by Smitty

Lifehacker has an article referencing a study about luck that raises a hackle. “Good luck,” people say, even Christians, and I wonder why. What is this ‘luck’?

If one professes Christianity, and I do, then doesn’t Destiny have a bit more appeal than this ‘luck’ stuff? In other words, in mentioning ‘luck’, are you throwing theodicy under the bus? (Asides: [a] evil is a side-effect of free will, and [b] do I need hair like Leibniz in that Wikipedia link?)

As free will and Destiny intereact over time to form your life, who accounts for this ‘luck’? Because if I can buy off on some vague sub-atomic ‘luck’ force, then maybe the database managing the luck could also support re-incarnation. Why not? Carnations need ‘re-in’ from time to time, too. Why do you hate flowers?

Back to the Lifehacker link, the psychological study with the newspaper is genuinely interesting. It’s always interesting to see how clever researchers come up with ways to approach a question. The researchers conclude:

“Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner, and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through the newspaper determined to find certain job advertisements and, as a result, miss other types of jobs.Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there, rather than just what they are looking for.”

Now, putting on my atheist hat for the sake of argument: Christians are nuts. It makes no pure, closed-form, mathematical sense to think that God exists, loves you individually, ever miraculously arrived, and offered humanity redemption, or might return to bat cleanup on the current mess. If such an objective proof did exist, the arguments about religion should have long since been solved. Yet, we’re still “bickering and arguing over ‘oo out-faithed ‘oo”. Can’t wear the atheist hat too long, lest the gaping hole in my knowledge of why I am here drag me down into a pit of nihilism, or lead to some misplaced faith in government.

Rather, as a Christian, I’ve felt that the closer my free will is prayerfully aligned with what I perceive is God’s Will, the lower the existential tension. Yeah, you have to check that daily, lest the Adversary lead you astray. The act of becoming a blogger, for example, involved a lengthy series of steps. Another example was following my father’s footsteps into the Navy, and marriage, and a trip to Afghanistan, and fatherhood. These ingredients converge in a single image:

You really want to call that ‘luck’? Seriously? The World’s Youngest Blogger was less than a week old in that picture. He’s now pushing a venerable two months. With good fortune, I’ll be hanging out with him again in another week. If you believe in ‘luck’, I submit that you also may love Obama, and should pass his bill. Because ‘luck’ us about the only way such a random collection of economically stinky ideas could stumble its way to success. Get the ‘luck’ out of here, say I.

via Instapundit