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I'm not sure what others believe; however, as a Born-again Christian --- I do believe that everything is working together for either evil or good. I do not see what others call a coincidence. Everything that happens occures for a reason. I might not understand that reason, but there are clearly reasons for everything that happens. That doesn't mean that I live in fear. In fact I actually find that such an understanding provides direction and absolutes. I would like to know how both Mormons and agnostics/atheists feel concerning the overal scheme of events. Are they arbitrary or are they driven?

LittleNipper wrote:Everything that happens occures for a reason. I might not understand that reason, but there are clearly reasons for everything that happens.

LittleNipper wrote:I might not understand that reason, but there are clearly ...

You do not understand, but it is clear. Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be.

Are they arbitrary or are they driven?

Clearly.

LittleNipper wrote:I would like to know how both Mormons and agnostics/atheists feel concerning the overal scheme of events. Are they arbitrary or are they driven?

atheists, agnostics have no reasonable, sensible, or logical choice but to admit that 'coincidence' does not exist. Granted they do not consider a supernatural explanation for that which is "driven"...but they must certainly concede that, with respect to, their lives - everything is driven.
Just so happens that everything, to them, is driven by a chemical process - beyond their control and even beyond their influence. Too complex to comprehend but it is without escape. Everything in their life is the result of a chemical process...every perception, every thought, every emotion, and every action is simply the resulting product of a chemical process....and all these processes...either singularly simple or combined in complexity behave according to the natural law of the universe. When 2 hydrogen atoms bond with 1 oxygen atom on earth - it is as it is in heaven - it results in water. Gravity behaves on the earth as it does on the moon and is it does elsewhere in the universe.
The atheist can not deny these laws without denying their very beliefs...they can not avoid their own assumption with a claim of the unknown because that would logically conclude that the supernatural is possible...that the supernatural exists...and if the supernatural exists, then God is possible...and that is a conclusion that renders themselves nonexistent.

subgenius wrote:atheists, agnostics have no reasonable, sensible, or logical choice but to admit that 'coincidence' does not exist.

Huh: I just flipped two coins and they both came up "heads". In your defense, both coins make the claim "In God We Trust".

Bret Ripley wrote:

subgenius wrote:atheists, agnostics have no reasonable, sensible, or logical choice but to admit that 'coincidence' does not exist.

Huh: I just flipped two coins and they both came up "heads". In your defense, both coins make the claim "In God We Trust".

What did you want to come up --- heads or tails?

LittleNipper wrote:I'm not sure what others believe; however, as a Born-again Christian --- I do believe that everything is working together for either evil or good. I do not see what others call a coincidence. Everything that happens occures for a reason. I might not understand that reason, but there are clearly reasons for everything that happens. That doesn't mean that I live in fear. In fact I actually find that such an understanding provides direction and absolutes. I would like to know how both Mormons and agnostics/atheists feel concerning the overal scheme of events. Are they arbitrary or are they driven?

What happened to free will?

subgenius wrote:atheists, agnostics have no reasonable, sensible, or logical choice but to admit that 'coincidence' does not exist.

LittleNipper wrote:What did you want to come up --- heads or tails?

subgenious wrote:Just so happens that everything, to them, is driven by a chemical process...

I just rolled a die and got a six. I rolled a second die and it also came up six. In your world, atheists and agnostics everywhere are presumably marveling at the chemical processes that drove this inevitable result.

Naw, he's talking clockwork universe. Only he's got it wrong -- it's not chemicals. The big bang set it all in motion, and, thus, is the ultimate cause of the atheist universe. The atheist cannot believe in coincidences because everything has the same ultimate cause.

Of course, he lives in a universe where an all-knowing god knew the result of every choice he would make in his whole life before he was born and will reward or punish him based on those choices. He calls this, free agency.

Brad Hudson wrote:Naw, he's talking clockwork universe.

Oh, I know he's going for some flavor of naturalism. I'm just having a little fun: I had some vague hope that my mention of "dice rolling" would bring to mind some fairly well-known words regarding quantum theory.

Only he's got it wrong -- it's not chemicals. The big bang set it all in motion, and, thus, is the ultimate cause of the atheist universe. The atheist cannot believe in coincidences because everything has the same ultimate cause.

Of course, he lives in a universe where an all-knowing god knew the result of every choice he would make in his whole life before he was born and will reward or punish him based on those choices. He calls this, free agency.

Only because God knew he would call it that.