Majority of us have heard the statement, “everything happens for a reason.” This statement is truthful if only, we are implying that we live in a world of cause and effect. In this case, our actions create consequences. The choices we make produce results. The consequence of deciding to receive a call or text may cause a collision where someone may be injured. As written in Scriptures, the Book of Exodus, Moses taught Israelites about cause and effect. Deciding to live according to God’s law of love for God and our neighbors results to life and a peaceful co-existence in the community.
Often, when we utter “Everything happens for a reason,” we don’t mean cause and effect. Usually, we are talking as a response to suffering, which we can sometimes prevent. For instance, one can fail exams because of failing to study hard. In this case, failing has not taken place due to some unhidden reason but because of choice. If something happens to someone and we offer our help to the person to overcome the difficult time, we assure them that it was meant to be. Unexpected or unfortunate deaths attracts statements such as “it is God’s will” or “it was meant to be.”
We intend to console others as they intend to console us when we say that God has a reason and purpose for causing certain situations in people’s lives. Our assumptions incline on the fact that circumstances in our lives reveal in line with God’s immutable and predetermined plans. Therefore, we tend to believe that, since God takes charge of everything, whatever that transpires in our lives reflects the purpose and will of God. This assumption and inherent beliefs on “everything happens for a reason” are what compelled me to undertake this research.
Everything Happens For a Reason (Hildreth)
To have answers to probing questions on this topic, I searched through the google scholar using key terms “everything happens for a reason.” I decided to use google scholar because it offers credible materials from diverse scholars. Besides, their materials are credible and reviewed by academicians, unlike other sources that are edited by the public and personal unapproved blog posts. The text was published by the Digital Commons at the State University of New York and is a description of the personal experience of the author which he asserts to be on cause and effect.
The author of the article believes that everyone has a plan about their life even though they are never aware of what can crop up unexpectedly. He states that most of the people have no explanation of why bad things happen to good people and why good things can happen to bad people. He believes that whatever that happens in someone’s life happens without a clear cause at first, but one can understand later when results are clear. Also, through his experience in almost missing admission in any of the three choices he had selected. Though he finally managed one (Brockport), he believes that all happened for the reason that has not been clear to him. The article connects with my beliefs that sometimes things can happen without any possible truthful explanation. Hildreth article supports my position that even though everything has a reason, we have the power to change the cause of an event. The opinion he conveys in the paper is valid, as there is no exact explanation of why things happen as they do.
Must God Create the Best (Adams)
I obtained this article from the KCC Library databases. I typed KCC database in the search engine. Went to Kingsborough Community College website, navigated to Library services, the student publications and finally The Odyssey, KCC yearbook where I accessed the article, Must God Create the Best. The article is a publication of Duke University Press. Robert Merrihew Adams, the author of this article, is a philosopher in religion, metaphysics, ethics, and the history of modern philosophy. To arrive at the conclusion that attitude guides what happens to a human being and sometimes the interpretations of things are based on someone beliefs, the researcher combined the ideas from other philosophers. These are Marilyn McCord Adams, Eric Lerner, Richard Brandt amongst other members of his graduate class, where he applied criticism on earlier propositions on whether God is the one who determines good or bad things in the human life. Adams article agrees with my belief to some point when he says that “even if there is no one that God would desire bad things to happen, He had a choice, after the fall of man for the world to manifest the defect of character.” This defect is some form of varying possibilities and realities of things happening not in a constant manner. In such cases, humans would have to believe in some form of power through their thinking of why things are the way they are. Adams work argues on evidence and logic, which to me is a valid discussion.
I carried limited primary research where I had an opportunity to interview five of my colleagues. I used two questions: What do you believe in how things occur? Does everything happen for a reason? Of the five, four believed that everything happens for a reason we cannot determine. However, one of them said that even though something happens for a reason, God has given human beings freedom to alter the course of things. Therefore, not everything that happens according to God’s will but human beings determines what happens to them. At the end of the study, I found that there is not the standard or genuine way to justify that everything happens for a reason.
Relating my Investigation to Julie Beck’s ‘This Article Won’t Change Your Mind.”
Much as I believe that everything happens for a reason, most of the article I have read carry with them conflicting views. In her article, Julie claims that people tend to be ingrained in their own beliefs or convictions that criticize information that conflicts with them and incline towards that which affirms their beliefs (Beck). In this case, whether everything happens for a reason is a matter in agreement with someone belief to either accept or dismiss the information. In this case, due to accepting their beliefs as true, external influence would have a very little impact on their self-affirmed ideas.
This research has added to my previously limited interpretation of people’s opinions on life. Initially, I believed that everything happens for a reason. However, I have discovered that one can alter the course of what is to happen. We have the choice to choose what happens, and the reason is us. Due to other’s logical interpretations of the cause and effect, I have become more flexible than my previous position on this topic.
References
Adams, Robert Merrihew. "Must God Create the Best." Philosophical Review 81.3 (2011): 317-332. .
Beck, Julie. "This Article Won’t Change Your Mind." The Atlantic 13 March 2017. .
Hildreth, Allyson. "Everything Happens for a Reason." Brockport Believes Essay Project (2014): 23. .
