The butterfly effect of God's love and providence

[Tom Wetmore]

One of my favorite movies, Back to the Future, illustrates the profound long-term consequences of even the seemingly most insignificant actions.

Could a stubbed toe change history? What great miracle would God need to perform to place the rock in the path to trip the hapless stumbling man? The delay, the recovery time for the injured foot puts him in contact with another person that takes both their lives in a new and unexpected and unplanned direction. God being able to see the long-term consequences of the close encounter of those two lives at that precise point in time under those exact conditions, knows this opens the door of opportunity for a future generation that potentially saves a yet unborn life from ruin and disaster, even in a far distant place and time in the future. But do the consequenses ever really end? Time will tell.

Consider the gentle disturbance to the atmosphere of the fluttering of tiny muscles around the mouth and eyes that causes another to elevate the mood that turns the attitude corner with the ripple affect of paying forward that tiny gesture of kindness. A different emotional path taken for two or more that continues to change other attitudes for bigger and better things on into infinity.

That cup of cold water for a thirsty soul means more than you think and can possibly ever know. Tiny miracles of life...

[D. Allan]

Ummm... SO TRUE, Tom. Many butterflys (some on this forum) have elevated my mood along my path thru deep dark forests. God Bless 'em!

dab

[rab]

Tom, I agree with your 3rd and 4th paragraphs. I totally disagree with the rest. God does not secretly tinker with peoples lives. Give me one instance in the scriptures, or elsewhere, of God doing anything that effects humans without first notifying those involved. Sometimes God gives dreams without warning, but shortly thereafter the meaning is reveled.In His dealings with us, He does nothing in secret. Amos 3:7 How would the debate between good and evil be legally settled if God stacked the deck, micro-managed, or performed behind the scenes manipulations with peoples minds and lives? That would not be fair. Your illustration also suggests predestination and could promote that idea. It's just plain not the truth! However, the point you made is worth thinking about.

[Tom Wetmore]

The point is not so much of a tinkering interfering God, but rather the ultimate impact and long term ramifications of small things. I think we far too often overlook the seemingly insignificant miracles that God performs. If one prays for protection while driving on the highway, he need not alter the laws of physics, gravity, etc. that would be dramatically obvious as divine intervention. For a God supremely aware of all the variables, He may seek the solution with the least interference to accomplish his purpose to protect and preserve a life.

For example, consider God observing the direction and speed of two cars approaching an intersection, one driven by a drunk most likely to go right through the red light at the very same instant the other car is passing through on a green light. God could dramatically alter the laws of physics and cause the cars to pass through the same point in time and space with no physical damage. The drunk might remain unaware, but the other driver would understand a dramatic and miraculous answer to prayer. But of the multitude of options available to God, he could simply cause a deer to run across the road in front of the one car a mile before the intersection. The resulting delay of braking and subsequently slower more cautious speed watching for more deer would allow that driver to pass safely through the intersection the necessary few seconds after the drunk ran the red light, leaving the driver quite unaware of the small miracle of a startled deer at the right moment in time. God's little secret...

But also consider God knowing all the circumstances of the lives of both drivers and the other people within their respective spheres of influence and the potential future courses of each life if this little miracle does or does not happen. Maybe God's purpose and will is less concerned about the immediate safety of either driver. Maybe it is the potentially bright future of the drunk's young child at home safely asleep. God knows the child's fragile hope of fulfilled opportunities and dreams rests in the soon to be sober parent and that the obstacles thrown down in that child's path by the tragic loss of a parent could easily snuff out the hope of a cure for the diabetes that will afflict her younger and dearly loved brother, as yet unconceived, because that child never gets the opportunity to become the brilliant and highly motivated research scientist. And then it may only be the unborn child's offspring that holds great hope... Just two lives saved at an intersection? Or the future course of mankind altered by a startled deer?

[Tom Wetmore]

Small miracles?

Or a big God able to perfectly anticipate all possible outcomes of all possible alternatives of all possible moving parts and creatures of an infinite universe?

[SivartM]

I started writing a story recently about a subatomic being who, directed by God, completes (to him, inane) tasks which have large effects on our level.

If God sustains all creation, then He has to be deeply involved with every particle. I think that every blade of grass and molecule of air is precisely placed for some reason. So it's not just "little miracles"... there's a practically infinite number of miracles happening right now.

[Aliensanctuary]

How different our lives might be today if Jesus had committed some selfish act in the presence of men.

During the Last Days, post resurrection, all of humanity is given an equal chance of accepting the Three Angel's Messages. In this life, we have a great disadvantage in the circumstances of our birth and subsequent upbringing. We may have been raised in a fanatical or criminal environment, with so much blood on our hands and little hope of escape.

Post resurrection, the information we need to join the Kingdom from the Sky will be available to all, and then there will be no excuse for rejecting the Kingdom if we choose to do so.

As far as the drunk driver killing someone at an intersection goes, it may not matter so much in this life if we live or die, or are sick or healthy. Pain and sorrow and death happen to both the good and the evil, just like sunshine and rain.

It's the last choice we must make during the Last Days that will determine our final destiny. Not much of a choice, really, whether to die, then live forever, or live, then die forever.

[SivartM]

I think it matters a lot. That one accident will determine the future of everyone involved. The bird outside your window will play a part in determining your future. Even your final destiny.

Things may seem to happen randomly, but it's all part of a plan.

[Aliensanctuary]

I believe that the LORD, aka YHVH, our Creator and Judge, will give everyone who ever lived a fair shot at joining his Kingdom. To allow our destiny to be affected by some chain reaction starting out as something as simple as the flapping of a butterfly's wings, for example, would doom so many who were not responsible for what happened to their ancestors.

I believe the LORD will give everyone the opportunity to join his Kingdom after the resurrection, where no one will have an advantage over anyone else just because of the circumstances of their previous lives.

In this life, we must prepare ourselves for what awaits us in the Last Days. If we fail to study the Word of God or willfully violate his Commandments, we will weaken our resistance to the con job that we will all be subjected to by the Forces of Evil at the End of Time.

It is sad when loved ones or innocents die prematurely, and we mourn and miss them if they're our own. It may seem that tragedies change our lives, but for the LORD, who knows the future, it all happens the way it's supposed to, no matter what might happen that we think will change the future.

[abelisle]

"Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury - one of my favorite stories.

Just one butterfly and the future goes poof!

[phkrause]

By the same name?

[phkrause]

Sound of Thunder, done in 2005. Going to rent it and check it out.