Do you believe that God has a plan for everyone?

Question

My fiance died not too long ago, and all I have been hearing for the past 3 months is "it was God's plan for him" or "God was calling him". I've heard it more than enough times, and I disagree. I think that everyone has free will and that our lives are deaths are not planned by God. By saying that God has a plan for everyone, that means he plans for adults and children to be murdered, raped, abused, tortured, starved, etc. etc. That doesn't sound like something an all loving God would do. If you believe that God has a plan for everyone, do you still believe he is all loving? How can you, when he lets such awful things happen to innocent people?

Answer 1

I am very sorry to hear about your fiance.



I think it is more like in the story in JOB!



When something bad happens it is human nature to want to help. When there is nothing us humans can do we need to "PUT IT IN SOME ONE else'S HANDS". So as a Culture we started saying things like "it was God's plan for him" or "God was calling him". Just like we say "God Bless you" when somebody sneezes. That started because people thought evil spirits left your body when you sneezed.



We All have FREE WILL both good and bad people. If God stopped bad people from hurting good people then he would be interfering with the bad peoples FREE WILL.



According to St. Augustine

“God is unconstrained by human limitations of time and place, seeing all of our lives simultaneously. The choices we make, such as in this maze, do not undermine God’s omniscience.”



Blessings

Answer 2

I am so sorry for your loss. And I am so sorry for the insensitive people who try to gloss over your grief by giving you such an empty explanation. I don't think they are intentionally being insensitive, sometimes people just don't know what to say and by bringing God into they think they are helping. I've never suffered a loss like yours, but I have experienced devastating losses in my own life. I had plenty of people tell me "God has a plan." What does that even really mean...how does that explain it, how does that make anyone feel better? All it felt like was people telling me to be happy when all I needed was to experience the loss and move on. I believe we all have a purpose for being here, and that we have the free will to make our own decisions. There are things that happen which we have no explanation for, only the hope that there was a purpose, or that there will be. Your fiance clearly touched your life, and I'm sure countless people's lives around him. What greater purpose can there be than to touch other's lives with joy and love? I think that there is a danger in thinking God has a plan for everyone... it tends to suggest that he didn't give us a brain and intuition and common sense to draw our own conclusions and make our own decisions. I believe in God...but I also believe he placed in us the ability to make of our lives what we will. Tragedy is an unfortunate by-product of this world. May you find comfort in knowing you are not alone.

Answer 3

Interesting question, maybe the first one ever. :) God does have a plan and we will never know what that plan is until our time comes and all is revealed to us. However, like any other plan, God places choices in front of us and gives us the knowledge necessary to make the correct choice. Unfortunately, God is not the only player in this life of ours and temptation rears up directing us toward a false answer and a false path. I truly believe some of these things (AIDS, poverty, starvation, etc.) are meant to test us. I am tested every day and it is frustrating because I do not always have the answer. And, even though I have patience to seek the answer, believe me creditors and other idiots have no patience what-so-ever. Believe what you will just live your life through wisdom and good choices and you too will see what your plan is for you. If you doubt my sincerity, both of my older brothers have died and my father recently died. We all face tests and the unknown. I remember watching my dad wonder why my oldest brother die. I remember watching him cry and beat himself up emotionally when my 18 year old cousin had a stroke and died while my dad was laying sick in bed dying. I remember all these things vividly and do not understand but I do understand how God tests us and how the evils of the world make us stronger.

Answer 4

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, I hope you are coping well.



There is no plan, we have free will, after all, look at those who take their own lives, do you think that was planned? Sometimes our free will combined with the free will of others can cause disastrous results. When thinking about how everyone has a will all their own it's easy to see how things can go wrong.



The best you can do now is use your free will to move on, I'm not saying the forget him or not miss him, I'm saying don't let your loss ruin the rest of your life. I'm sure he would want you to continue on and live a happy life even if he's not there to share it with you but in a way he IS there, he is a part of you and always will be.



But straight to the point, there is no plan, after all, why try if everything is already planned out for you? After all, if there was a plan then there would be no point in trying to be successful if "god's" plan is for you to be poor your whole life. See my logic here?

Answer 5

This is a case of the comforting lie that is religion falling down, flat on it's back when faced with reality. Your religion doesn't have a good answer for your loss, other then a thin, lame "Well, God has a plan for everyone." That isn't an answer, it's a dodge.



