Does God choose when we die?

[catholic1seeks]

I don’t mean to sound so strict.

What I do mean is when someone dies, is it because it is their “time”?

When someone dies, you will hear so many people say such things as, “It was his time to go,” to ease the pain of the loss of a loved one. Is this true? Is there a planned “time” for each of us? Does God choose when/how we leave this Earth?

Someone close to our family was hit and killed by a car yesterday. He was riding a bike. It was in the morning; he was wearing a helmet and neon-green shirt. He was a dad and a husband.

Why did he die?
Was it his time?

 

[masterjedi747]

When someone dies, you will hear so many people say such things as, “It was his time to go”… Is this true? Is there a planned “time” for each of us? Does God choose when/how we leave this Earth?

In general, yes. Although you could reasonably argue that it gets broken down a little further: either God chooses when you’re going to die, or He allows another person with free will (including yourself) to choose when you die.

But in either case, the fact remains that Divine Providence is still 100% in control… God could always choose to prevent that other person’s plan to kill you from succeeding. So in general, yes, God’s Divine Providence is always in complete control, and everything that happens has a purpose, even if only a small one, though we might not understand what it is.

Someone close to our family was hit and killed by a car yesterday. He was riding a bike. It was in the morning; he was wearing a helmet and neon-green shirt. He was a dad and a husband.

Why did he die?

I have absolutely no idea. Maybe because his death will bring his family closer together, or give them the chance to grow closer to God through this tragedy. Maybe this man needs to be in heaven, praying for his friends and family. Maybe people around him need to be reminded of how little time we have in this life, and how important it is to always be prepared for death.

Maybe for a million other reasons, the extent of which only God can know, and which we won’t completely understand until we get to heaven and finally see the “big picture” for ourselves. Until then, we just have to trust that God knows what He’s doing, and try to understand that, in an almost incomprehensible way, everything that’s happening is for the best.

Was it his time?

In short, yes.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

 

[Newbie2]

I don’t mean to sound so strict.

What I do mean is when someone dies, is it because it is their “time”?

When someone dies, you will hear so many people say such things as, “It was his time to go,” to ease the pain of the loss of a loved one. Is this true? Is there a planned “time” for each of us? Does God choose when/how we leave this Earth?

Someone close to our family was hit and killed by a car yesterday. He was riding a bike. It was in the morning; he was wearing a helmet and neon-green shirt. He was a dad and a husband.

Why did he die?
Was it his time?

God being all knowing and all powerful, yes, it could be said that he “allows” our time to die as MJ747 wrote.

He knew in advance that this would happen. Does that mean he willed it to happen? I guess in some way, yes, by allowing the circumstances preceeding it.

Why? We don’t know. Perhaps he had done all that God had planned for him. Someday, when it’s your turn, you’ll be able to find these things out, I guess.

Condolences on your loss.

 

[Deconi]

I have an understanding that every soul has its ‘time’ of existence set beforehand.

It can NEVER be shortened…but it can be EXTENDED!

Don’t quote me though! I haven’t completed the research!

 

[SilentKnight]

I don’t mean to sound so strict.

What I do mean is when someone dies, is it because it is their “time”?

When someone dies, you will hear so many people say such things as, “It was his time to go,” to ease the pain of the loss of a loved one. Is this true? Is there a planned “time” for each of us? Does God choose when/how we leave this Earth?

I think for a select few people, the answer is yes. For all others, no.

Someone close to our family was hit and killed by a car yesterday. He was riding a bike. It was in the morning; he was wearing a helmet and neon-green shirt. He was a dad and a husband.

Why did he die?
Was it his time?

The problem with suggesting that “it was a person’s time to go” in every single circumstance in which someone dies is that this tends to trivialize and relativize things like the label “tragedy”, and the immorality of murder, and definitely confuses the whole issue of free will.

Was So and So murdered because “it was their time”, so God had to go find somebody to off them because He could see in advance that they weren’t going to go any other way and He hadn’t written any more minutes into their life script?.. Eek. That’s…not very tenable.

