For christians, jews & Muslims - What do you say about "ACCIDENTS"?

Question

In the Orthodox christian faith, the fathers of the church wrote emphatically that there is no such thing as a pure "accident" and even what you think to be an accident is no accident at all, but permitted by God and known to Him a priori. So if you are in a car crash, are attacked by bandits and hurt, fall off a cliff, develop an illness - Christianity says none of these are "accidents". God foresaw them and permitted them for His reasons. Let me hear opinions from religious Jews, christians, & Muslims. Reply specifically and precisely to my question. Thanks

Answer 1

I am an Orthodox Jew and I believe that G-d is all knowing and all-encompassing. So I don't believe there are accidents like you mentioned. I do not and may never understand the reason for said "accidents", and I can get pretty darn upset with G-d sometimes, but there are no accidents.

Answer 2

Okay...3 years ago, my husband walked out on me after 30 years of marriage. I am a Christian who does not believe in divorce, and I have read in the Bible that God does not want His people to be divorced. I spent a lot of time praying that God would heal our marriage, bring my husband back to me, and not allow the divorce to go though. For a while it looked like that is exactly what would happen....then, the day after Christmas (2004) I was served with divorce papers. Now, granted, this isn't as bad as a plane crash or cancer, but it was devistating to me. I spent a lot of time asking God why He would allow such a thing to happen. About 1 month before the divorce was final I found out that my soon-to-be-ex husband had "missappropriated" a sizeable sum of money from the company he worked for (okay, he stole it), and had become a know drug dealer. Shortly thereafter, I began getting phone calls from law enforcement officials, state fraud divisions, collection agencies, you name it. At that point I understood that the divorce, hard as it was for me to accept, was God's way of protecting me from the backlash of my ex's lifestyle.

Sometimes it takes a while to understand why something happened, sometimes we will never know....God justs asks us to trust that He loves us enough to do what is best for us in all situations.

Lest you think that God caused the divorce, He didn't....that was my husband's choice. I still believe that God didn't want us to split up, but He allowed it to protect me.

Answer 3

I agree with you. God foresees everything - so I think in God's eyes there are no "accidents".

As a Christian, I would take the accident as a challenge or a test of my faith, to strengthen and grow in the knowledge and peace of God and His plan to conform me to Christlikeness.

Also, focussing on God and His promise to give me eternal life, the sufferings of this world become insignificant compared with the glory and length of eterntiy. My outer nature, my body, is wasting away, but my inner nature is being renewed daily as God teaches and regenerates me by the Holy Spirit. (see 2 Corinthians 4, and James 1)

Answer 4

From a Christian, Fundamental Baptist - When a person accepts Christ, his relationship to God changes. He becomes a son of God by spiritual adoption. See 1st chapter of John.
Now, children can be willfully disobediant bringing upon them the hand of dicipline from God the Father; However, nothing can happen to one of God's children unless he allows it.

That's doesn't mean that he stops bad things from happening. Christians get killed in war, catch sickness and die, get maimed and wounded in car wrecks etc. They suffer, bleed, weep, sorrow and die just like everyone else. Remember, Christians aren't perfect, but forgiven. Sometimes what we think are accidents aren't necessarily so.

Also, Foreknowledge of events by God doesn't mean he acts to stop them. The worst thing that can happen to a Christian is the best thing that can happen to him. He goes home to his family.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, there are many instances where God shows that he knows the future. But He doesn't always act upon that knowledge. On the other hand, He does frequently act in answer to prayers by His children.
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I don't think God plans accidents but he knows they are going to happen because of the decisions man makes. God didn't make cars so he isn't responsible for preventing car wrecks and stuff. Many accidents happen for a reason and open the door to other things but not always.

Answer 6

We have free-will and we create our own accidents. Sometimes you have to let it happen in order to learn. But God never turns his back on people. With one accident comes oppurtunity, maybe on the form of a law suit or an epiphany. Lots of inventions are caused by accident but we don't chalk those up to God why doesn't it work both ways?

Answer 7

Well, if you believe in God, then yes, He probably let it happen for a reason. If you don't believe in God, then maybe you are just a klutz that doesn't pay attention when they drive, or didn't heed the warnings of the locals not to go into a certain area of the city. Who knows.

Answer 8

Things are extra tricky than this. It is dependent upon how one defines God. I am an atheist in case you imply perception in an entity with a private curiosity in my welfare. I am a Jew in case you wish to understand the context for my spirituality.

Answer 9

not from any of these religion.

Yes, they can consider "accident" and they cannot consider "accident" too.

Everything result from one and another.

It is the point of view whether you view accident as non-intentional happening or there is no accident since everything is a result or fruit of another doing.

Answer 10

I AM A CHRISTIAN, ALTHOUGH I HAVE REALLY STRUGGLED WITH GOD IN THE PAST. I WAS VERY BADLY ABUSED AS A CHILD BY MY FATHER AND STEPMOTHER, MY MOTHER WAS A DRUG ADDICT AND WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ME REALLY....ANYWAY I WAS PLACE IN FOSTER CARE AND SPENT YEARS WONDERING WHY A GOD ( A LOVING GOD) COULD ALLOW SUCH PAIN AND TORCH ER TO ONE OF HIS SO CALLED CHILDREN....WELL HERE I AM TODAY AT 40 YEARS OLD....ASK ME MY PASSION/PURPOSE IN LIFE?
TO HELP ABUSED CHILDREN....SEE BY GOD ALLOWING ME GO THROUGH THE ABUSE I DID AND THE EMOTIONAL PAIN AND DISASSOCIATION I AM NOW ABLE TO RELATE TO CHILDREN IN THE SAME CIRCUMSTANCES.

SOMETIMES 1 PERSON HAS TO ENDURE PAIN TO SAVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS.

TODAY I LOOK AT MY CHILDHOOD AS AN INSIGHT...I NO LONGER HAVE TO BE A VICTIM.