Luck and God

[Clarity_over_agreement]

Do you believe that luck and God are compatible?

Let me explain. Luck is the circumstances or events that operate by chance to bring good or ill to a person. Whereas on the other hand God can is in control and the ill comes by disobedience and the good comes by keeping the commandments.

[Gwen]

not all good happens because of obedience, not all bad is because of disobedience. sometimes bad things happen to good ppl and the opposite. i think luck would refer to the things that just happen as part of being in this world. as luck would have it i got the flu. when god does something it's a blessing or natural consequence. the math doesn't work out but we paid our tithing and were blessed to have food till the end of the week.

[Seminarysnoozer]

I think there is the mathematical field of statistics. With knowledge of how the system works I think we call it statistics, if one doesn't understand how the system works we call it luck.

[hordak]

Circumstances are a condition of free will. Often we think we are in this bubble, x happened what did i do wrong or right?, but we forget that others free will affects us, and ours affects others as well

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[Justice]

I look at it this way.

1. God created all things and set them in motion. Something happen just because they are in motion.

2. God can intervene and add circumstances by the power of His Word.

3. God can intervene and prevent circumstances by the power of His Word.

So, even though all things are under God's control, there is a "motion" to things that makes it where His direct intervention is not required. This works for weather, trials, and any other seemingly random events.

[Clarity_over_agreement]

I think there is the mathematical field of statistics. With knowledge of how the system works I think we call it statistics, if one doesn't understand how the system works we call it luck.

But still its luck that could play the part of you being in the 10% or the 90%.

example

a motorist gets t-boned by another car and is left paralyzed. the chances are slim that would happen to any one of us. understanding the statistics cant help you unless your solution is: never be in a car.

[JudoMinja]

I think there is such a thing as luck, as God is not concerned with ALL things. He doesn't care so much about the nitty-gritty details, as these aren't really important to his purpose. Blessings come to those who live righteously, but so do challenges. The Lord does not exempt the righteous from hardships, because hardships help us learn and grow.

There are circumstances and situations that I would subject to luck, but I also think it is possible for us to make our own luck. By that, I mean that the things we do can open us up to more opportunity for "lucky" things to come our way.

[Hemidakota]

Do you believe that luck and God are compatible?

Let me explain. Luck is the circumstances or events that operate by chance to bring good or ill to a person. Whereas on the other hand God can is in control and the ill comes by disobedience and the good comes by keeping the commandments.

There is no luck in this life...

[FunkyTown]

Do you believe that luck and God are compatible?

Let me explain. Luck is the circumstances or events that operate by chance to bring good or ill to a person. Whereas on the other hand God can is in control and the ill comes by disobedience and the good comes by keeping the commandments.

There is no such thing as chance and good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.

Let's give an example:

Bob goes to visit an orphanage and bring presents as Santa Claus. He catches the flu and, because he's elderly, dies a week later.

He caught the flu because he chose to go see children, one of whom was sick.

The child got sick because he chose to go to class with a teacher who was sick.

The teacher caught it because they chose to go to work where a student was sick.

The student caught it when they chose to walk past a man who was coughing on the street.

And so on and so forth, the sickness spreads and we can trace it back 67 times to a worker who caught it from pigs that are kept tightly packed together in filth where the disease was bred.

There was no 'Chance' there. Merely a series of choices made where not all things are known.

If you roll a die, you choose to shake it a certain way. You choose to throw it a certain way. The laws of physics are applied and the die will always roll the exact same way when you choose to do what you did and all atmospheric pressures, surfaces and counterpressures are equal.

[Blackmarch]

Do you believe that luck and God are compatible?

Let me explain. Luck is the circumstances or events that operate by chance to bring good or ill to a person. Whereas on the other hand God can is in control and the ill comes by disobedience and the good comes by keeping the commandments.

I have no clue at what point where god lets things run on their own.

[Seminarysnoozer]

But still its luck that could play the part of you being in the 10% or the 90%.

example

a motorist gets t-boned by another car and is left paralyzed. the chances are slim that would happen to any one of us. understanding the statistics cant help you unless your solution is: never be in a car.

My only point was to say that God would never call it 'luck.' He would call it statistics.

I wasn't commenting on whether God controls every event that seemingly operates under the laws of statistics, I was just commenting on your choice of words.

There are many examples of the laws of the natural world that I am sure God does not directly manipulate each time. God does not manipulate each zygote formation to arrange for only 25% of the children from a blue eyed mother and a brown eyed father to have blue eyes each time. And He doesn't purposely move individual molecules in a seemingly random manner when molecules are moved from a high concentration to low concentration in a diffusion pattern fooling scientists that it is random and not God's hand in everything.

I think God uses natural laws to accomplish his purpose and He does it with the least amount of effort needed, the most efficient way, so He can keep going on His works without end. Why run along the river bank when you can hop in a boat and float on down.

[Drac]

I've wondered about luck/chance/whatever you want to call it multiple times and it always makes me think of D&C 59:21

21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.

Whether that verse has anything to do with the topic, I'm not sure. That's just what comes to mind when I think about luck. I think it tends to have more with the importance of being grateful and expressing thanks to God.

I like the idea of being lucky; but I don't really believe in it. Flipping a coin for example; people would say the chances are 50/50 but if you knew just the right amount of force to apply to the coin being flipped, etc. it would alter the percentage of it landing on the same side. Also, think of a driver never getting in an accident after 20 years of frequent driving. Some would say, "They're lucky," but of course that driver always checks their blind spot, is constantly aware of what is going on around them, etc. Does that mean they will never get in an accident? No. But the likelihood of them getting in one is a lot less. It's not luck.