fate

i'm still not sure if everything happens for a reason. i don't know if fate exists. because think about it... life would be so planned out. you really wouldn't have a choice. because the choice you make would be the choice you were SUPPOSED to make. fate is so final. i like the idea that i'm in charge of everything. it's my choice who i want to be with and where i want to go. not fate's. i don't like the idea that god has a plan for everyone. i don't like the fact that god knows what's going to happen. i want to be in charge of my life. even when bad things happen, it's not like i want them to.. they just do. i look at that as sort of a spontaneous storm. like, a test from god. i don't even know if i believe in god. right now that seems so unreal to me. there's experiences that make me believe in god and there are experiences that make me doubt god's existance. i don't know why bad things happen to good people. the only reason i can think of is a test from god. he's saying, "let's see if they can live through this. let's see how they handle it. let's see who really cares about this person." i don't know. i really should stop trying to understand life and live life simotaneously. i should just stop wondering. but the question won't stop staring me in the face. the question of freewill, the question of creation, the question of LIFE in general. i try to watch waking life, and i try to see which theories make sense. i try to get ideas of what i might believe in.. from books, from movies, from other people. but i think what i really need to do is take a look inside myself. this is all up to me and no one else. it's ME. my thoughts.

This question keeps coming up.

Everyday we have choices to make. If we don't make those choices the world does not stop turning. We can control our destiny to a certain degree if we want to, or we can just let the stream take us along. I will not say (like many do) that one is better than the other. I think for each person it is a decision. We should pay attention. That is good advice. If you pay attention you might see the large rock that the stream has lead you to. You might steer away from it. If you don't pay attention, you might not see it and it will be a disaster for you.

I believe life is a test. We don't all take the same test. The rich person takes a different test than the poor person, whichever one you happen to be born into.

If it helps, I have learnt that there is a God by observing nature.

Bad things happening? Yes, bad things do happen to good people. IEverything is going good for me now. But I know that this could change in a heart beat. So I pray always being thankful and asking not to let anything happen to me. But does God take orders from me? I know it does not matter. So I keep a watchful eye for that bolder so that I might stear away from it. There is a saying (its not in the bible) "God takes care of those who take care of themselves"

okcitykid--
i think you explained that very well. i, myself, would want to control my destiny. i like the idea that i made myself who i am. but i always find someone else to blame for my faults. i guess that's a flaw of mine.
and the thing about god.. observing nature? what do you mean? if you mean observing the outdoors, that could merely just be evolution. could you explain more on that?
although i like your answer explaining bad things. and i like your saying too. i guess i'm just doubting my belief in god because i don't know everything about it yet. you know? i need to actually take the time out of my day to sit down and think about it.

ceres-- what's that supposed to mean?

Well you c, we all think that everything happens for a reason because we can get some comfort out of that, when something bad happens 2 us, although we can give things a reason ourselves. Thats why bad things happen 2 good people: it doesn't make a diiference. Almost everyone lives a happy life. We only count the trajidies. We don't count the number of times our children come from home safely, or the number of times we safely journey on an aeroplane. Trajidies are very few in life, and happen 2 everyone, regardless of how many times they pray.God has nothing to do with losses or rewards.
Yes, in a way life IS a test, and the one who gets through it will flourish in the end.( maybe will be rewarded by God)

As for fate, yes it may exist. But not in the sense that ' THOU SHALT EAT A STRAWBERRY SUNDAE AT 3 35 PM TOMMOROW' or some thing. There may be a number of different possible out comes. For example, if you go to school, your fate may include becoming a doctor or some other profession, but if you don't then ur fate may include desease, poverty etc.
You are not SUPPOSED to make any choice, you make a choice, and that will lead you to make a number of fixed choices and so on. Death is also no pre-determined. For example, in the future you may die of kidney failure or something. You may say that it was in fate, but right now if you eat the right foods, it will almost be certain that you will not.(although then u'll die by some other desease)
As far as the problem of seeing the future is concerned, that is so far a myth.