Bad things happen. There are no reasons, other then plain cause and effect. They just happen. They serve no higher purpose.



Religion is delusion. One of the main objectives in life (for me, at least) is to attune one's self with reality, to the greatest degree possible. Embracing religion is truly a step in the wrong direction. Forget god. He's a fantasy.

Answer 6

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Some Christians here will probably try to console you with the nonsense you're already skeptical about. So be it.

We live with at least some suffering in our lives; that's a major fact for everyone. Some have more than their fair share. But god doesn't have anything to do with it, quite simply because god does not exist.

But you exist. And you have the abilty to decide what to do with your time. And that's the best freedom one can know. So if you spend your effort well, and learn from your own pain that you can become more compassionate with others, then you will have spent your time well. And you don't need any distracting afterlife, heaven, hell, or religious guilt to live a good life.

Answer 7

There was a wonderful plan. Man was in charge and gave it all away for just a taste of disobedience.



Satan is the god of this world and bad things happen everyday, countless tragedies because of our ancestors disobedience. Jesus built a bridge between God and man so that man can not only have eternal life after death, but, live an abundant life here and now. Life is hard and if you hold to Gods unchanging hand, you will better understand what is going on if you stay faithful. I know it's hard, we lost our youngest son to heart failure and now, 15 years later we see things more clearly and the good that happens when you learn to praise Him in the Storm!



Remember what Paul said to the Hebrews

Heb 10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Heb 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

Heb 10:37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;

Heb 10:38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

Heb 10:39 But (((we are not))) of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who (((have faith))) and preserve their souls.



I am very sorry for your pain, fight the fight, hold on to what you have, He is holding on to you and you can never be plucked from His hand.

Answer 8

So sorry to hear what happened. : (



As a non believer, well I can't give you a religious answer... But from just my own life, while I always 'believed' in some symbolic sense of "meant to be," the way I look at it now is that even if something could be meant to be, still nothing is ever guaranteed. Could always have been meant for each other, but sometimes life just takes some really bad turns. Know that all too well myself.



Take care.

Answer 9

If God had a plan his Angels would not have had to locate the good Lot amid the bad; with a plan God would keep the good

in close reach. With a plan Lot could have reached safety with a less salty spouse; but, no, Lot recieved instructions for

his welfare but his party made their own choices. God's first

word to us should always be, 'Believe'. The rest will follow.

Answer 10

First, I'm truly sorry for your loss. It really stinks when people don't know what to say and yet they want to be loving and supportive so they just throw out the old "it was all part of God's plan" line in an attempt to comfort you.

I do believe that God has a plan for our lives but given the freewill to choose how we'll live our lives has taken "God's in control" of what happens on this planet right out of the equation.

God gave Adam stewardship of this planet. God relinqueshed legal authority over the planet and it's occupants. Adam gave this up in the garden which is why Christ had to return to the planet as a man--so that He could have a legal access and pay the price for man's fall. He gave back this authority to those who choose to follow Him by telling us to use HIS Name as the authority by which we speak and command. We need to give Him legal access to our lives by choice.

Once again, I'm sorry for you loss. My prayers are with you tonight.



Paul E: Jesus already defeated Satan. Now it's just a matter of God's people living their lives in victory, rather than believing the lies the enemy would have us believe.

Answer 11

I share your grief. I lost my mom at 16 and my father at 21. Many will say to me how could you be so strong today through such tragedy and still have great faith. My answer to them is simple. Every thing happens for a reason. I will admitt that I could not see what that meant at the time but 20 years later looking back I see that many doors were opened that I didn't realize at the time. Through my mom's death , I became very close to a girl at school and her mom was like a mother to me. She gave me the guidance i needed at the time. Through my friend i met her cousin who later i married and had three beautiful children with.



God makes us stronger through our tribulations. And we become useful toward others. Who better to talk to than someone that's been there. I have helped so many people with their faith because they see what faith has done for me in my life through my tribulations. We go through pain in our lifes. I asked God one time why? Why did you put me through what i went through and through His Word He showed me that He is my strength in my weakness. This place is not our home . We are only here for a short time. Don't fall in love with it . Some day we all will be in eternity somewhere. The question is Where do you want to spend yours? God bless.

