At the end of the Packers epic revenge victory over the dreaded Seattle Seahawks, Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked about the game and responded by saying, “I think God was a Packer fan tonight so he was taking care of us.” However, unfortunately for diehard Packer backers such as myself, the Packers were humiliated this past Sunday by their old nemesis the Denver Broncos leading me to one logical conclusion: God Hates the Green Bay Packers.
I, myself, am not religious. I find organized religion to be inherently political, dangerous, and only somewhat truly faith-based. However, I do have a very strong faith in a power greater than myself and have zero problem calling that power “God”, although a much different interpretation than many who go to church on Sunday. Nevertheless, my faith is something that has helped me through many a rough patch in the past few years and through prayer and meditation I have found solace in both my higher power and the world around me. With this faith in mind and the previous knowledge I have from years of higher learning I feel comfortable making a declarative statement. God doesn’t hate the Green Bay Packers, because God isn’t a football fan. And I will raise that statement with one more, this one directly from God’s Lips (perhaps not verbatim), “Stop praying on social media”
Prayer is a beautiful, selfless, powerful, and sometimes healing thing. Prayer on Facebook is hypocritical, stupid, self-centered, and worthless. Every time there is a tragedy in this country, such as a school shooting, you rarely find out about it from the news. Instead you find out because your news feed becomes filled with “I’m praying for the victims of _______ High School.” That prayer is worthless and in many ways apathetic towards the actual pain and suffering of the victims. Let me clarify that if you sit at home and pray to God for the victims that is not necessarily worthless (again dependent on your beliefs), but most important it is by no means harmful. However, the second you post on social media that you pray for the victims, you are no longer praying, but bragging. You no longer care foremost for the victims, but rather care foremost that others know that you think you care foremost for the victims. Praying on social media is entirely founded on the “look at me” principle. Prayer on social media is equivalent to the girl interviewed by CNN after a school shooting because she once knew a friend whose sister was friend’s with one of the victims. It screams for attention and asks the public to make sure that while this terrible thing is going on elsewhere, please keep in mind how I’m dealing with this. For those of you who are guilty of this crime (which is the majority of you and at one point or another, I’m sure myself included), don’t worry this doesn’t make you a bad person. Sometimes in an age where most thoughts are turned into statuses saying that you pray for the victims just feels like the right thing to do. Like when you find out your friend’s mother died and say “I’m sorry.” Being sorry doesn’t matter, but it feels like the polite thing to do.
The problem with this prayer status reaction is that it can lead to inaction. We all say our thoughts and prayers and then go about our regular lives and wait for the next terrible atrocity. When given the opportunity to “Facebook pray,” we must instead turn to action. I had written this post weeks ago and was about to post it online when the France attacks occurred. If the aftermath of that terrible tragedy I was afraid that I would receive backlash for my writing (because of course I expect everyone to read this and not just the regular 50 +/- that actually do). I was wrong and now I’ll even go a step further. One, God is not a football fan and two, God will not stop a mass shooting. If God wanted to stop atrocities, he/she/it would’ve ended the Holocaust. God will not take the guns out of a mass murderers hand. It’s our job.
There have been 355 mass shootings this year in America, there have been 336 days. Do you have enough time to say thoughts and prayers for each one? DO SOMETHING. If changing gun laws can save ONE life, just one, and the only ways it can affect you is by making you wait a little longer for purchase and certain extremely dangerous weapons won’t be able to be purchased, then I am all for it. You should too, because it's part of the American credo. We are the United States of America, not the Isolated people who only care about their own liberties of America. It's the people who hide their ignorance behind the second amendment who make me ashamed of this country. My biggest reason for shame is that those of you who hide behind the amendment, I can guarantee pick and choose which other amendments to follow by the letter of the law. Many of you are also the same people who say we must follow the Bible directly, but pick and choose which parts to live by.
Stop praying on Facebook for the victims. Call your Congressman/woman. Start a petition. Join a Political Organization (I am a member of the Americans for Responsible Solutions run by my former boss and friend Gabrielle Giffords). Do something rather than bragging about your feelings. God doesn’t care if my Green Bay Packers win the Superbowl and God won’t stop the next shooting or the one after that. Maybe we can.
If you are wondering where I got my information for this blog, just go to the bible. Matthew 6:5-6: “And when thou praise, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men...when though praise, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret..."