One of the top reasons people leave Christianity for good is when they must make sense of tragedy, either when it visits them personally or just theoretical considerations of suffering in the world. That’s why I want to discuss it honestly. My heart and intent is for those who are leaving.

After a brief discussion of what the Christian Bible says, I want to approach this from a philosophical perspective, which allows for a more honest conversation.

Two years ago, I wrote in this blog that I dislike religion but love philosophy. Even though I clearly defined what I meant, that statement cost me my best friend at my church. My church aspires to be welcoming, and for the most part, is successful. But this individual became angry at me after interpreting my statement to mean that “I hate God” and since I love philosophy, I’m in the same category as the Nazi, because Nazism is a philosophy. This was such a painful experience that I almost gave up blogging for good. But I’m asking you to just put a pin in this statement for now, respect me as I respect you, and soon I will devote a whole post to what I mean by this comment. I will simply say here that philosophy is literally the “love of wisdom,” the same wisdom that is glorified in the Bible in Proverbs, and that Solomon asked for, and God was so delighted in him that he made him the richest man on Earth.

Story Time: Tale of Two Sons

In the 1980s, while I was still a staunch evangelical, the staff leader of our discipleship group, The Navigators, called me one night. “Mike, I have some good news. God has brought Danny (his son) home tonight, and we are rejoicing. This is what we have been praying for.”

“What do you mean? Danny’s there?” I asked.

“No, better, Danny is in Heaven tonight, he’s with Jesus, his real home. I’m on my way to the morgue to identify his earthly body, but his spirit has been set free, and our prayers have been answered.”

Later, I found out that sixteen-year-old Danny had been in a terrible accident, decapitated by being run over by a truck. There had been a conflict between Danny and his parents because they had caught him with marijuana and, following the teachings of a popular Christian teacher, Bill Gothard, threw him out of their house, but were praying that he would give up marijuana and come home.

Danny’s parents strived to live consistently with what they thought the Bible taught, that “all things work together for good,” that grief was just an attack by Satan. So, they did not mourn. They preached the sermon the following Sunday to show how they were victorious and saw things from God’s perspective.

I was a pallbearer at Danny’s funeral, and I tried with all my heart not to feel sad, or to shed a tear, to prove that I was a spiritual person too.

It was almost nine months later that Danny’s father collapsed during a prayer meeting and began crying in front of us, groaning out loud, “God, why did you take Danny! I saw him there on the table, his head ripped from his body. God, why?” But he quickly composed himself and said those tears and doubt were just an attack by Satan.

In the early 1990s, I was a captain in the Air Force, working as a PA in the Primary Care Clinic and the ER. I was attending a large evangelical church off base, which I have mentioned in a previous “Story Time.” It was during a time in my life, after I had left Christianity and was attempting to return.

One horrible day, while I was not on duty in the ER, but heard from my staff that a couple, whom I knew at my church, brought in their toddler, whose father had backed over him in the riding lawnmower. He was clearly dead on arrival, the top third of his head missing. The story was, the storm door was closed but had not latched, the boy saw his father and wanted to go to him.

I felt overwhelmed with grief and could not imagine what this couple was going through. Our whole church was in shock.

The next Sunday, Bob, our very “spiritual” head deacon, walked up to the podium and said, “I know you heard the news about the Smith family. We need to hold them in our prayers. However,” he shouted, “we serve a mighty God, a God who does not make mistakes, so this was part of his loving plan!” There were some cheers among the 500 attendees. At that moment, I felt the whole Christian world was absurd. I had no desire to pretend differently as I had at Danny’s tragic death.

The Biblical Perspective

For two thousand years, there has been an ongoing debate about providence and free will, with a spectrum of conclusions that range from John Calvin’s perspective to that of the Westly Brothers. The same discussion has occurred in philosophy and science about determinism and free will.

In the Christian context, the Calvinists (AKA Presbyterians) believe in determinism, that God controls every minute aspect of our lives and history. Nothing happens by chance or without God’s intention. The Westleys (AKA Methodists) focused on human free will, that we can change history by our choices, including by doing evil.

I came out of a Calvinist tradition, and the church I go to now is a Presbyterian one. So, the official stand is that there is no bad luck, only God’s plan. I doubt that this is the personal opinion of everyone who attends.

About fifteen years ago, a gal from our old Navigator ministry in Tennessee spent a week with us. I can’t remember what we were discussing, but I commented, “I think it was just bad luck.” She was stunned. “There’s no such thing as luck.”

“I believe in good and bad luck,” I said.

“Aren’t you still a Christian?” she asked.

When she got home, I noticed that she and her husband unfriended us on Facebook and I’ve never heard from them again.

You can have such diverse perspectives from different scholarly Christian theologians because the Bible has contradictions on this topic. That is something you are not allowed to say in a religious discussion because the Bible has been elevated in the past one hundred years, beyond what it says about itself, to being perfect, a book of magic. But contradictions also exist in philosophy and in science (between Newtonian and Quantum physics, for example) because life has contradictions.

Verses about Christian Determinism

Romans 8:28 says; And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (An alternative translation says God works with those who love him to bring about good.)

Ephesians 1:11 says, In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Several other verses suggest God’s deterministic control over all of life. But generally, in the Christian world, for the notion that God is big to be true, it is assumed that God controls all events. You cannot even talk about chance or luck within a religious setting. Even in the secular world, there is a saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” tee shirt material, borrowing from the Christian and Buddhist traditions. This is where we get into trouble.

What the Bible Says About Free Will and Chance

On the other hand, throughout the Bible, humans are held accountable for their actions. God complains throughout the Old Testament about people’s bad behavior. Jesus, too, complains about the hypocrites and the greedy and gives instructions about good behavior. This suggests free will, that we have a choice, and our choice affects history.

It makes no sense if we programmed a robot to set the woods on fire. Then, when the robot is turned on and it sets the woods on fire, we have no right to be disappointed in it. That’s why God’s disappointment with humans’ bad behavior implies a choice, a free will.

Then a verse like Ecclesiastes 9:11 makes it clear that there is chance: I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding, nor favor to those of ability. But time and chance affect them all.

To make a religious argument, I would have to submit to one specific doctrine, a certainty (even where the Bible is not certain), A Calvinist or a Wesleyan, a dogma that requires groupthink. To say something different (like when I said I love philosophy) provokes an immediate condemnation. So I will go forward with a much more honest, philosophical discussion where we can grapple with this question with freedom of thought and the hopes of finding true answers from God’s other book, reality.

Respectfully, Mike