Do things really happen "for a reason"?

Certainly things happen for a reason, but not always a good reason.

A man gets drunk after fighting with his wife, gets in the car, and runs over a four year old girl.

That happened for a reason, but not a good reason.

When we become connected with God; and put our faith in Him He is able to begin to make everything in our life work together for good. God used the murder of Jesus Christ by the hands of wicked men to serve as the basis for forgiveness for the sins of the world. Evil is real, but God is greater than evil and He can turn evil to good, when we turn to Him in faith, and by the Gospel, allow Him to take control of our life.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

Listen how God used the worst thing that ever happened to this man to become the best thing that ever happened to him..........

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-396918860...

i see you already have some non christians answering you and that tells me their bold in their beliefs. anyway ill answer your question quite simply. god has a plan for ever individual human being. weither or not you choose to follow the plan is up to the person. god does give free will but have you ever attempted to lie to your parents then you immidiately stub your toe? that is an example of things happening for a reason. he wanted you to not lie by giving you a little encintive. or say your hamster dies and your parents say everything happens for a reason. maybe god intended that to happen so your parents would feel sad for you and get you a dog. little stuff like this is what god does even though he gives free will. this stuff doesn't always happen though. sometimes he lets you have your depression or sin and sooner or later, you will realize that what you did is a mistake and try harder not to make it again. so yes, you could say things happen for a reason, a biblical reason. god bless you and i hope i answered your question.

As an agnostic, I unquestionably tend to interpret ideas from distinctive factors of view: one million) Tragedies require severe coping measures, and the theory that there is explanation for the insufferable is a convenience, plus the guy maximum grieved via the progression will finally come to a reason which she (or he) will locate perfect to describe the inexplicable and for this reason recover from the main painful era of mourning. 2) A theory in God will endow the committed with the flexibility to understand and settle for the tragedy as His will, consequently permitting the surviving sufferer to recover from her (his) suffering to 3 degree. 3) Supposing that the Cosmos is precisely a actual prevalence without the earnings of a writer or deity, perhaps there are complicated reason and result regulations which predetermine the entire evolution of that Universe to the tiniest element, via that technique ensuring the meaningfulness of all that transpires interior of it. end: "each and every thing occurs for a reason" because of the fact the two that's predestined, God will finally show the meaning, or that's human nature to rationalize the insufferable with the intention to stay to tell the tale it. no remember if that's patently unfaithful, what does that remember on the grounds that in many cases human beings will attempt to make certain tragedies (or lesser happenings) interior the main comforting way attainable? And, scientifically, there is, in spite of each and every thing, a reason (in spite of the undeniable fact that, unpalatable) why any tragedy transpires: a mutated cellular (maximum cancers), somebody's carelessness (a deadly twist of fate), a failure of omission (a suicide), a feeling of one's indomitability (a drug overdose)...

I am a Catholic to, and I believe we are in situations and we must decide for ourselves which door to choose...If you stay in a marriage then that's the door with all the goodies and not many goodies you need to face in your life...You and your spouse went thru this door together...Also, lets say you left your spouse, you will enter another door and it will lead you into other situations....No matter what door you close, and the other opens its your freedom of choice and God is always with us no matter what...Destiny is what you make of it....When you choose and stick to it, then its your Destiny....

Plan things out, if it doesnt work out that's how it is...if you choose to stay then you must deal and take it..If not another door opens and you might find something wonderful, a new job that might lead you into traveling and maybe find a spouse and kids later on...We dont know...Every door leads us to a different road, some bumpy and some smooth.....

You cannot at once believe in an ALL POWERFUL God and at the same time believe that EVERYTHING or at least everything human falls into the category of freewill and therefore out of the category of what God controls. I wonder, have you heard of ...

1. Divine intercession?

2. Divine providence?

God reserves the right to at ANY TIME intercede in events! Take 9/11. The two planes that hit the twin towers, according to the plan, were to take off MUCH closer together! They were planned to hit closer together too! Recall that one of the planes was delayed! The delay on takeoff meant a delay in impact. That 40 minutes or so difference in time between the first plane hitting and the second was HUGE! It gave everyone more warning, more time to act, to piece events together, etc. That single delay in takeoff saved countless lives!

I have heard atheists mock Christians thousands of times since 9/11, saying: "Where was your God on 9/11." Friend, IF God just sat back and let evil unfold unchecked that day, we might have lost 30,000 Americans instead of just over 3,000!

Examples of God's divine intervention and providence:

1. The attack in 1993 better prepared New Yorkers and WTC officials for this attack.

2. The planes hit much higher on the buildings than they could have. Instead of hitting at the 70th and 100th floors, can you imagine the devastation of them hitting at the 4th or 5th floors? All the escape routes would have been blocked all the way up!!! No firefighters get in and no one comes out!!! Why so high on the buildings???

3. Can you imagine if the attacks had happened later in the day, like ... say 10:30 AM, after everyone who was going to report for work had reported? The first plane struck before many had gotten there!!! Why so early????

4. The highjackers made stupid mistakes like leaving their microphones on to the tower while telling the passengers they had been hijacked. Freewill says they don't make that mistake!!! Is that not a HUGE blessing from God???

5. Many of the planes weren't filled to capacity. Blessing!

6. I've already mentioned the delays between the two twin tower planes. Do you realize that it not only gave countless people warning to not go in the buildings or to get out, but it also gave the passengers on one of the other planes the warning to down it before it hit anything.

And on and on. You have to be utterly blind to see just those hijackers' freewill that day! God was there front and center. He allowed them to do their thing and He did His. He most certainly had a purpose in allowing them the success they enjoyed. It unnerved us! How many people began praying again, began considering the direction of their lives, etc.? God uses evil! God can use anything! But He most certainly interceded to minimize it!!!

I'll give you two more examples.

1. You've heard a million cases where people take out contracts on people's lives. Under your way of thinking, they have freewill to not only do it but to pay to have it done. But how many of them fail to kill the person they intended to kill? IF it's just a question of freewill as you say then ... why don't the people die who are intended to die? Say ... I'm on the way to kill someone and I'm stopped because my tail light is out. That routine traffic stop results in my arrest and the would-be victim's life being spared! Praise God, right???

2. I saw this one on TV tonight. A guy was a convenience store owner. Some evil doer comes in with a gun and ... just starts shooting at him. He was hit twice. One of the bullets shattered his spleen. During surgery the surgeon discovered a cancerous tumor in the spleen.

The guy was THRILLED he got shot!!! He was like ... it was like God guided that man to my store. It was like God guided the bullet on just the perfect path to hit my spleen. They found out about a tumor that could have killed me had not been shot. Providence! Divine intercession! And yes, the gunman's freewill too!

After all, isn't that what we say about the murder of Jesus? "They intended it for evil, but God intended it for good!" God can and does use anything and everything! God is ALWAYS in control, even within the concept of freewill. LOOK for Him in situations! Pray for special wisdom to see God's divine hand! It's always there!

Ask yourself: WHO guided me to your question tonight? I could be watching a show, playing pool, or whatever. Yet, here I sit ... trying to get you to see God's divine hand at work.

Lord bless!!!

Things fall in place because of choices others make.

Given this.

You can not have free will if you believe your god to be omniscient and omnipotent. IT. IS. IMPOSSIBLE.

Not really. "Pattern recognition" is a part of the human psyche. People will see what they want.

Yet another problem from a blatant contradiction with logic. It's a fairy tale, what do you expect?

Yes, but a fictional sky clown is never that reason.

That saying needs to die. When someone says it to me they might as well say, I don't care about you or your problems.