DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY THAT? Overview SCOTLAND AME ZION CHURCH BIBLE STUDY SERIES INSPIRED BY HALF TRUTHS BY ADAM HAMILTON Rev. Adrian V. Nelson, Pastor/Teacher April 20, 2016 LESSON THREE EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON This Bible Study series is inspired by Adam Hamilton s new book Half Truths. There, Hamilton looks at five phrases/ clichés that many Christians repeat often with no idea whether the clichés are really based upon Scripture. Hamilton has found that some of these clichés capture some element of truth, yet they miss the point in important ways such as: Everything happens for a reason. God helps those who help themselves. God won t give you more than you can handle. God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Love the sinner, hate the sin. In our study we will answer the question about a number familiar sayings: Does the Bible Really Say That? I. Background Everything Happens for a Reason -What do we usually mean when we say: Everything happens for a reason? -Do we usually use this phrase when positive or negative situations arise in our lives? -Can you identify of any place in Scripture that specifically says Everything happens for a reason? -Do you agree with the statement Everything happens for a reason? -What does the statement Everything happens for a reason say about God? -Do you agree with Adam Hamilton that the statement Everything happens for a reason is theologically problematic for these reasons: 1. The notion that everything happens for a reason eliminates the concept of personal responsibility for our actions. 1 P age
-If I cheat on my wife, was that a part of God s plan or due to my actions? -If I drink and drive, was that a part of God s plan or due to my actions? -Let s read Exodus 2:11-15. Moses fled to Midian after he committed murder. It was in Midian where Moses encountered God in the burning bush and received his calling to flee the Hebrews from the Egyptians. Did the murder that Moses committed happen for a reason helping him accept his calling to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, into the Wilderness, and toward the Promised Land? 2. The notion that everything happens for a reason makes God responsible for everyone s actions. -Is God responsible when a child accidently shoots his mother? -Is God responsible when a plane crashes? -Is God responsible for every rape, murder, act of child abuse, war, natural disaster, even starvation? -Consider Job s sufferings. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason. (Job 2:3 NIV) Did Job suffer for a reason, a reason known only to God? *Hamilton says that we must attribute all of the bad things that happen in the world to God if we buy into the half truth that everything happens for a divinely ordained reason. (Hamilton, p. 22) **I believe that Hamilton may have a problem with the notion that God is sovereign even when murders happen, when planes crash, and when bad things happen to good people. In response to Hamilton, I d pose two tough question: 1) Is there a difference between what God makes happen and what God allows to happen (and uses when it does happen)? 2) Second, in God s sovereignty, cannot God have absolute sovereignty as to everything, but choose not to exercise his will in every situation? Think of Jesus, who could have called all of the angels to rescue Him, who could have also rescued Himself, but chose to die for the benefit of the plan of God. 3. The notion that everything happens for a reason leads to fatalism (the idea that we are powerless to change anything) and indifference. -Fatalism is the understanding that Whatever is going to happen, will happen. Whatever will be, will be. We are powerless to change it. -Fatalism asks: -Does God really determine the outcome of sporting events? 2 P age
-Does God determine the outcome of elections? (Will we say so, if Trump wins?) -If we are going to die on a certain date, then why exercise? II. Everything Happens for a Reason Determinism vs. Deism vs. Da Middle Position *Hamilton says that the cliché, Everything happens for a reason, requires us to see God in one of three ways, including: 1. Determinism God is a micromanager who causes everything to happen. -This view says that God is involved intimately each day in every detail of the world s operation. (Hamilton, p. 25) -John Calvin, an important theologian in the Protestant Reformation, theorized that Absolutely every... happens by God s will and command. (Hamilton, p. 26) *Hamilton accepts that in Scripture God causes weather events, such as the drought in Elijah s time, but Today I believe we re right to question whether the rain, snow and sunshine are really God s doing, or the result of complex forces guiding our weather patterns. (Hamilton, p. 27) **In rebuttal to Hamilton, I d note that God does not change simply because we have a modern understanding of how natural events work. This is simply God revealing more of God s self to us, i.e. how weather works. Just because we have a scientific understanding of how weather works does not mean that God is still in control of the weather just as he was in Elijah s time and throughout Scripture. **Consider Job 38:4, 8-11: Where were you when I laid the earth s foundation?... Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed the limits for and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt? *For Hamilton, human choice is very important. i He notes that notes that God placed a tree in the midst of the garden and yet forbids the humans to eat from it. [I]t is meant to teach us that part of being a human is having to make choices between... following God s path or turning away from it. (Hamilton, p. 32) *Read Deuteronomy 30:19-20a. Hamilton says of Determinism, Why call the Israelites to choose, if in reality, they have no choice in the matter? (Hamilton, p. 35) *Ultimately, Hamilton rejects Determinism saying: I do not believe that God dictates our choices, as if we are mere puppets. Instead, God gave us a brain, a heart, a conscience, his Spirit, the Scriptures, and the ability to interpret them as guide to help us select the right path. (Hamilton, p. 37) 3 P age
2. Deism God as one who takes a hands-off approach. -This view equates God to an absentee landlord who created everything and then stepped away to let the world run itself. (Hamilton, p. 25) *Hamilton says: The problem with Deism is that it makes no room for God to be at work in our world at all. (Hamilton, p. 38) I don t believe that everything happens for a reason, but sometimes there is a reason that things happen when we are attentive to God s voice. (Id., p. 41) **It seems to me, that Hamilton wants to pick and choose in which instances he is willing to see God at work in our world. -For instance, at one point Hamilton says: Deciding where to go to lunch today is usually not a moral decision (that involves God s involvement); it s simply a choice. (Hamilton, p. 35) -I wondered: So what happens when the choice you make about where to eat lunch results in you bumping into someone who needs you to pray for them? Is that God or coincidence. -Later Hamilton tells the story of a nudging he had to go to a particular restaurant for lunch. When he arrived there, one of his church members was there. She said she had been going through a lot and had prayed that God would show her a sign that he still remembered she was there. Hamilton coming through the door was that sign for her. Hamilton call s that a God-incidence, not a coincidence. (Hamilton, pp. 40-41) -It seems that, for Hamilton, God takes the hands off approach except in those instances when Hamilton can find some evidence that God was involved. That is situational theology, and not a sound in my opinion. 3. Da Middle Position God is somewhere between being a micromanager and one who is hands-off. -This view is that God is somewhere between being a micromanager and one who is involved intimately each day in every detail. *Hamilton s view is that God is neither a micromanager that determinism suggest nor the absentee landlord of the Deists. These ideas are both half truths. The deeper truth, I believe, lies somewhere in between. (Hamilton, p. 41) *Hamilton believes [t]he reason most things is not because God willed them, but because of the decisions we make or the laws that govern nature and our interaction with them. (Hamilton, p. 42) *Hamilton relies upon Romans 8:28 to conclude that God has a way of forcing good to come from tragedy when we trust him with it. (Hamilton, p. 43) Does Hamilton s view comport with our discussion in Lesson 2 about the cliché Everything works for good? 4 P age
-What is your final conclusion about whether scripturally the saying Everything happens for a reason is a/an: - Whole Truth - Half Truth (at least) - Untruth i Hamilton rejects the Calvinist doctrine of Predestination the understanding that God has predetermined everything that happens, including whether we will accept the salvation offered to us by Christ or be damned eternally. (Hamilton, p. 29) (Read Matthew 10:29 which is used as scriptural support for the doctrine of Predestination) He notes that Methodism rejects Predestination. As Methodists, we believe in God s prevenient grace that is at work in human beings and makes it possible for each and every one of us to decide whether to respond to God s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. For it is by grace you have been save, through faith and that is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) 5 P age