Miracles or Chance
So the question is this, do things happen for a reason or is life about the choices we make as well as chance encounters. Before the dawn of time did God plan for this person to get cancer, another to commit a crime and go to prison, or yet another to die at a young age of a crippling disease. I guess I could ad to the list the people that got rich, the one's that lived a life of being poor or the unfortunate souls that live in poverty stricken areas that never have a chance at life. Is all of this God directed?
Before we create a conclusion let me take this a step further. Each person reading this can think of what they consider a miracle in life. But was your miracle another person's curse? The car wreck that your loved one lived through but two others died from. Was your loved one blessed by God with some miraculous intervention while the other person's death was justified as "it must have been his time". Just today in Colorado several people were killed in a random act of violence at a movie theater. Was this God directed? Were the people that survived blessed by God while the one's that lost their lives were cursed? You see my point.
This is a highly subjective topic depending on what end of the spectrum you are on at any given time. If life has dealt you a wonderful hand maybe you say it is the grace of God. Conversely if you are watching a loved one die of cancer in terrible pain yet has been so faithful all of his or her life your view of reason and miracles may be different.
Did God establish chance encounters as road maps to guide us toward a different path in life? If so that would eliminate free will because at some point the person being guided would not have control over their life. So how deep and wide can a conversation like this go?
I am going to attempt to share my ragpicker non authority opinion without the use of scripture because I do not want to confuse anyone. Remember these are simply my thoughts and not fact.
Personally I believe in free will. I believe we control our lives as much as our intellect will allow. That intellect is formed by our actions as well as those of others. It is difficult to say at what point God controls our life or the life of the person we encounter. I have experienced over the years what I felt like were odd situations that could not be explained so the only logical explanation would be to give credit to God. These strange occurrences always seemed to happen at the right now when I needed direction the most. I can't explain why another person would be directed to say or do something at a particular time if they are also beneficiaries of free will.
I can see grace in other peoples suffering as crazy as that sounds. You know the person in the wheel chair that happens along at a time when you are feeling down about the day. You see them and realize you are more blessed than previously thought. Chance encounter? I do not know but it sure made a bad day better.
I think in my narrow field of expertise that grace is there when we open ourselves up to it. If we live a life in such a way that promotes habits outside of God we may not be open to the direction that comes our way. For free will to work I think it has to be used in a loving peaceful way. Free will cannot be used to advance bitterness and violence. God placed in us the ability to know right from wrong. If we use that ability with extreme prejudice a fair amount of grace will always be around us for the taking.
To sum this wild and crazy topic up I conclude with this, yes we are creatures of free will. Yes God has control. Yes we have control. Call it an oxymoron but hey I challenge you to explain it better. Remember this is all subjective and at any given time in life we may feel we are absent of grace or be in the state of grace. So there you have it. We are God and self directed. How is that for riding the fence. Just promote love and peace and grace will happen.
peace to you
Dale
Before we create a conclusion let me take this a step further. Each person reading this can think of what they consider a miracle in life. But was your miracle another person's curse? The car wreck that your loved one lived through but two others died from. Was your loved one blessed by God with some miraculous intervention while the other person's death was justified as "it must have been his time". Just today in Colorado several people were killed in a random act of violence at a movie theater. Was this God directed? Were the people that survived blessed by God while the one's that lost their lives were cursed? You see my point.
This is a highly subjective topic depending on what end of the spectrum you are on at any given time. If life has dealt you a wonderful hand maybe you say it is the grace of God. Conversely if you are watching a loved one die of cancer in terrible pain yet has been so faithful all of his or her life your view of reason and miracles may be different.
Did God establish chance encounters as road maps to guide us toward a different path in life? If so that would eliminate free will because at some point the person being guided would not have control over their life. So how deep and wide can a conversation like this go?
I am going to attempt to share my ragpicker non authority opinion without the use of scripture because I do not want to confuse anyone. Remember these are simply my thoughts and not fact.
Personally I believe in free will. I believe we control our lives as much as our intellect will allow. That intellect is formed by our actions as well as those of others. It is difficult to say at what point God controls our life or the life of the person we encounter. I have experienced over the years what I felt like were odd situations that could not be explained so the only logical explanation would be to give credit to God. These strange occurrences always seemed to happen at the right now when I needed direction the most. I can't explain why another person would be directed to say or do something at a particular time if they are also beneficiaries of free will.
I can see grace in other peoples suffering as crazy as that sounds. You know the person in the wheel chair that happens along at a time when you are feeling down about the day. You see them and realize you are more blessed than previously thought. Chance encounter? I do not know but it sure made a bad day better.
I think in my narrow field of expertise that grace is there when we open ourselves up to it. If we live a life in such a way that promotes habits outside of God we may not be open to the direction that comes our way. For free will to work I think it has to be used in a loving peaceful way. Free will cannot be used to advance bitterness and violence. God placed in us the ability to know right from wrong. If we use that ability with extreme prejudice a fair amount of grace will always be around us for the taking.
To sum this wild and crazy topic up I conclude with this, yes we are creatures of free will. Yes God has control. Yes we have control. Call it an oxymoron but hey I challenge you to explain it better. Remember this is all subjective and at any given time in life we may feel we are absent of grace or be in the state of grace. So there you have it. We are God and self directed. How is that for riding the fence. Just promote love and peace and grace will happen.
peace to you
Dale
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