Everything Happens For A Reason

My wife and I got into a, uh, discussion the other night about the statement, often well intended, that 'everything happens for a reason.'

I personally cannot stand the statement. Acts of heinous disregard for the value of human life all happen for a reason? Absurd, especially if we are Christian (though truth be told many Christians fall prey to this without giving the statement much thought).

The 'everything happens for a reason' statement if we are not careful makes it sound as if God planned for someone to be murdered, killed in a car crash or far, far worse, as if it was all pre-planned. Again, on that assumption it is absurd.

I hold to the view that we were created in the image of God, i.e. we are created in Christ. Christ is what it means to be truly human; we find our reality in Him. However, as fallen creatures, we are subject to sin and the darkness that is in the world. It is this that leads to the all the heinous and hideous activities we see around us; it is not God that does, or causes, this.

So 'everything happens for a reason' needs to be qualified. I refuse to believe that in the plan of God I would be sexually traumatized at a very young age which would send me spiraling down the path of addiction for decades. 

Did He know this? That is a different question. I don't know that He knows as we know but I would say that if He knows all then all possibilities are already present in Him. There is no deliberation in Him, all things, all possibilities, already exist.  Does this destroy free will? I don't believe so. I believe we have the ability to choose freely but we are limited in the choices we make based on how we are constituted. 

And our choices continue to 'collapse the wave function' of other choices. The infinitude of possible choices becomes further and further restricted with each choice we make.

Until we meet Christ. He introduces us to the unlimited possibilities of humanity. Not our humanity, fundamentally flawed, but a humanity that transcends death. We can taste of this here and now in Him but it gives us a hope in the possibility of a future beyond this mortal coil.

I would put the statement something like this: things happen and then we find a reason. Or, more theologically, things happen and the Father, as a loving Father does, has our back and what was intended for evil works for good. 

As for the 'why' of things happening. I admit this is the biggest challenge of all as we may truthfully never know. If knowing the 'why' is required for our healing we may be slow to heal and even when we do know it doesn't always help.

It is only when we find ourselves resting in Him, allowing His life to work through us, that we begin to heal and in healing we move toward becoming whole.