My mother-in-law is Catholic and says that everyone has a set time to die. When someone dies, she says, "It was his/her time to go". If someone commits suicide or gets killed, was it their time to go? It doesn't seem like something that would be preordained to me.
2007-05-23 07:33:37 · 23 answers · asked by Graciela, RIRS 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
xxahhh, I prefer Michelob Light because I'm watching my calories.
2007-05-23 07:38:38 · update #1
I need to see some good answers, everyone, so I can get a free beer.
2007-05-23 09:50:54 · update #2
I've heard another saying - too - that "God never tests you beyond your limit to endure" Clearly false as suicide would attest.
Some Christians of all Ilk say there is a book somewhere in the cosmos with your name written in it and it has your time of death and whether or not you go to heaven in it. (it's calle dthe Book of Life) This is where pre-destination comes from. It's all decided. I tend to think that is a bunch of hooey. We have free will and we control our own lives. There is a biological clock in our heads, but we can even influence how fast or slow it is by our actions (stess speeds it up, eating well slows it down.)
And as such, I'm a big fan of George Eastman. He had a nice dinner with his family, laughed and played with the Grandkids, then got up, went upstairs, wrote 4 words on a piece of paper and shot himself in the head. The note said "My work is done". I feel bad for his family, but I respect his command of his life. So, as every rule has an exception, I think George is the only person I've ever heard of who's time ever came.
2007-05-23 07:46:25 · answer #1 · answered by Cindy H 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No I don't think this is always right. Sometimes that is correct. When someone is old and at the end of their life, or when someone dies unexpectedly of natural causes, then I think it is their time.
When a person exercises the agency the Lord gave them and takes the life of themselves or another person, then they have cut short a life and have ended that persons mission in this life. The Lord cannot and will not take away our agency. That is why these things happen.
I also don't think a person always has a "set time". Like I don't think that the Lord says- On june 23, 2009 John Doe will die. I think he sends us here to live a full life and complete our missions here on earth and he will bring us back to him when he feels the time is right. Sometimes our mission is short, sometimes it is long.
Also advances in modern medicine contribute to how long people live.
I don't always buy into the whole- it was their time, sometimes but not always. But I don't believe in Pre-destination. I don't believe in Destiny, because that takes away our choices and our agency.
2007-05-23 07:57:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If God has already determined when you are to die, then trying to take care of yourself is a useless waste of time. It makes no difference to your health if you choose to smoke or choose not to smoke. There's no point in wearing a seat belt in the car because it would have no effect on your safety. Very faulty logic. Why? It is well-established that people who take precautions suffer fewer fatal consequences. Carelessness can result in tragic events. It is also well-established that smoking is always harmful and often fatal and quitting this habit brings immediate benefits.
Moreover, the scriptures repeatedly show the choice God has placed before all people. To illustrate: when God concluded a covenant with Israel, he said to them: "I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the malediction: and you must CHOOSE life in order that you may keep alive, you and your offspring." Deuteronomy 30:19. Did God set ahead of time the choice that those people would make? Obviously not.
Jeremiah 38:20 gives this exhortation: "Obey, please, the voice of Jehovah in what I am speaking to you, and it will go well with you, and your soul will continue to live." Is it reasonable to suggest that a loving God would encourage people to do right and look forward to a reward when he knows all along that they are destined to fail? That is a ludicrous suggestion.
Again, it is a widespread belief that everything is foreordained and planned, but this belief has absolutely no basis in scripture.
Hannah J Paul
Finally, Eccleasiastes 9:11 makes it abundantly clear that "time and unforeseen occurences befall us all." Accidents happen.
2007-05-23 07:37:13 · answer #3 · answered by Hannah J Paul 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that God's ultimate WILL- desire, is for all of us to live a long healthy great life. I don't believe that it's God's "timing" when a person's life is taken early, be it by natural causes or otherwise. People and people's choices can effect others. If you get killed, for an example, that wasn't GODS WILL, it was the will of the murderer. If you die of an illness, that isn't GODS WILL, it's disease or illness, negative realities brought on by the initial sin of humankind.
WILL= To make a choice; choose. To decree, dictate, or order. To resolve with a forceful will; determine.
God ALLOWS death but DOESN'T WILL IT.
2007-05-23 07:40:35 · answer #4 · answered by ™Tootsie 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the paradigm of a predetermined, god controlled, universe; everyone dies at the precise time that he/she is supposed to die. It gets a bit trickier when one considers that devout Christians also have a firm belief in man's free will. I would just chalk it up to one of those trite things people say at such times like- "he's in a better place now." I don't think it's part of an official doctrine.
2007-05-23 07:39:27 · answer #5 · answered by Clawndike 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that it's only "their time" when it's an unintentional death, but you also have to trust that God works in all things for good, including awful circumstances like that. So I guess it could be "their time" in a manner of speaking, since you can't change the past. It shouldn't have been their time, but they made it their time by killing themselves.
2007-05-23 07:38:54 · answer #6 · answered by Briseis 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not everyone believes each person has a set time, but some use it as a coping mechanism to deal with death in a sanitized and euphemistic manner, i.e. "they're in a better place now."
2007-05-23 07:37:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dont believe everyone has a set time. If that was the case, Jesus wouldnt have raised people from the dead in the bible. (Lazarus for example) Also suicide is a decision made by free will. It was that persons choice, not Gods.
P.S. I am a Christian so not all Christians believe we have a set time. If we believed that then why when one of our brother/sisters is sick and dying do we pray for God to heal them?
2007-05-23 07:37:50 · answer #8 · answered by Kel Kel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bible, God's Word declares that there is a time to be born and a time to die. You can find this in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes.
2007-05-23 08:40:20 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd hate to be on a 747 Jumbo Jet when it was the pilot's time to go!
2007-05-23 07:44:43 · answer #10 · answered by kenny p 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