I am late for my appointment because I chose to hurry up and finish this blog post before leaving my house
Do you know what I hear a lot that makes me want to scream?
"Everything happens for a reason."
When someone says that, it is usually the most ridiculously wrong time to assert my belief that, "Nah, they don't. Maybe some things, but not everything." The sayer has likely experienced a setback or tragedy or difficult time and is trying to find solace through her faith that God is the master puppeteer, orchestrating our daily interactions, choices and consequences of every little thing that goes down on this here planet.
When I hear an LDS person say that, I get especially frustrated. Doesn't that idea fly in the face of our doctrine? Have we been paying attention during General Conference, or haven't we?
Sure. God can and perhaps very frequently does intervene on our behalf. The power of prayer is real and miracles happen all the time. There are always opportunities for growth and learning and exercising of faith when bad things happen, but does that mean the bad thing happened because specifically so we could have that test or trial of faith or growth experience? I don't believe it. Some things happen, just because they do.
There is (at least) one experience in my life that I can directly attribute to the Hand of the Lord and I believe that will all my heart. There are countless other times when prayers have been answered and I have have been aware that the Lord has been aware and mindful of me. But I do not subscribe to the school of thought that Everything Happens For A Reason. And I'm fairly confident I could find a giant pile of church literature to back me up on this.
What think ye?
"Everything happens for a reason."
When someone says that, it is usually the most ridiculously wrong time to assert my belief that, "Nah, they don't. Maybe some things, but not everything." The sayer has likely experienced a setback or tragedy or difficult time and is trying to find solace through her faith that God is the master puppeteer, orchestrating our daily interactions, choices and consequences of every little thing that goes down on this here planet.
When I hear an LDS person say that, I get especially frustrated. Doesn't that idea fly in the face of our doctrine? Have we been paying attention during General Conference, or haven't we?
Sure. God can and perhaps very frequently does intervene on our behalf. The power of prayer is real and miracles happen all the time. There are always opportunities for growth and learning and exercising of faith when bad things happen, but does that mean the bad thing happened because specifically so we could have that test or trial of faith or growth experience? I don't believe it. Some things happen, just because they do.
There is (at least) one experience in my life that I can directly attribute to the Hand of the Lord and I believe that will all my heart. There are countless other times when prayers have been answered and I have have been aware that the Lord has been aware and mindful of me. But I do not subscribe to the school of thought that Everything Happens For A Reason. And I'm fairly confident I could find a giant pile of church literature to back me up on this.
What think ye?
Comments
We suffer consequences from our own actions and the actions of others and I don't believe that the Lord is acting upon us in every instance. Could I still learn something from going through lung cancer? Of course. Do I necessarily need to look to God to ask, Why did you give me lung cancer? I find a lot of comfort in the belief that God can and probably does intervene in our lives somewhere between never and always.
AG
Often bad things happen because of bad decisions that we make, but instead of owning up to it and learning from it we will just say that it happened for God's own reason and leave the responsibility on His doorstep.
I also believe that difficult things will inevitably happen to all of us because we are mortal and that is part of the experience of life. There may not be a reason for everything, but in every thing that happens to us we have the power and responsibility for how we exercise our agency to deal with it, which is where I think the Lord can play a major supporting role if we will let Him.
So personally I'd agree that the "everything happens for a reason" doctrine is false, but the "I am responsible for how I react/respond to the things that happen to me" doctrine is true.
We have agency, but our H.F. knows what our choice will be anyway (that whole all-knowing thing). I feel God's presence in my life every day.
But the small stuff, nah, nobody cares about that. Not even me (most of the time).
Okay, I don't know if any of that made sense. Someday I will have a long conversation with you, Emily! I think you are awesome and I love reading your thoughts. Have fun with Sarah today and give her a hug for me!
As for your dad or your infertility, my personal opinion is that those trials aren't handed down from God, unless you have specific reason to believe that they are. I know some people believe with all their hearts that specific events happened by divine direction, and who am I to argue? I just don't think that everything does.
I hope to meet you soon, too, Kelly!