Can someone explain how "god's plan" works?

Question

A friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver. To comfort me, someone says "it was god's plan". How can this be? For god to have planned it, that means god would have had to manipulate her to be in that exact place at that exact time. To do that, events around her would have had to conspire to put here there. So, dinner would have had to be late that night, which was controlled by the mother, who was made late by traffic, so all the traffic had to be controlled, and traffic is affected by all the drivers and weather, and this would all have to be controlled since the very instant the universe started. Everything affects everything, so every single event in the universe would have to be controlled in order for my friend to die at the exact moment she did, according to "god's plan".

If this is so, then all is pre-determined and there is no free-will? But believers say we have a freedom of choice? So how can god have a plan for each of us, unless we are all just puppets?

So, explain how we can all be so controlled that god's plan can work, but we can all choose what we want to do. Doesn't seem like we can have it both ways. Either we are just puppets so god's plan can work, or there is no plan and things just happen.

Answer 1

One of the things I hate most in the world is peoples' careless dismissal of events as "God's plan" when tragedy strikes. This contradiction is something that has been part of the religious debate for centuries, but I sincerely wish that people would understand that while saying "God's plan" was for this awful event to transpire might make them feel better, it really is an empty statement that doesn't promote healing in the slightest. I lost a baby niece and this was one of the things that made me want to wring people's necks. Their response to that is always, "Just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean that it isn't part of God's plan." So I'm with you my friend. I'm still waiting for someone to explain it to me as well.

Answer 2

I don't believe God is some guy that interferes with our lives at all. It's not part of some plan, it just happened. People can be stupid, and that person drove drunk. End of story. It's a tragedy, and I'm sorry that happened.

Answer 3

gods plan for us is our salvation where he unites his creation to him. free will pertains to a)believe in him=salvation is possible or b)ignore him in a life of sin=salvation by and large can not be obtained.

sorry to hear about your lose but don't get mad at people who are trying to comfort you. we all have to go sometime and some circumstances are more tragic like in yours but your link to free will and to gods plan is not proper.

Answer 4

God does not go about crashing cars into each other.

The things man creates, like your house, do not have to be fussed over every second of the day, (ie. oops, it is getting cold, I should make the furnace fire bigger), we set things so they operate automatically.
Same thing with God's creation. There are natural cycles and feedback loops that sustain systems.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
3 And God said, "Let there be light,"...
10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas."...
11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation...
14 And God said, "Let there be lights...
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures...
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures...
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image...
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number...

Ok now.
Humankind is also on auto-mode, ie, free will. Humans could have chose not to increase in number, but we did.

The only thing that is pre-determined is that we will die!

Also, humankind has increased their knowledge and technology.
We were not designed to be hurling down paths at 60 miles per hour, missing each other by mere feet!
As a consequence, we are at a higher risk of crashing.

As well, we are affected by the consequences of our own poor choices and the poor choices of others, (ie, DUI).

The world is not as it was originally designed before the fall of man. There is a new Earth in which things will be different. Read all of Isaiah chapter 65.

God is concerned about our doing harm to ourselves with our lifestyles and poor choices.

Since Jesus is one of the Trinity, ie, God With Us ... it is like a courtroom judge, who wanting mercy for a repentant convict sentenced to die, steps down from his chair, and takes the place of the convict.

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves
[we still cover ourselves with fig leaves, figuratively. sic]

Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
[We still hide from God. sic]

Genesis 3:11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
[We still blame others for our failings. sic]

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
[This was the first sacrifice, which was God providing a covering for their failures, which would lead to the temple sacrifices, all of which foreshadow Christ's sacrifice on the cross, who is really God (Judge) dying in our place. sic]
.
Being forgiven by God and being able to repent is HUGE man!!!

Source(s):

Psalms 32:2 - Old Testament, King David
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Romans 4:8 - New Testament
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Answer 5

Well since it is people who made up god then your actual question would be how a human's plan works. Well look at it now, religion, politics, manythings to be a=happy for,...........

Answer 6

my friend they say that because to them it justifies the unexplained, you know the answer, if you were loved by a higher power he wouldn't do such things. Im sorry for your lose

Answer 7

Nonsense. Purpose is a different subject.

God's plan is Salvation.

God will only intervene in the lives of the elect because they were justified in the first earth age.

Wayne Murray

Answer 8

I'm gonna watch this with great interest!

Answer 9

Everyone has an appointed time to die.

Answer 10

Very nicely thank you.