The saying, “Everything happens for a reason.”, has no clear origin but it is believed to have been influenced by Aristotle’s teaching that everything happens due to the cause-and-effect model. His theory, is true, it has no exceptions but this law only speaks to the pure intentionality of our own causes and conditions, not those of others. We have developed a habit of saying this in all instances and circumstances not only those which we control. It is most commonly used as words of comfort when bad or unexpected occurrences happen.
Many in America, erroneously believe the phrase is Biblical in nature; tying the saying to the belief that everything is predestined by God. True, there are a number of verses in the Bible that does come close to this phrase, the closest being, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
To bolster the truth of the idiom, we highlighted the natural law of Cause and Effect. As with all natural laws of science, the outcome is extremely predictable. Humans can affect the law but nothing we can do will change the overall outcome. Take the law of gravity as an example, if we drop a brick from the exact location three stories up, the brick will fall straight down every time. Except if we pitch the brick outward. It will still fall but not in the same place as before. The force of our pitch effected the law, it did not change the law.
Consider, if everything we do, happens for a reason, what about our own self-inflicted mistakes? If I do something really stupid, like drive a car while intoxicated, the results might be something completely different than what I envisioned. I saw myself getting home safely without incident, but the police will change my plans greatly. Without a doubt, God can choose to allow us to make that stupid decision, and He may also allow our actions to result in the death of another. God did not choose to harm anyone. We made a choice, He only allowed a consequence to play out, involving a bystander, which we as Christian’s believe, was used as part of his overall plan for each of us.
We cannot be immune from the consequences of others. Every cause and condition that anyone puts into play will have an effect, but that effect will not only impact the one that caused it but also people who had no bearing on the cause or the condition. Their only tie to the effect was their relationship to the actor of the cause, condition, or effect and/or their being a random person at a specific location at the exact time of the condition.
There is no doubt that God’s plan will be done, just not necessarily by the hand of the people He first assigned to the task. God gives us each free-will; a “gift” that allows us to choose to go against God’s desired plan. We each have the ability to turn our back to God, but know, that is not the choice he wishes us to make. He guides us, never makes us.
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary”
