Everything Happens for a Reason

August 6, 2023

Pastor Josh Starnes presented this morning's message in the series "Misquoted." His topic was "Everything Happens for a Reason." A video of the message is here.

Remember, the current sermon series is debunking commonly held understandings that just aren't true and certainly aren't Biblical, like "God will never give you more than you can handle."

Here are two different ways to look at the phrase in question...

Everything does happen for a reason, but not necessarily a God-provided reason. If you don't study for a test and fail it, you failed for a reason. Proverbs 22:8 says, in part, "Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity." It's a consequence thing.

Sometimes the reasons are purely natural. God created the world and left nature to handle itself under Man's dominion (as best Man can). But nature will get the last laugh on earth, one way or another. In some real sense, we all "die of natural causes."

The implication of the phrase is: for a "good" reason, or "part of God's plan" kind of thing. That's pretty hard to swallow given the great injustices throughout history.

The phrase is only true in the sense that everything that happens is the result of cause and effect.

The Torah does not expect that things will even appear just in this world. The Torah implication is that ultimate justice is left to the afterlife. In this life, you have to focus on doing/being the best you can.

However, the Torah does make the case that things will go better if you follow God. For example, see Deuteronomoy 30:19-20. You will be better able to cope with life, which can be nasty, with God rather then without God.

The Torah's biggest problem with this phrase is that it undermines the notion of self responsibility. It also leads to fatalism and indifference.

There's an interesting-sounding book out there: Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved. I haven't read it, but it seems to be getting at the reality of the situation.

Bonus

Fractal Differentiation

Fractals are fascinating. They're simple, complex, and beautiful all at the same time!

The key concept is that no matter what level you look into a fractal, i.e. zoom in and/or out, you see the same pattern albeit at different dimensions, smaller as you zoom in, larger as you zoom out. The simplified "tree" pictured at right shows a repeating pattern from trunk to tip of branches. In fact, many things in nature reflect fractal patterns, like the sliced cauliflower shown below/right, snowflakes, ferns, actual trees, nautilus, succulents, snail shells, lake shorelines, cracking mud, the iris of the eye, and on and on.

So, what does this have to do with our topics? I was listening to episode 13 of the Jordan Petersen workshop on the book of Exodus, specifically the parts dealing with the design of the tabernacle and the priests vestments. They kept using the phrase "fractal differentiation" which of course caught my ear because of "fractal" but it took me a while to catch on to the phrase.

The gist of it is that many things in the Exodus are differentiated, that is they have certain parts in certain order and hierarchy. The community is differentiated from God to Moses to Priests to Israelites. Likewise, the Tabernacle is differentiated from the ark in the Holy of Holies to the inner chamber to the outer chamber to outside. Likewise again, the priests' vestments are differentiated from the God-centered head piece to the breast plate representing the 12 tribes of the Israelites (in other words, the entire nation). Not only are they similarly differentiated, but at different scales. The same pattern at different scales - a fractal!

So, what's the point? God's plan is consistent at all levels. And, repetition is the mother of pedagogy (teaching). We learn through repetition. The Torah is remarkably consistent throughout and at many levels.

Another key point which the group discussed, is that without hierarchy, i.e. differentiation, there is nothing at the top. There is no fundamental focus. There is no perfection point to guide us. In effect, there is no God.