The reason we call murder mortal sin is because it is - It is expressly and completely contrary to the will of God. Someone who is murdered is a victim of someone else’s immoral free choice to end their life. It’s not as if “time was just up”. Someone who consciously and voluntarily smokes two packs of cigarettes a day for twenty years and dies at age 55 from cancer is dying at age 55 because they freely chose to make poor decisions regarding their health, not because God decided they would die at age 55 of cancer, regardless.

To suggest that God is “in control” and that He can work all things for good are perfectly acceptable and even scriptural notions. To suggest that everyone “has a time” and that they are going to “go when it’s time for them to go regardless” is not.

SK

 

[weaponx88]

I strongly DISAGREE that God chooses when we die. When some say “it was their time” or, worse yet, “it was Gods will” or “God took so and so” I believe people are using those words to comfort others since they really do not know what to say.

Death came (both spiritual and literal) because of the “fall” and it because of that one incident that we die, not because God chose our time.
It is rather silly to think that God is on His throne picking when and who is to die today.

If one is a drug attict and he over doses and dies did God choose his time?
If one overeats and becomes obese and dies of heart related reasons did God choose his time?
If a baby is born greatly deformed and dies within hours did God choose his or her time?
As the original poster stated about the persons death by getting hit by the car, it was an accident…not Gods will.

 

[thistle]

I have an understanding that every soul has its ‘time’ of existence set beforehand.

It can NEVER be shortened…but it can be EXTENDED!

Don’t quote me though! I haven’t completed the research!

I don’t understand what you mean. The soul exists forever. Its immortal. It does not have a specific time period.

 

[cynic]

I think for a select few people, the answer is yes. For all others, no.

The problem with suggesting that “it was a person’s time to go” in every single circumstance in which someone dies is that this tends to trivialize and relativize things like the label “tragedy”, and the immorality of murder, and definitely confuses the whole issue of free will.

Was So and So murdered because “it was their time”, so God had to go find somebody to off them because He could see in advance that they weren’t going to go any other way and He hadn’t written any more minutes into their life script?.. Eek. That’s…not very tenable.

The reason we call murder mortal sin is because it is - It is expressly and completely contrary to the will of God. Someone who is murdered is a victim of someone else’s immoral free choice to end their life. It’s not as if “time was just up”. Someone who consciously and voluntarily smokes two packs of cigarettes a day for twenty years and dies at age 55 from cancer is dying at age 55 because they freely chose to make poor decisions regarding their health, not because God decided they would die at age 55 of cancer, regardless.

Thank you, a post that makes some sense.

 

[Methodi]

I don’t mean to sound so strict.

What I do mean is when someone dies, is it because it is their “time”?

When someone dies, you will hear so many people say such things as, “It was his time to go,” to ease the pain of the loss of a loved one. Is this true? Is there a planned “time” for each of us? Does God choose when/how we leave this Earth?

Someone close to our family was hit and killed by a car yesterday. He was riding a bike. It was in the morning; he was wearing a helmet and neon-green shirt. He was a dad and a husband.

Why did he die?
Was it his time?

I would say Yes, it was his time to cross over to another plateau, sorry for your loss. A Two yr old baby from my parish died suddenly, why?

 

[tdefender]

I see how people feel that God decides when we die because it goes against our concept of free will. However, because God is sovereign and His will is supreme, all things happen because God ordains them - good or bad. Yes, people die violent deaths, some because of their own doing and others by uncontrollable circumstances. But as far as free will goes, man’s free will is actually limited to our sinful ways. Adam and Eve were the only ones up till now who have had true free will. A curse and judgement and death came to them because they decided to disobey God. They had control over their destiny, but we don’t. Free will for us is limited because we are controlled by the curse of death because we have been deemed sinful since Adam. “it is appointed for man once to die, after this the judgement” Heb 9:27. Because of this curse of sin, death must come and it has an appointed time. We don’t make the appointment - God does.
The ultimate appointment was when Christ died on the cross. Christ knew, it was God’s will to allow him to die. Christ put it in prospective as he is threatened with death by Pilate - “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” John 19:10-11. Nothing happens without God’s ordination.

