Recently off the coast of California there was a terrible tragedy. Alaska Airlines flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean and all 88 people on board were killed. Inevitably, after any disaster the television news will find someone who narrowly avoided it. When interviewed, this person will attribute his being stuck in traffic and missing his flight as an act of God. God has plans for him. He was saved for a reason.
The idea that everything happens for a reason is a popular one, and in a literal sense it is true. Gravity is the reason we don't fly off into space. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the reason 7,000 babies die each year. These, however, are not the kind of reasons people are referring to. The implication is that there is a greater plan that isn't clear from our vantage point; that God, in his wisdom, is guiding his flock.
Could this be true? Is God actively participating in events in our lives?
To help with the investigation of this issue, I would like to use an analogy of an imaginary business where God is an employee and Christianity is his supervisor. In this analogy God's name will be Godfrey and Christianity's name will be Christopher.
One day Godfrey is making changes to one of his accounts, Alaska Airlines flight 261, and as a result it loses 99% of its value. Christopher, upon noticing this, says to Godfrey, "You're a miracle worker! You saved the last 1%. You must have big plans for it."
For Christians, however, free will is the usual scapegoat when it comes to evil on Earth. Flight 261 crashed because of a faulty jackscrew. Engineers had the freedom to design the plane any way they chose and safety inspectors had the freedom to inspect or not inspect the faulty part. Any matter where a person has a choice to make, falls under the domain of free will. If life on Earth is to be a true test of man's eligibility to enter Heaven, then God cannot help or hinder a person by interfering with their choices; that would be cheating. Christians would argue then, that God can't be blamed for the crash. So let's add Free Will as a character named Friedrich and revisit the office scenario. After account Alaska Airlines flight 261 loses 99% of its value, Christopher says to Godfrey, "Friedrich really messed up that account, but you're a miracle worker to save that last percent."
But, if our plane crash survivor was caught in traffic, the other motorists that were clogging the freeway all CHOSE when to start their commute and CHOSE what freeway to take, so they are therefore all Friedrich's accounts. The entire plane crash event, both the fatalities and the survivor, is not a part of God's plan, so the real story should be: Christopher says to Friedrich, "You lost 99% of the AA261 account, but it couldn't be helped. Have you seen Godfrey?"
Using this same analogy, I'd like to take one other example. Everyone has probably met at least a few ex-junkies who have found Jesus. If so, you have also probably noticed that people who are prone to addiction make the most fervent Christians. These are people, who after having their lives devastated by substance abuse, realized they needed to make a change. For them, their recovery is proof of God's existence; Jesus has helped them change the course of their lives. I'll translate this Christian point of view into our office scenario: Christopher says to Godfrey, "Great job, Godfrey. You've taken all those accounts that Friedrich screwed up and straightened them out. If it wasn't for you we would have lost them all together."
Did Jesus really reach out to this person? It is interesting that the variety of Christianity they find is the same as the church where they have a friend or family, or the same as the local church that is most aggressively trying to convert people. People don't spontaneously become Southern Baptists, for example, in areas where there aren't any already. This says that Jesus did not reach out to this person, but that a member of a church CHOSE to reach out to them. The addicted person who had hit rock bottom CHOSE to make a change. So these are all, to use the office analogy, "Friedrich's accounts." This is how the analogy should really go:
Friedrich, after making the same errors repeatedly with the some of his accounts, learns from his mistakes and gets them back in order.
So again it turns out that none of these events are part of God's plans. Friedrich does all the work, both good and bad, and Godfrey is one of those employees whose co-workers all wonder, "What does that guy do anyway?" Their supervisor, Christopher, gives Godfrey credit for all the good things Friedrich does, while Friedrich remains accountable for his mistakes.
The evidence clearly indicates the following:
Christopher doesn't have a clue.
Godfrey should be fired.
Friedrich deserves a promotion.
C. A
