{"id":4518,"date":"2013-09-23T00:05:35","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T07:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=4518"},"modified":"2013-09-22T23:26:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T06:26:37","slug":"happenstance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2013\/09\/23\/happenstance\/","title":{"rendered":"Happenstance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The universe is random. Despite the more fatalistic branches of Christianity, and other religions, the biblical picture\u2014I believe\u2014is not at odds with our experience of the world. That is, I believe that God has given us freedom, and that freedom is prized greatly by God\u2014so much so that he was willing to let Adam and Eve have the freedom to choose badly: all that has followed that original bad choice on the part of the founders of humanity was worth it from God\u2019s perspective. Otherwise, if goodness, for instance, and behaving well, were what mattered most to God, he would not have granted such freedom to our ancestor and ancestress. <\/p>\n

I think likewise, that happenstance is a part of life as well. Sometimes things just happen. Consider the words of God in relation to accidentally killing someone when they hit him:<\/p>\n

However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. (Exodus 21:13)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or:<\/p>\n

For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. (Deuteronomy 19:5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or consider the time when a king was killed by happenstance:<\/p>\n

But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, \u201cWheel around and get me out of the fighting. I\u2019ve been wounded.\u201d All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died. (1 Kings 22:34-35)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It just happened at \u201crandom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The picture that we get of the world in the Bible is not one of determinism. Instead, people make choices and they are held accountable for those choices. Things may turn out well, or not.<\/p>\n

Investing is unpredictable, and how things will turn out for you? Who knows?:<\/p>\n

Ship your grain across the sea;
\nafter many days you may receive a return.
\n Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
\nyou do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
\nIf clouds are full of water,
\nthey pour rain on the earth.
\nWhether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
\nin the place where it falls, there it will lie.
\n Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
\nwhoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
\nAs you do not know the path of the wind,
\nor how the body is formed in a mother\u2019s womb,
\nso you cannot understand the work of God,
\nthe Maker of all things.
\n6Sow your seed in the morning,
\nand at evening let your hands not be idle,
\nfor you do not know which will succeed,
\nwhether this or that,
\nor whether both will do equally well. (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then, this passage seems rather explicit about the randomness of existence:<\/p>\n

I have seen something else under the sun:
\nThe race is not to the swift
\nor the battle to the strong,
\nnor does food come to the wise
\nor wealth to the brilliant
\nor favor to the learned;
\nbut time and chance happen to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are free to make our choices. Our lives are not deterministic.<\/p>\n

Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The universe is random. Despite the more fatalistic branches of Christianity, and other religions, the biblical picture\u2014I believe\u2014is not at odds with our experience of the world. That is, I believe that God has given us freedom, and that freedom … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4519,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions\/4519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}