Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

Hello, you beautiful readers... Welcome back.
Step into my office and let's talk 'does Everything Happen for a Reason?'

What do you think? Does everything happen for a reason? I am curious what you thing on the matter.

"Everything happens for a reason." A while back, during a phone conversation, someone said those words to me, everything happens for a reason. But... does it? Do we really know that statement to be true? What do we use as a guide to determine if we should even believe that way? So I have set out a challenge, answer this question, 'Does everything happen for a reason?'

For many years, we have all heard that 'this time of the years' is the most depressing time of the year. This article, The Most Depressing Time Of The Year In The Most Depressed Nation On The Planet had some interesting things to say about 'depression' and 'this time of the year.' To quote part of the article: 

For large numbers of Americans, 

the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas 

is filled with stress, anxiety, loneliness and family squabbles. 

No surprise there! That was the way of it in our family for years. The article also attributes depression to, get this, the pharmaceutical industry, in which, many of the anti-depressants are dangerous, and there are higher rate of suicides in those who take anti-depressants. Wow... I HAD NO IDEA!!!    (photo taken from the above article)

So, where do we turn for sound advice? There are a lot of 'self help' books out there. How do we choose one? Self help books can be good, but what about when they conflict with other self help books? What then? Well... there is one self help book out there that has been around for centuries, and to quote Wikipedia 'According to Guinness World Records, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with over 5 billion copies sold and distributed...,' again, No surprise there! But why is it the best selling and distributed book out there? Could it be that the help it offers is timeless, and proven, and when people use the Bible to guide their lives, they are better off for it? YES, YES, YES!!!

So, Does everything happen for a reason? What does the Bible say? Again, another quote, this time, from the Watchtower Online Library: 

Fate Definition: 

An inevitable and often adverse outcome. 

Fatalism is the belief that all events are determined 

by the divine will or by some force greater than man, 

that every event must take place as it does 

because it has been predetermined. 

Not a Bible word or teaching. 

Take death for instance. Does everyone have a predetermined “time to die”? This belief was popular among the Greeks and Romans. According to pagan Greek mythology, the Fates were three goddesses that spun the thread of life, determined its length, and cut it. What do you think? 

What the Bible teaches. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2 speaks of "a time to die." But, showing that this is NOT a predetermined fixed moment for the individual, Ecclesiastes 7:17 counsels: "Do not be wicked overmuch, nor become foolish. Why should you die when it is not your time?" 

Proverbs 10:27 says: "The years themselves of the wicked ones will be cut short." And Psalm 55:23 adds: "as for bloodquilty and deceitful men, they will not live out half their days." What, then, does Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2 mean? Glad you asked. It is simply discussing the continuous cycle of life and death in this imperfect system of things. There is a time when people are born and a time when they die -usually at not more than 70 or 80 years of age, (Psalm 90:10) but sometimes sooner and later. - (Ecclesiastes 9:11.)

What does this mean for you and me? Think about it, if our moments and manner of death were already fixed at the time of birth or earlier, there would be no need to avoid dangerous situations or to care for our health, and safety precautions would not alter mortality rates. But I ask, do you believe that a battlefield during war is as safe as one's home far away from the war zone? Do you care for your health or take your children to the doctor? How about this one, Why do smokers die 3-4 years younger, on an average, than nonsmokers? Why are there fewer fatal accidents when automobile passengers wear seat belts and when drivers obey traffic laws? (my personal favorite.) Obviously, taking precautions is beneficial.

Are you intrigued? Would you like to learn more about what the Bible, a time tested book of guidance, has to say? Why not you and me look into this question next: Is everything that happens “the will of God”?

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