The Reality Of Accidents

No doubt everyone of us has had our share of accidents. If not

in a car, or with a knife, or some other sharp object whereby we

cut ourselves, then all of us have at some point in our life fallen

down. It is a part of growing up to fall down, and so it is hard to

conceive that even baby Jesus did not fall down at sometime, or fall

against some piece of furniture that Joseph had made. It would not

be a normal childhood to grow up without some kind of an

accident. But whether Jesus did or not is not the issue, for nobody

else does escape all accidents. We all have them, and the longer we

live the more we have.

In the battle of Sockett's Harbor during the War of 1812, David

Sockett had his hand blown off at the age of 76. Most men had no

such accidents at 76 because most men never lived that long in that

day. Some years later a tree fell on Sockett's head and fractured

his skull. A few years after that he was standing by when a cannon

misfired and both his eyes were damaged by the blast. After this a

horse kicked him in the face causing permanent disfigurement.

You have to conclude that he was accident prone, but it was

something he learned to live with for he lived to be 115.

In contrast was our 17 year old neighbor. She was riding with

her brother when a Christian man in another car had an epilepsy

attack. His foot froze on the gas pedal, and he ran into their car.

She was thrown into the windshield where glass cut her juggler

vain, and she died in just a few minutes. At 17 one accident ended

her life. In another church I served an army officer had a wife and

three children who were hit by an oncoming car, and the wife and

two of the children were killed instantly. The third child was

thrown out the back window and survived. It was the first an only

three casket funeral I have ever seen.

These accidents didn't last very long, but the suffering they left

behind still goes on. I have had my own share of accidents, and

have wrecked a couple of cars quite severely but have suffered no

bodily injury. My children cannot say the same. My oldest son

was hit by a car while on his bike and ended up in the hospital for a

month. My youngest son fell down the stairs and was taken to the

hospital. My daughter once rolled down an embankment and

smashed up a truck and broke her neck. She had to spend weeks

in the hospital and months in traction, and with a lifetime of side

effects.

I read the same statistics that you read, and know that ten of

thousands of people a year die in car accidents, and hundreds of

thousands suffer injury, but cold statistics are not why I believe in

the reality of accidents. It is my experience of accidents that

convinces me they are real, and also my study of God's Word. But

there is always this wide spread saying that keeps coming up that

says, "With God there are no accidents." This is one of those

popular theological sayings that people use to cut off debate on a

sensitive issue. What can you say to such an absolute statement?

It seems sacrilegious, or at least futile, to argue with such a

statement. After all, who is going to have the audacity to challenge

the competency of God to run the world? The result is that this

little phrase quite effectively cuts off both debate and thought on

the subject of accidents. But we cannot escape the fact that our

experience suggests that accidents are a very real part of the world

in which we live.

Some pastors I have talked to about accidents feel that they

have to support the idea that there are no accidents in the life of a

Christian. I tried to argue with one Christian leader that such a

view doesn't seem to fit the facts, and he became emotionally upset

and did not want to pursue the issue. So I am aware that this is an

emotional topic, and you may not like questioning one of the strong

convictions of many Christians. But I decided that the best way to

deal with a dilemma is to look it square in the face, and ask some

serious questions. People make a lot of claims for God, but what

does God claim for Himself? What does the Bible really say about

accidents, and the things that happen by chance? Is there such a

thing, or are these pagan ideas that do not belong in the minds of