The pain will get easier.. God is not through with you yet. You will become someone else strength some day . You will have someone undivided attention with what you went through while they are going through the same thing.

Answer 12

Well God can take someone to try lead other people to Christ. Sometime I find it hard to believe he has a plain for EVERY one of us, but I believe he does. Whether we follow it or recognize it is the hard problem. That is where death, crime, happen. Someone is going to be raped because the one who did it did not follow Christ and obviously didn't try to recognize God's plan. Hopefully this is making sense. There are so many times when it it just humans messing up, and it is solely our faults. Guns don't kill people, people kill people, and there is no way god would tell someone to kill a person. There are also things we can understand that we will always wonder about, like your fiance dying or September 11th. It is so unclear to us. He could use your fiance's death to make you a stronger person in the long run, or teach you something. Hope this helped, God bless, and I'm sorry about your fiance.

Answer 13

Yes, I do believe that God has a greatest plan for everyone and a greatest plan for everthing in very detail. Your plan is nothing.

Difficult to understand His plans but every plan of His must definitely worked out well.

No strenght can stop, No strenght can slowing down.

Our problem is that those perfect greatest plan is also perfect secret.

Don't even think to steal His blueprint. Instead ask Him nicely.

I wish you luck.

Answer 14

Let me say that I am sorry for your trouble.

I have not found sufficient empirical evidence to support the hypothesis of a god or gods and consequently am an atheist. There is no god and consequently no plan. Things happen good and bad. That is life.

Answer 15

I believe God has a plan, and a place for us in that plan if we accept the invitation. God is all-loving, I don't believe he "planned" for your fiance to die, death is a chance Christians, atheists, buddhists, etc... all have equally. God didn't put sin in the world, and he did give us a free will to act and react how we want. People often act contrary to God's will and choose not to be a part of it. When a drunk driver kills a family of four, do you think God intended for someone to get drunk, and drive their car? Of course not. Someone's free choice led to tragedy. God promises eternal life for those He loves. He never promised His followers would be free from tragedy or strife. The best thing you can do for your fiance is to learn from his death that tragedy can indeed happen anytime. If you would like prayer I would be happy to oblige. Please, let me know if there is anything I can do... God wasn't calling your fiance home, but he can help create positive things from his death with your help.

Answer 16

If you believe that God is all-powerful, then everything must be part of his plan. Even if he is merely all-knowing, he does not prevent bad things from happening. To deny his omnipotence or omniscience is to deny the very nature of God. Therefore, he either does not exist or he isn't such a goody two-shoes as everyone thinks.

Answer 17

There is no reason to believe that any sort of god even exists, let alone has any interest in human affairs or a plan for tinkering in them. Such a god would have much to apologize for; the tsunami killed a quarter of a million people.

Answer 18

I don't believe anything is outside of God's control, but he lets bad things happen for a reason. He's in the business of turning tragedies into blessings. As for each life having a plan and purpose - yes, they do. But you must give up your life in order to find it.



I'm so sorry you lost your fiance.. I can't even imagine the pain you must be feeling. No wonder you're questioning God. You may not believe me, after all I'm just a crab on your computer screen. But turning to him will save you a lot of that grief.

Take care.

Answer 19

Consider the following:

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."



If you understand that, then know that what we think is important on this Earth is not what God sees as important on this Earth. He can see around the corners that we can never see around. The fact remains that if you want to know hat God thinks is important, then you have to know what the Bible says. There is no better written source that I know of.



So after reading the Bible and doing much study, I have found that your standing with Him is most important.



I could claim 'unfairness' in my life too. I didn't ask for attempted rape by my father when I was about 7 years old. I didn't ask for my parents to leave me in an orphanage. And I didn't ask to be estranged from the adopted family after that.



But I know that God has me where He wants me. He wanted me to be capable of communicating faith to people online, as I am doing. If I need something, I look to Him. If I am lonely, I look to Him. I am right where I want to be- the negative things being turned into positive things. Or at least redirected by His guidance.



I am happy no matter what happened to me because I know He loves me.

Answer 20

That rhetoric works only if you believe in it, and for many (including myself), it helped me through a loss. Deal with your lose in your own way, unfortunately, time is the only healer we have for such things.

