Spiritual Journey, Part V

[greybeta]

In the movie V for Vendetta, the main character addresses the notion of coincidence. The hand of fate can be felt throughout the movie, though it cannot be formalized into words. There are no such things as coincidence, which is symbolized by a very intricate domino set up. Things that are intuitively obvious can be the most powerful in shaping our world views.

A good Christian would say it’s intuitively obvious that there are no coincidences because everything happens according to God’s plan, both good and evil. Am I saying God premeditated the deaths of billions of people? No, I think it’s more appropriate to say that God can use anything and everything for His purpose.

Ah, wait, that sounds a bit too deterministic, doesn’t it? I mean, if God gave us free will, shouldn’t we be free to determine our own lives? What’s the deal with everything being connected to some sort of master plan?

The way I see it, we do have free will. But the power of God is that he’s able to use any of the choices we make to glorify Him. Does that sound a bit too self-serving?

I think it’s quite the opposite, actually. Part of the problem is we often think of God as this impersonal, omniscient force when we should think of Him as our Heavenly Father. Think about parenting for a second. Do we venerate the kids who grow up to make their own decisions or the ones who do what their parents simply tell them to do?

If the universe conspires to help me, I believe it is God lending me a hand. I think it’s a good omen when I meet someone new because God intended for me to meet them. And when something terrible happens to me, I remember that God has a plan and purpose for my life.

Or would you rather have me believe in coincidence?

Comments

[purplkat.livejournal.com]

My father calls the idea of the universe conspiring to help a person the "Parking Space Power", because its most tangible and obvious effect is that he never, ever has to hunt for a parking space. (I inherited the Parking Space Power, and have been known to find parking spaces in downtown San Francisco, no easy feat, and it's scary what can happen when the two of us are in the car together.) But it manifests in other ways, larger ones in some cases.

I wrote a while ago about how I got the job at the yarn store. The owner wasn't even hiring when I first turned up, but in the space of about a month, two people announced that they were quitting, and a third dramatically reduced her hours, so a position opened up. The owner also decided to branch into beads, and while I only have a year of knitting experience, I have MANY years of bead and wire experience. In the end, despite the fact that I have no retail experience and the store was overstaffed only a month or two ago, there was a position for me when I was ready to take one. That's an example of the Parking Space Power.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Parking Space Power rules!!!

[nickel.livejournal.com]

People often cite tragic events as a sign that God pays no attention to the people he created. What you have here is the argument for the opposite, the abounding presence of fortuitous coincidence when attributed to God is sure proof that he has a close and personal interest in our everyday lives. It is how we live that determines our spiritual welfare, not how we die.

Recently I have felt very strongly that the good fortune that I am experiencing is not the result of effort and dedication on my part, but due instead to the conspiration of the universe, in other words, God. My response has been to dedicate myself more fully to my spiritual well-being, because it isn't for my temporal well-being that these blessings are being showered on me.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Our lives are ephemeral, but our souls are not. Of course, that's kind of hard to understand when there's so much bad stuff happening in the world.

[exrandu.livejournal.com]

I believe in fate, of a sort. My metaphor is thus: We are on a journey across the United States. Whether we know or do not know where we are going, we do not have a map. But God does. He knows all the decisions we could make. Our free will is infinite, our choices limited.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I rather like that analogy. :)

[exrandu.livejournal.com]

you're welcome. Feel free to use it.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I read a bit in your journal and user info and am adding you back.

Though I should warn you that not only is my journal not really interesting, I haven't been a good reader of flist lately either. I hope to improve though.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Welcome aboard. Just so you know, you are free to defriend me at any time if you think I've become too boring or write too much. I'm always on this quest to improve my writing in both content and style.

Also, I understand the whole getting behind on your reading list. Real life always comes before LJ.