Prayer isn’t passive. Prayer is strong and prayer provides answers, says John Q. Adams, who will give a public lecture Saturday titled “Defeating Violence with Prayer.”
Adams is a descendant of U.S. president John Quincy Adams and a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.
If you go
* What: Defeating Violence with Prayer lecture * When: 2 p.m. Saturday * Where: First Church of Christ, Scientist, 612 McCallie Ave. Free parking and child care provided. For more information, call 266-0646.
His lecture comes two weeks after Chattanooga’s fourth homicide of the year. On March 2, 19-year old Charles Holsey was shot and killed in what police said was a drug deal gone bad.
Adams said violence begins in a person’s thoughts, and leads to acting-out of aggressive impulses. Those impulses may be based on anger, fear, a desire to defend or to strike out, he said.
“The real culprit is not the person as much as it is the thoughts and feelings that person is allowing to take over,” Adams said.
But Adams said prayer can change a person’s thoughts.
Judi Bell, a Christian Science practitioner, is the chairwoman for the lecture.
“Our church is all about focus on prayer and healing. We’re always praying for our community,” she said. “When we began to see so much violence going on, we wanted to do something to support all the wonderful people here; the police, churches, families everyone trying to bring an end to this.”
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.