholic you should spend a bit more time listening to your pope 😉
She also said “enough with the thoughts and prayers”, Her whole Godless leftist point was dismissing us common ‘uneducated’ folk and our prayer all together. If anyone wants to push gun control they should open their eyes and remember what was the first thing that happened when Ukraine and Israel were attacked. Neither of these countries have the freedom of the 2nd Amendment we enjoy and use to secure ourselves. I truly believe neither of those invasions would have happened at all, or certainly not as easily had their citizens been armed. The first thing their governments did AFTER many innocent people were mercilessly killed, was start passing guns out to the public. NOW they trust them to handle firearms….
I think my answer above is a sufficient response to you and to Ms. Psaki. And, yes, everyone could use more time listening to the Pope.
Pray for the release of the Epstein files. Transparency please.
Psaki is a Liberal and the ultimate goal for these people is to ban the ownership of firearms by law abiding citizens.
I’m guessing that the Lightbrnger hasn’t Ben responding to his daughter, Jen
Who gives a damn what Psaki says, anyway?
You make several claims without evidence. Therefore, I can dismiss your claims without evidence. Nice try though.
The only answer from the “right” is that thoughts and prayers are enough. Actions speak louder than words, all over the world people have “mental health issues” but don’t seem to be shooting up schools and churches. I wonder why that is? The discussion of how you believe the world was created, made, etc along with the false narrative that the USA is a Christian Nation distracts. You claim abortion ending was a result of prayer, again the false narrative. It hasn’t ended, some states have made it more difficult but the reality it is still happening even in those states that have passed laws to make it illegal. The action was making laws, not praying that may have reduced abortion or it least made it appear less as people no longer report it! Passing it on as saying evil exists and blaming “such as fatherlessness or false, quasi-religious, woke ideologies and political movements.” It could also be that the hate that is being generated by the Christian Right is to blame. Neither fix the issue! Are we going to wait and do nothing? Are we going to end up like Australia? The Minneapolis shooter was posting hate and threats for several weeks yet nothing was done, where was the FBI? Where was ATF? Where were the police? Prayers may make you feel better, but action is needed! How many more will die before you decide it is unacceptable?