Everything is God's will

[mariam1976]

after all the prayer that i have done, i have come to the realisation that everything that happens in life is god’s will… so satan does not figure into it… which means that even when something bad happens… it is god doing it… dont know how to explain it based on God’s will always happens in your life… just so confused nowadays that dont even feel like praying anymore…

 

[awalt]

I don’t think that is true. God doesn’t micro-manage us. If he wanted to do that he would have created robots that obey his every word.

He created us in his image with a free will. God certainly permits everything to happen, because he could stop any of it. But does God kill a young child hit by a car? Of course not. He weeps more than the parents do when that happens, I assure you.

Bad stuff happens to us because that is the nature of the human condition. We are in an imperfect world tempted by the flesh, yes Satan, and the secular world around us. What God does do is always bring good out of evil - we may not see it, but it is there sooner or later, somewhere.

If you get a chance, read the story of how Louis Braille invented braille. He was a little boy struck blind by not one, but two incidents. God didn’t strike him blind, but did bring tremendous good that helped millions of blind people.

Lastly, pray to establish a loving relationship with God. It is communication with someone you love, not asking someone to do something. The more you pray to grow closer to God, and to love him, you will feel the love of God in return - and then you can face any cross thrown your way, because you feel like you are sitting in his lap all the time. If you want to, just start praying by saying “I love you God, thank you for…” and try to think of something new each day to thank him for in your life. He will draw you into to new forms of prayer if you do it often and mean it.

Good luck and I’ll pray for you too!

 

[RobNY]

after all the prayer that i have done, i have come to the realisation that everything that happens in life is god’s will… so satan does not figure into it… which means that even when something bad happens… it is god doing it… dont know how to explain it based on God’s will always happens in your life… just so confused nowadays that dont even feel like praying anymore…

Even Augustine, whose thought spawned many overzealous views of predestination and God’s sovereignty, would not attribute to God the cause of evil.

When speaking of the will, in, On Free Will (the end of bk. II):

We cannot but doubt that that movement of the will, that turning away from the Lord God, is sin; ut surely we cannot say that God is the author of sin? God, then, will not be the cause of that movement; but what will be its cause… Only hold fast to your pious opinion that no good thing can happen to you, to your senses or to your intelligence or to your thought, which does not come from God… all good is from God… Now that movement of “aversion,” which we admit is sin, is a defective movement; and all defect comes from nothing. Observe where it belongs and you will have no doubt that it does not belong to God

Now, we must be most careful not to attribute to God the cause of moral evil.

Even if you take Satan out of the picture-- there is still man’s free will. And when God created man’s free will, He ceded a portion of His sovereignty and allowed us to act freely, such that it is not God who wills, but we who will, when we will.

If this idea, that God causes evil, troubles you, then I recommend that you drop it as soon as you can. Remember that we can really only know about God’s own Self from Revelation, and not from reason. And God’s revelation-- Scripture, Tradition, and its interpreter, the Church, all reject the idea that God causes evil. This may be difficult, but take it on dark faith that God is good, and rid yourself of these problems!

-Rob

P.S. As for prayer, I recently read a book called, “Fire Within” by Fr. Thomas Dubay, which I enjoyed. He deals with the contemplatives and the deep infused prayer which God wants to give to all people who grow in holiness. I recommend this book if you want something to inspire your prayer life.

 

[puzzleannie]

after all the prayer that i have done, i have come to the realisation that everything that happens in life is god’s will… so satan does not figure into it… which means that even when something bad happens… it is god doing it… dont know how to explain it based on God’s will always happens in your life… just so confused nowadays that dont even feel like praying anymore…

no, sin is not God’s will. People act against God’s will all the time, so there is no way to blame Him for that. God does will that we accept the grace he gives us in all circumstances, good and evil, to overcome sin and evil, so that he can make good come from it.