Causality

Most of life's problems can be broken down by simple cause and effect analysis. The key question in any such analysis is "Why?" Why did I eat an entire bag of potato chips? Cause: I was hungry. Effect: I ate, I gained weight, I am no longer hungry, I am sick.

Take this same causality analysis into the political arena for example. Donald Trump wins the 2016 election. Why? Because the majority of people were so sick of politicians that they were willing to take a chance. Effect: Republicans control 2/3 of all power at the national level. Trump fills all vacancies in the Supreme Court and Federal Courts. In doing so, the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court changes from Liberal appointees to Conservative appointees.

Each of these things has it's own cause and effect.

There is one more "cause" that I left out in the above Trump cause and effect analysis. God. Did God cause Trump to win to accomplish a desired effect for the Supreme Court? Who knows but it IS possible because God holds people's hearts in the palm of His almighty hands.

"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." - Hebrews 3:12-19

Cause and effect. What is the cause of the decisions we make? Are we like the Israelites who sinned and died in the desert? Cause: Disobedience. Effect: Death. Or are we like those who made it to the promised land. Cause: Obedience. Effect: Blessings, milk and honey.

What is the cause of our faith? Is it our OWN beliefs that guide us? Or is our faith based on Godly decisions, based on the truth found in His Word? What will be the effect of the decisions we make today?

We say that we chose to believe in Christ. Or was it God leading us to an inescapable conclusion. Either way we have been caused to believe. The effect is eternal life. Cause and effect.

Cause and Effect - The Matrix