Can Intervention and Predestination Coexist?

By Robert Ringer

A twenty-nine-year-old entrepreneur awakens before dawn to meet the challenge of a new day. Across town, a house painter goes through much the same ritual. The two men do not know each other, but, without realizing it, they will soon meet.

The young man heading east in a late-model Datsun and the painter traveling south in a Toyota pickup truck are destined to become participants in a million-to-one happening. At approximately 6:30 a.m., as the early morning sky is beginning to reveal a hint of color on the horizon, they arrive at a major Los Angeles intersection at precisely the same instant.

Had either of them taken just a few seconds longer to brush his teeth, put on his shoes, or start his car, he would have missed his catastrophic appointment with destiny.

Unfortunately, the timing was perfect and the two men ended up on the wrong side of the law of averages.

Both parties were traveling at speeds of at least thirty-five miles an hour, and because it was so early in the morning, there were no other cars on the road to impede their progress. Also, the traffic light at that intersection was inoperative as a result of a severe windstorm the previous night.

One of the paramedics who arrived on the scene shortly after the accident told me he was certain the young man never knew what happened, because the Datsun left no skid marks. The pickup truck slammed into it broadside without braking. The investigating officer told me it was one of the worst collisions he had ever seen.

The young man whose life ended so abruptly that morning had been intelligent, hardworking, and ambitious, with a great future ahead of him. I've been thinking a lot about that young man - my nephew - since news of the Virginia Tech massacre began flooding the airwaves. Even though the circumstances of his death were very different from those of the Virginia Tech students and faculty members who lost their lives, the two tragedies have one thing in common: apparent randomness.

Are cynics right when they insist that the entire universe is random? Or should the fates of my nephew and the Virginia Tech victims be classified under the heading of "the inevitable"? In either case, it would seem that bad things happen to good people for no reason at all.

But this raises another question: Is the concept of free will in conflict with the concept of predestination via a Conscious Universal Power Source? On the surface, I would have to say yes. But that yes is based on a number of secularly based assumptions. Consider George Smith's argument in his book Atheism: The Case Against God.

"Briefly, the problem of evil is this: If God does not know there is evil, he is not omniscient. If God knows there is evil but cannot prevent it, he is not omnipotent. If God knows there is evil and can prevent it but desires not to, he is not omnibenevolent. If ... God is all-knowing and all-powerful, we must conclude that God is not all-good. The existence of evil in the universe excludes this possibility."

Smith's argument is compellingly logical - by secular standards, that is. But what about the possibility that God knows there is evil in the world, yet chooses not to stop it for reasons that are beyond our understanding? I respect the right of a person not to believe in a Higher Being. However, if a Conscious Universal Power Source exists, only He would know the reasons for His actions.

Almost by definition, anything supernatural would be unknowable and indefinable in secular terms. Thus, I feel it would be the height of arrogance for me to believe I should be able to understand the motives of the Conscious Universal Power Source. The human brain is guided by secular knowledge and logic. It has no frame of reference for anything that is metaphysical in nature. Yet, it is clear that there is a great deal more to life than that which we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. We cannot see infinity - or even begin to comprehend it - yet we "know" it exists.

About the only way I know of to avoid a conflict between the concept of free will and the concept of predestination determined by a Supreme Being is to believe that some events are predetermined, but not all. And because man possesses free will, he has the capacity to make choices that can shape those events that are not predestined.

Which brings me to the most important question arising out of the Virginia Tech tragedy: Even if man has the capacity to make choices that can shape events that are not predestined, what about those events that are predestined? Can man intervene? From Columbine to Virginia Tech, from the Holocaust to 9/11, from Saddam's gassing of the Kurds to the genocide in Darfur, people of goodwill have always seemed helpless when it comes to stopping violence.

Is it possible for man to influence events already set in motion by God? What if God is just testing us? What if He wants us to intervene in "inevitable" situations? What if there are things we can do to stop or reverse "evil"? Does that sound like a possibility that might be of interest to you? It sure interests me.

This, I believe, is what the civilized world should be focusing on in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy. There was an underlying cause that allowed Adolf Hitler to come to power. There was an underlying cause that spawned 9/11. And, yes, there are underlying causes that have been the catalyst for virtually every school shooting that has ever occurred.

Unfortunately, those underlying causes are not being addressed, because just about everyone - especially the media - has missed them. In fact, it's clear to me that television pundits and "experts" haven't a clue.

Forget about converting high schools and college campuses into locked-down fortresses. Yes, arming college professors with guns might be a step in the right direction, but it doesn't address the underlying causes of what happened at Virginia Tech.

The solutions I have in mind would cost virtually nothing, would not require the use of force, would not violate anyone's civil rights, and would build the character of our student population. They are not quick fixes and are not in line with the conventional wisdom offered by "experts." But they are drastic, because drastic situations call for drastic solutions.

In a future series of articles, when I sense that people might be ready to at least consider the true, underlying causes of school shootings, I intend to share some of these solutions with you. Hopefully, between now and then, you will give some serious thought to the subject and try to draw your own conclusions.

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