Answer 21

yes I believe God has a plan for everyone. It's not always what we want. God knows everyone and everything

Answer 22

I believe God set the Universe in motion, and ultimately things work out but the process of the Universe working itself out involves a lot of pain and suffering for us while we reside in the physical part of it.



I also believe that when we die, we will be able to see our physical lives from a "higher" or spiritual perspective and our sufferings will make sense - that is to say we will be able to see the meanings or what we learned or how we grew as a result of them.



But in the mean time, life is filled with hardships that come in all manner of ways, and it's not easy to get through them, but we do.



Sorry for your loss. hang in there.

Answer 23

so sorry about your fiance,may he rest in peace.I do believed that God has a plan for everyone,we always can't see what are the reason behind it because we don't believed on Him,we do seldom thanks Him in good things (small or big)that He give us but in time that we are in pain we do always blame Him?If God also will ask as why do we have an answer for that?It's easy to blame someone in time of our grief or sorrow but it's hard or it's big deal to praise and give thanks to the One who makes us who we are now,yes He have a purpose in every thing,don't rush to see everything in clear because sometimes the reason that you looking for is already in-front of you but you can't see it,learn to seek and you will find,,,,,,,,,,,,

Answer 24

I believe that God is a selfish, cruel, dick-head without true power!



We are always told to forgive the sinner yet God can't forgive Satan. Why is that?

Answer 25

God must let Satan's challenge of God's sovereignty run it course without interfering to prove Satan a liar. God will correct all things according to his timing, and he knows the best time to do that. God can undo all that Satan has done including bringing back to life those that have died, but they will be brought back to life on a restored paradise earth, not to this system of things we now live in. Obviously, some people seemingly don't want to live in paradise conditions.

Answer 26

do aggree i doubt that god plans out our lives. afterall thats a lot of work, even for god.



i cant see god as all loving and such when bad things go down. if you can say that he plans it all, then he isnt all loving and comforting to all.



I cant stand people who go "ohh its all satans fault", you cant be certain that god doesnt do these things. and because my preist / Bible says so isnt a fact.



How about the Question. If god can crush Satan why doesnt he just do it.

Answer 27

It's perfectly reasonable for you to question why does these things happen...and it's reasonable for you to feel a bit of anger towards God at this time...Losing a loved one is extra hard on the survivors..But, remember, we are appointed once to die...and we can't escape it...I lost a very close friend last month also..And I felt shock...Why her?Grieving is a natural process...I understand your pain..God Bless .........

Answer 28

I believe that we live in a imperfect world thanks to the fall of man, death entered in and sorrow and sickness evil etc...

bad things happen to good people and bad people..good things happen to good people and bad people, just this world we live in.

temporary in a lost state but someday we will live in a place with no sickness death etc...what a day that will be.



and I'm sorry for your loss, I too have lost love ones dear to me before there time.

Answer 29

God does have plans for everyone if he didnt we wouldnt be here.

Answer 30

Yes, God has a plan for everyone. I believe that one of those plans, is for you to come to know hime as your personal Lord and Saviour. We may never know why people that we love die at an early age, or why other people live longer. That is not for us to know, but I do beleive that the greatest thing that God desires is for us to have a personal relationship with him. He only desires good for us. I beleive that when people die, it is because they have already fulfilled God's purpose for their life, and God is ready for them to come home to be with him.



We may miss that person here on earth, but, if the person was a fellow beleiver, than we have a hope and a promise that we will see that loved one when we get to heaven.

Answer 31

Well science tends to agree. They say death is found in the Genome.



The Genome decides when to shut organs down.



The Genome decides when your hair turns gray.

Answer 32

I'm an atheist. I do not believe in a god at all.

Answer 33

sorry about your loved one, and I don't mean to disrespect you, my answer was ready before I read your story. yeah, God has a plan for all of us, but we get to change our own direction and mess up the plan. when we don't go by the map, we can get lost

Answer 34

there's more than billion people in the world... god would be so busy if He plan everything

Answer 35

Of course there is no plan. Countless children die of starvation or treatable diseases. Their deaths serve no possible purpose. What plan could there be?

Answer 36

He has a plan for everyone, but sometimes people don't follow his plan.

Answer 37

It wasnt GOD nor any other.... move forward. Drop to your knees and accept your new life