 

[Miguel321]

I think people say things like that to ease the pain, but in a way, they’re just empty words. To say that God killed the father and Husband riding the bike “because it was his time to go” means that now, a widow is going to be heartbroken, and the child is going to grow up without a father, because “God wanted it.”. Many struggles will have to be made. People rationalize this by saying that God is mysterious… but simply put, if he hadn’t gone out for a bike ride, he wouldn’t have died. It all boils down to cause and effect, really.

 

[CatholicRoots]

I think in a broad sense the answer is Yes. However I think a distinction needs to be made between Gods direct willing of something and Gods permission of something, in other words, indirect willing of it. If God did not will it nor permit it how could he be all powerful? He would be incapable of stopping something, since he wouldn’t have willed it nor permitted it and it still happened. e.g. A persons death. Therefore he must either will or permit it. This seems quite an obscure and disconcerting doctrine at first. Since how can God will or permit someones death? The ultimate answer is we don’t have the answers most of the time.

However I think a further distinction needs to be drawn, that between the image of God there on his throne picking and choosing who to die, and that of the eternal God having an elaborate complex intricate providential plan that is unfathomably interconnected in which he allows certain painful events to happen for an overarching greater purpose however inscrutable these decisions seems for us. This distinction can be reduced to that between a whimsical indifferent God, when reduced to the former simplistic view or a loving, intelligent and intimately caring God who has a providential plan, in the latter view.

In most cases, including yours , I think it’s safest to say that God unwantingly allowed it; willed it seems more active on Gods part rather than Him choosing to be passive. (I say unwantingly, not as if unwilling, but as in because of the fall this effect (death) is inevitable but has to be allowed because God has providentially ordained for free will to exist and its effects to be permitted. Since a world with free will must needs be better than a world without it.)

 

[EmilyCatholic]

My limited view on this is that, because God knows we’re all going to die at some point anyway ( thanks to the Fall) he chooses to allow people die at a time which will be for the greater good. Sorry for your loss. My 2 year old son died 5 years ago and I still don’t know why he died when he did. It’s a constant torment. I often wonder when my time will come

 

[domNoah]

I think for a select few people, the answer is yes. For all others, no.

The problem with suggesting that “it was a person’s time to go” in every single circumstance in which someone dies is that this tends to trivialize and relativize things like the label “tragedy”, and the immorality of murder, and definitely confuses the whole issue of free will.

Was So and So murdered because “it was their time”, so God had to go find somebody to off them because He could see in advance that they weren’t going to go any other way and He hadn’t written any more minutes into their life script?.. Eek. That’s…not very tenable.

The reason we call murder mortal sin is because it is - It is expressly and completely contrary to the will of God. Someone who is murdered is a victim of someone else’s immoral free choice to end their life. It’s not as if “time was just up”. Someone who consciously and voluntarily smokes two packs of cigarettes a day for twenty years and dies at age 55 from cancer is dying at age 55 because they freely chose to make poor decisions regarding their health, not because God decided they would die at age 55 of cancer, regardless.

To suggest that God is “in control” and that He can work all things for good are perfectly acceptable and even scriptural notions. To suggest that everyone “has a time” and that they are going to “go when it’s time for them to go regardless” is not.

SK

Wrong…
Jesus Christ was murdered yet it was not contrary to the will of God. There are numerous texts in the Old Testament to back this up about God delivering the Jews into the hands of their enemies.

**“Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” **– Wis. 11:21

 

[domNoah]

I think people say things like that to ease the pain, but in a way, they’re just empty words. To say that God killed the father and Husband riding the bike “because it was his time to go” means that now, a widow is going to be heartbroken, and the child is going to grow up without a father, because “God wanted it.”. Many struggles will have to be made. People rationalize this by saying that God is mysterious… but simply put, if he hadn’t gone out for a bike ride, he wouldn’t have died. It all boils down to cause and effect, really.

Gods ways are above our ways, sense God is the first cause of all things and created all things and holds all things up in existence he does decide what happens.

 

[thistle]

This is a 4 year old thread. We are supposed to open new threads and not resurrect old ones.