You are reading this for a reason

"You know, I don't get the whole 'belief' thing, but you've got to think that things like that happen for a reason. Maybe you can't really understand until later, looking back, but there's gotta be a reason for something like that. I don't know..."

It was late in the evening, the day after Christmas, and my agnostic father-in-law and I were discussing - over eggnog and rum - the extraordinary circumstances surrounding my son's adoption. I was careful not to use the word "miracle" in the first announcement I sent out. But in our Christmas letter, I resorted to the hyperbolic term "miraculous" to describe the totally unexpected and wonderful turn of events.

"I would describe it more accurately as providence. It wasn't literally a miracle, at least I don't think so, " I said. I stood up and felt the effect of the rum more strongly, telling me it was time to shut my mouth for both drink and talk, and soon my wife and mother-in-law returned from a long hard day of thrift-store shopping on Long Island. The rum soon wore off, but his comments stuck in my mind.

You cannot say that God doesn't exist, or exists but remains utterly uninvolved, and simultaneously claim that anything happens for a "reason" - i.e. a purpose. Everything has a cause, but that is not the same as a purpose. Only the actions of persons - God, human beings, and to some degree higher animals - have purpose.

Reason, also, is a personal characteristic. Inanimate objects are never reasonable or unreasonable, they simply are. If we say that a product is ridiculous or nonsensical, we are actually making a judgment about the designers of that product. If we say a law is irrational or unjust, we are in fact making a statement about the actions of those who wrote and implemented it.

To claim that something happened for a reason, is to claim that a person allowed it, enabled it, or brought it about - in order to achieve a particular end. It is almost always implied that the particular end is good (hence the encouragement to found in such a claim). And normally, we're not talking about a human being, or else we would say that, "So-and-So did this because..." In claiming a reason - i.e. a purpose - behind anything, we are in fact acknowledging God's involvement in our world. Only a good, personal, all-powerful God orchestrates events to bring about an intended and beneficial conclusion.

Which brings me to the title of this post. You are reading this, primarily, because I (a human person) wrote it, and because you (another human person) chose to read it. I wrote it because it has been on my mind for several days, and because I enjoy writing. You, dear reader, are probably reading this because you are very bored (although other motivations could be imagined). But what if - and it's a big IF - there is some grander design behind this intersection of reading and writing? Just Who would be responsible for that?