Everything for a reason

[creekster]

You hear people say that everything happens for a reason. Do you think this is true? Does EVERYTHING happen for a reason, with a purpose? It seems to me that most of life is pretty random and chance ridden.

[smokymountainrain]

You hear people say that everything happens for a reason. Do you think this is true? Does EVERYTHING happen for a reason, with a purpose? It seems to me that most of life is pretty random and chance ridden.

I burned my finger last weekend pretty bad. I can't think of a good reason why that had to happen. That I'm aware of, it didn't change my life in any way - I went about doing the same stuff I would have otherwise done - but it hurt like hell for a few hours.

[Commando]

I burned my finger last weekend pretty bad. I can't think of a good reason why that had to happen. That I'm aware of, it didn't change my life in any way - I went about doing the same stuff I would have otherwise done - but it hurt like hell for a few hours.

Sometimes the reason is just because you touched something hot.

[Commando]

You hear people say that everything happens for a reason. Do you think this is true? Does EVERYTHING happen for a reason, with a purpose? It seems to me that most of life is pretty random and chance ridden.

I think SOME things happen for a reason. The rest is us navigating this universe effectively while being subject to the same elements and laws of physics as the asteroids and atomic particles rushing through the vast emptiness.

I had a buddy who went through a rough divorce due to his ex wife's infidelity and it would drive him NUTS when people would say to him reassuringly that everything happens for a reason. Just a laughably stupid and thoughtless thing to say as a go-to.

[beefytee]

You hear people say that everything happens for a reason. Do you think this is true? Does EVERYTHING happen for a reason, with a purpose? It seems to me that most of life is pretty random and chance ridden.

Back to the random/free agency thing, eh?

I've been pretty vocal on this. I think there is a grand over arching scheme of things, and to reach that end there will be artifacts that seem pretty random when taken in their local context.

Some would interpret this to mean that I don't believe in free agency. I will say that I believe in free agency as much as I believe that time is constant. For all intents and purposes, they are true. I trust synchronized clocks and I have never not had choice.

[creekster]

Back to the random/free agency thing, eh?

I guess so. There must be a reason for it.

[Omaha 680]

Sometimes the reason is just because you touched something hot.

There is difference between cause and reason. Every event has a cause (or causes). But not everything has a reason behind it.

[Omaha 680]

I had a buddy who went through a rough divorce due to his ex wife's infidelity and it would drive him NUTS when people would say to him reassuringly that everything happens for a reason. Just a laughably stupid and thoughtless thing to say as a go-to.

Yes this line should not be used ever to comfort. Maybe, maybe when we are on the other side we will find out it's true. But it does nothing to help those who suffer. I can't picture Jesus saying "this is happening for a reason" to someone who is suffering. I can picture him simply embracing them and weeping with them though.

[creekster]

so if some things have a "reason", meaning a purpose outside of our own conscious choice (or consequence of a conscious choice), how do we know which do and which don't?

[Jacob]

You hear people say that everything happens for a reason. Do you think this is true? Does EVERYTHING happen for a reason, with a purpose? It seems to me that most of life is pretty random and chance ridden.

Absolutely not. And anyone would be a fool to think so.

[creekster]

Absolutely not. And anyone would be a fool to think so.

Does ANYTHING happen for a reason? IOW, are we subjected to ANY experience in particular for a purpose outside of our own choice/circumstance?

[Jacob]

Does ANYTHING happen for a reason? IOW, are we subjected to ANY experience in particular for a purpose outside of our own choice/circumstance?

I'm sure most people who believe in God/fate/karma/higher being think so.

[creekster]

I'm sure most people who believe in God/fate/karma/higher being think so.

Do you?

[wuapinmon]

If we believe that everything happens for a reason, we run into the theodicy problem. I do not believe that things happen for a reason, if so, then god is a respecter of persons and upbraideth a lot. When Katrina hit NOLA, I got a lot of this kind of stuff from people, one person, the very week after the storm while talking about the black members of the church, even provoked me into saying "stfu" not abbreviated, to them, at church.

However, my opinions run into the problem of foreordination. How is it that we can have free will and god can know what's going to happen.

1. Occam claimed that foreordination was causal....meaning that if Judas had chosen, of his own free will, not to betray Jesus, then Zechariah would've never prophesied it.
2. Aquinas claimed that God exists outside of time so that all points in time are visible and the same to him, thus allowing him to allow prophecies.
3. Luis de Molina claimed that God created the world in such a way so that each and every one of us would choose to do what God wanted to happen, of our own free will and choice.
4. Calvin claimed that God did whatever he wanted and we're just living out the script.
5. Gersonides held that God knows every possible decision that we can make in any situation, but he does not know what we will choose.
6. Maimonides held that God is omnipotent and we have free will and our minds cannot understand how this can be, but it is, nevertheless.

Myself, I follow Gersonides. If there is a God, he might exist outside of time like Aquinas says, but I don't think he knows everything I will choose. However, Paul does tell us that we'll never be tested beyond our capacity to resist, so if God does indeed know everything, then every time I have ever sinned, it's on God, not on me, because he should've known that I would've fallen, making him the author of my sin.

[Pelado]

Does ANYTHING happen for a reason? IOW, are we subjected to ANY experience in particular for a purpose outside of our own choice/circumstance?

I'm sure most people who believe in God/fate/karma/higher being think so.

Without that underlying belief in some type of higher power/fate, I'm not sure who/what could be subjecting us to particular experiences. That said, an underlying belief in a higher power does not mandate that a person ascribe to the idea of everything (or even just a few things) happening for a reason.

As such, those who believe everything happens for a reason would be limited to a subset of those with faith.