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Is everything in life—the good times and bad, the joys and disappointments, the open doors and roadblocks—ultimately the result of a cosmic roll of the dice? Plenty of people feel that way, living as if every outcome is ultimately governed by nothing more than blind chance. In simple terms, they believe that life is random.
We live in a generation full of people who see themselves as the hapless victims of the random circumstances that life throws their way. For some, it’s drawing the short straw in the gene pool—they’re not smart enough, not pretty enough, or they don’t possess the gifts to get where they want to go in life. Others were born on the wrong side of the tracks and were denied certain financial and educational advantages from the start. In a variety of ways—genetically, academically, socially, or materialistically—cruel chance has conspired against them.
Whether we realize it or not, subscribing to that worldview is a direct assault on the Creator.
Naturalism
Belief in random happenstance is the logical outgrowth of naturalism, a godless worldview holding to the core doctrines of Big Bang cosmology and Darwinian evolution. While naturalism presents itself with a façade of scientific legitimacy, in reality it is nothing more than the rabid belief in the sovereignty of time and chance.
Harvard professor and Nobel prize winner George Wald proclaimed his belief in naturalism when writing for Scientific American in 1954:
Time is in fact the hero of the plot. . . . What we regard as impossible on the basis of human experience is meaningless here. Given so much time, the “impossible” becomes possible, the possible probable, and the probable virtually certain. One has only to wait: time itself performs the miracles. [1] Cited in https://answersingenesis.org/evidence-against-evolution/probability/does-evolution-have-a-chance/
Clearly, it takes a lot of faith to be a naturalist! Wald’s statement positions naturalism not as a scientific theory, but as a religion. Naturalism usurps the Creator as the driving force behind all that happens in the universe. Everything scientists cannot observe, test, or repeat is simply explained away by endless eons of time—a convenient and lazy cop out. Wald and his fellow naturalists might as well claim that all the furniture in an Ikea warehouse could assemble itself given enough earthquakes to shake the pieces around.
As John MacArthur explains in his book The Battle for the Beginning, in spite of naturalism’s lofty academic language, it is a deeply irrational religion.
Common-sense logic suggests that every watch has a watchmaker. Every building has a builder. Every structure has an architect. Every arrangement has a plan. Every plan has a designer. And every design has a purpose. We see the universe, infinitely more complex than any watch and infinitely greater than any man-made structure, and it is natural to conclude that Someone infinitely powerful and intelligent made it. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made” (Romans 1:20). [2] John MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001), 37–38.
Naturalists, he writes,
end up with an eternal but constantly changing material universe governed by an endless chain of random events—all culminating in magnificent design without a designer, and everything happening without any ultimate cause. . . . It eliminates purpose, destiny, and meaning from everything in the universe. And therefore it leaves no ground for anything rational. [3] MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning, 37.
Most people today who believe that life is random don’t give much thought to the philosophical foundations of their worldview. They might not identify as full-blown naturalists, even though they have bought into the same lie. But the results are consistent with the influence of naturalism, and the practical ramifications are on constant display in this sin-filled world. If there is no reason for existence, no purpose for life, and no hope after death, it is no surprise that most people live by the creed, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32).
Nevertheless, as John MacArthur points out, the real reason people embrace naturalism is far more sinister.
Why would someone opt for a worldview that eliminates all that is rational? It boils down to the sheer love of sin. People want to be comfortable in their sin, and there is no way to do that without eliminating God. Get rid of God and you erase all fear of the consequences of sin. So even though sheer irrationality is ultimately the only viable alternative to the God of Scripture, multitudes have opted for irrationality just so they could live guilt-free and shamelessly with their own sin. It is as simple as that. [4] MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning, 38.
God Is Sovereign
The lie that life is random gives license to sinners by shielding them from their sovereign Creator.
“Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). That’s a simple but effective look into the nature of God’s sovereignty. Over and over, Scripture extols God’s sovereign control over every aspect of His creation. “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Psalm 135:6). The apostle Paul explains that God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). And in 1 Corinthians, Paul likewise exalts God as uniquely sovereign: “There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
The point is unmistakably clear: God reigns as the sovereign Creator and sustainer of the universe, and “from Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36). [5] John MacArthur, None Other (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust, 2017), 27.
There is not a single random molecule in the entire universe. Everything has been ordered by almighty God. He has stated it plainly in His Word. He has covered creation with His fingerprints (Romans 1:18–21). And He has written it upon the consciences of every person (Romans 2:14–15). We are without excuse.
Even evil, though not authored by Him, is ordained and allowed by God for the furtherance of His sovereign purposes. In fact, the greatest evil ever perpetrated was ordained by God for the greatest good on our behalf. Christ’s crucifixion was satanically devised, humanly conspired, and divinely orchestrated:
For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. (Acts 4:27–28, emphasis added)
From creation to salvation and everything beyond, there is not a random moment in history, and we can be sure our futures aren’t subject to chance. God has been sovereignly tending to every square inch of His universe since the day He created it. There is a plan, a purpose, and a destiny for all that He has made.
The lie that life is random is ultimately a flimsy and ineffective defense against the sovereign authority of God and His future judgment. As Paul explains in Romans, its proponents have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). We don’t have to argue for God’s sovereignty—we need to remind sinners of the truth written on their hearts, and help them understand the futility and the damning consequences of ignoring it.
