The Cause and Effect Principle

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We are now ready to examine the important proof of the principle of cause and effect.

Most people live their lives completely unaware of why things either “go right” or “go wrong.” They seem unable to comprehend that what they do, or do not do, has a direct effect on their lives. Most do not recognize that for every cause there is an effect, or conversely, for every effect, there was a cause. Scientists understand this principle in physics, but mankind is unaware that the same is true spiritually.

Consider a few basic points. Let’s reason together. Exactly how does cause and effect work in one’s life? Some simple examples bear examination.

If you routinely eat too much, what happens? You will get sick, or fat—or both! There is no mystery to this.

If you drink too much alcohol, you will become intoxicated. This could lead to a next-day headache, being arrested, or even an auto accident that could result in injury or death to yourself or others. Again, there is no mystery to this.

If you break laws, you could go to jail or prison. This will affect your family, employment opportunities and your entire future. Once again, no mystery.

In this way, the law of cause and effect impacts your life—and the life of everyone on earth—in endless ways.

If industry pollutes the environment, the result is polluted air or water, or even the much-debated problem of global warming. If countries go to war, the result is economic upheaval, disease, famine and general misery for all involved. If parents neglect the proper rearing of their children, or children do not obey their parents, the result could be poor performance in school, drug addiction, criminal conduct or worse. None of this is hard to understand.

But the Bible is also a book about cause and effect! It contains literally hundreds of different laws, each carrying the power of cause and effect for those who keep or break them.

Whether one identifies and knows all the laws of the Bible is not relevant to whether breaking them will bring punishment. Just as speeding can result in a ticket, whether the driver knew the speed limit or not, so those who break the laws of God reap penalties—whether they know they are violating specific laws or not!

Look at the world around you. It is filled with confusion, poverty, disease, ignorance, war, chaos and misery. Have you ever asked yourself why? What is the reason mankind has never been able to solve these problems? Why do they only grow worse with the passing of time? Because the laws of God are being routinely broken by earth’s billions of human inhabitants.

The One who claims to have written the Bible states that His great law, the Ten Commandments, is “holy, just, good and spiritual” (Rom. 7:12, 14). Again, consider your basic understanding of cause and effect. When those laws are obeyed, it can be proven that they bring blessings, benefits and good things into the lives of those who obey them. Mankind has rejected the Instruction Book that would reveal to him the cause of all his problems and misery.

Space does not permit that this section cover, in precise detail, the many laws of God, and how they are related to cause and effect. However, throughout the Bible, its Author promises blessings, benefits and good results to those who take each particular promise at its word. (Read our book The Ten Commandments – “Nailed to the Cross” or Required for Salvation?)

God promises to heal all those who keep His laws and exercise faith in His power to perform the healing (Ex. 15:26; James. 5:14-15). He promises to greatly bless all those who obey His Sabbath (Isa. 58:13-14; Mark 2:27-28). He promises good health to all those who obey His many health laws. Each promise involves employing a right cause (obedience) to achieve a right effect (blessing or benefit).

In each of these cases, and in many others, God describes a cause and effect relationship that proves the inspiration behind His instructions. But it will only work for those who are willing to take Him at His Word!

While the determined skeptic will reject the reasoning described here—and do it to his own great hurt, because he thinks he can defy the law of cause and effect—the one who is willing to take the Author of the Bible at face value will find an almost endless series of very compelling proofs that the Bible is not a book of men. However, the material here is not written to, and cannot help, the closed-minded skeptic. But it certainly can help you, if you remain open to the powerful proofs that await examination.