Been awhile since I studied 2nd and 3rd causes, but if memory serves me correctly Plato reasoned that in order for those causes to happen, then there would have to be a 1st cause or mover. Later Aristotle which was a student of Plato reasoned that the first mover was a mover that didn't move. Leaning toward the understanding that that mover was God.
Then came Aristotle's student Alexander the Great who reasoned that when we have problems that we can't understand or untangle then go to the Gordian Knot scene and simply take a short cut and whack the problem in half until we find a new end to start with. Out of which comes the idea that cheaters in the end don't win, lol.

And by the way much of the above was in the 400 years of silence between the Testaments so don't be surprised if that beautiful Helen from a thousand years before isn't brought into the time frame. Since we Baptists aren't allowed to poke around in the Apocrypha you never heard this from me, lol.

I think God knows all before it happens but I don't think He manipulates/controls us.


All our free will as to what happens from choices we make

People say everything happens for a reason. I sort of agree. Sometimes the reason is that you make stupid choices or someone else does. Sometimes the reason is that you make smart choices or someone else does.

if you go through this world thinking god only brings the good and it never ends in death. well I think you only have part of it and your theology will fail in hard times.

none of us are going to get out of this world alive.

sometimes people need to be in your life to teach you something or give you a different perspective, but everyone has to die some way , some how.
If she lived on the edge , enjoying every day and taking all the challenges and she got swept under or hit her head in a rafting accident , it happens some people shine bright for a short time and some people live a long time and you can hardly see their light in a dark room.

as for marrying much younger or older it has consequences and risks but as long as you are both consenting adults and accept that. you love the one you love.

Look at this: A trapper quoting Aristotle and Plato..what has the world come to? LOL