An intricate issue indeed. Very simply, I do not think there is divine intervention here. It is all the natural causes of the killer missing his aim since Trump happened to move his head. However, one should condemn the evil intention and act of the killer who is guilty of attempted murder. Trump should thank his stars for the saving move he did moving his head away from the incoming bullet. Anyone in the line of the bullet unfortunately were the innocent victims beyond the intentions of the killer.
Thanks for your comment. I think you're entirely right that the shooter's attempt on Trump's life was an evil act. I think that raises a question I probably didn't consider enough in this particular essay, and that's the way that our intentional acts, including evil actions, are woven into the relationships of cause and effect that shape our world.
I did have a good quote from Augustine on this in a later article, although the article is only available to paid subscribers:
"Now if there is for God a fixed order of all causes, it does not follow that nothing depends on our free choice. Our wills themselves are in the order of causes, which is, for God, fixed, and is contained in his foreknowledge, since human acts of will are the causes of human activities. Therefore he who had prescience of the causes of all events certainly could not be ignorant of our decisions, which he foreknows as the causes of our actions."
An intricate issue indeed. Very simply, I do not think there is divine intervention here. It is all the natural causes of the killer missing his aim since Trump happened to move his head. However, one should condemn the evil intention and act of the killer who is guilty of attempted murder. Trump should thank his stars for the saving move he did moving his head away from the incoming bullet. Anyone in the line of the bullet unfortunately were the innocent victims beyond the intentions of the killer.
Thanks for your comment. I think you're entirely right that the shooter's attempt on Trump's life was an evil act. I think that raises a question I probably didn't consider enough in this particular essay, and that's the way that our intentional acts, including evil actions, are woven into the relationships of cause and effect that shape our world.
I did have a good quote from Augustine on this in a later article, although the article is only available to paid subscribers:
"Now if there is for God a fixed order of all causes, it does not follow that nothing depends on our free choice. Our wills themselves are in the order of causes, which is, for God, fixed, and is contained in his foreknowledge, since human acts of will are the causes of human activities. Therefore he who had prescience of the causes of all events certainly could not be ignorant of our decisions, which he foreknows as the causes of our actions."
https://windowlight.substack.com/p/saint-augustine-on-free-will-and
This is the best take I've seen on the topic. Please tag me when you share it on X so I can reshare it there. God bless you!
Thank you! And thanks for sharing here and on X.