hey guys, well yesteray something bad happened to me i was in an accident anyways i was wondering, does everyrthing happen for a reason? is it true that god controls every situation, so that he takes things away from us or puts thing in our lives for us, or do we have more contron in this area?
Had this discussion with a group I am involved with at one of the Catholic churches in town…
some felt as others have already posted…
free will is a factor, does God really control everything or put us through " trials " …
I was thinking about this again, one can not honestly answer this for people in general, so I focused this exact same question upon myself only.
and realized every wretched event in my life that i dreaded, was in deed for a reason, not punishment, not evil attacking me, but more of a sculptor carving on a piece of stone with a chisel… I was being formed, and still am…
I can now use every bad instance in my life, as wretched, heartbreaking, and horrible as it was, not to my advantage, but to others… when I see someone going through the exact same set of circumstances i experienced I now have the ability to be of support an help to that person(s). Someone who might be weaker than I was during that point in time of my life, and perhaps I can either help that person avoid the exact same mistake i made, or even avoid it all together.
I keep hearing the saying from time to time, why does God let bad things happen to good people…
and that just isn’t possible , not for me anyhow…
for me I understand now that people act in evil ways either due to instances in their life that lead them to behave in a certain manner, or they have turned so far from God and Christ, that they are now so weak as to succumb to satan an his empty promises.
So when my path crosses with those individuals, for me it becomes a moment to learn. To understand that this person has a problem for a reason, that I have a few options, to engage and try to understand that persons problem, and see how i can help… or if it is a person who has accepted evil in his or her life, to understand that i again have a choice, to try an shine some truth upon that person in the form of truth an love , or to disengage and leave, and if pressed to go into combat against another person, my choice is fight or flee. and only to the point that the person is no longer a danger to myself or anyone else.
People are " Born in the Image and Likeness of God ", so that statement alone means people are not born evil, So I then have to remember that… That I am not meant to pass true judgement upon a person, but to only discern how i can help that person and if it is possible or not.
I could say well why bother with this person, he or she is so evil… just look how he or she acts, and then I am reminded of the Apostle Paul…
A persecutor of Christians, what a wonderful story he has… and i see how my life mirrors him to a degree, how this idea of does everything happen for a reason was a case in point for Paul.
Paul had to do what he did , for a reason, His original name was Saul, and from Saul to Paul we can see to very different people, and maybe the name had to change and or be translated into Paul because this man was no longer his former self, he truely was no longer living the life of the persecutor Saul, an thus had to identify himself as a new person in Christ, as Paul.
IF Saul, had not lead the life he did, say, he lived a peaceful life, he didn’t persecute anyone, was a good honest man from the word go.
Who would have learned anything from him ? Would Saul have had the same deep relationship with Christ / God had his life not unfolded the way it did to bring him to the point of divine intervention an conversion…
Now again Saul was not born evil, something happened in his life that lead him to want to persecute Christians and live the life he was living… and wouldn’t it be interesting to what that was, and why Saul was living the way he was living…
It is a matter of perception in the end of this debate… How do I as a Christian, as a Catholic understand my relationship with Him ? Do I as an individual see things only as chance or is there as stated a reason for the things in my life happening the way they did.
I choose to see things as happening as a reason, I have to, because if I decided to say eh, it just happens by chance, then I am left with only more questions and for me it would lead me to doubt, and i have enough problems as it is that i do not need any more of either at this point in time.