Well you c, we all think that everything happens for a reason because we can get some comfort out of that, when something bad happens 2 us, although we can give things a reason ourselves. Thats why bad things happen 2 good people: it doesn't make a diiference. Almost everyone lives a happy life. We only count the trajidies. We don't count the number of times our children come from home safely, or the number of times we safely journey on an aeroplane. Trajidies are very few in life, and happen 2 everyone, regardless of how many times they pray.God has nothing to do with losses or rewards.
Yes, in a way life IS a test, and the one who gets through it will flourish in the end.( maybe will be rewarded by God)

As for fate, yes it may exist. But not in the sense that ' THOU SHALT EAT A STRAWBERRY SUNDAE AT 3 35 PM TOMMOROW' or some thing. There may be a number of different possible out comes. For example, if you go to school, your fate may include becoming a doctor or some other profession, but if you don't then ur fate may include desease, poverty etc.
You are not SUPPOSED to make any choice, you make a choice, and that will lead you to make a number of fixed choices and so on. Death is also no pre-determined. For example, in the future you may die of kidney failure or something. You may say that it was in fate, but right now if you eat the right foods, it will almost be certain that you will not.(although then u'll die by some other desease)
As far as the problem of seeing the future is concerned, that is so far a myth.

" Almost everyone lives a happy life."
Erm.. i'm not so sure about that. Many people (3rd World) don't have enough to fulfil their needs, while even we, the obscenely rich, are not always happy. Even if we have everything we need.

There isn't much nature left to observe, but if you can find it and the time to observe it, but if not, then study what others have observed, you'll discover as I have that there must be a God. Nature is lots of living things working to sustain eachother in a complicated web of life called an Eco system. And even Eco systems support eachother, making life on earth possible. The soil is an example. Living things in the soil that have yet been fully explored create food for plant growth, and the plants that grow in turn feed the soil. While Evolution does have a place in science, it cannot override the evidence that something intelligent created such a vast complicated ecosystem we call earth that sustains itself. It could not have been created by accident. However, an accident like evolution may have been used to create it. Where it gets confusing is when humans enter the picture. All is perfect, then come the humans. For this mystery, I can only give my best guess.

In the realm of religion, we are the children of the creator. If you believe in the One God theory, the most popular theory - I explain it this way. We will one day become one again and be once again joined to our creator from whence we came. There is a scripture that is NOT in the bible. It explains that we are wisdom sown on the earth. When we mature, we will be harvested much greater than what was originally sown. But when it comes to religion, you have to make up your own mind on that one. There are so many beliefs, but if you study nature, you will discover an intelligent something that put it all together and made it work and there is no way possible it could be done by accident, until something stupid happened, that was when intelligent life appeared. Weird, very weird.

I don't belive in fate. Fate would mean that someone planned your whole life and knows everything thats going to happen. In this case, it would be God. But then you have to think, sure he's all-knowing and all-powerful, but he doesn't have to use his power to see whats going to happen to you all the time. I mean, say for example you were gifted to be the best dancer in the world. It doesn't mean you have to dance all the time, every second of your life. Or say you had a great singing voice, it doesn't mean you'd use it all the time, say in regular conversation. Do you kind of get where I'm trying to highlight? I probably didn't word it in the best way, but the point is, God can see into the future, but he can chose not to also.

Have you considered the possibility that we live in a nature that contains both fate and free-will?

Well, yeah, fate in the sense that if I punch you, you will not start to fly. If I hit a brick with my toe, I will feel pain.

That's not fate but cause and effect.

Im suggesting that we may have free-will and live our lives accordingly, but that God may also use his free-will and through providence act so as to promote certain circumstances.

what isnt fate? Xris what yo said dint make any sense.. yes he was specifing in caue and effect but whyisnt that fate? everythings fate.. whtever happens..

Fate: The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events.

An inevitable effect to a cause is not fate.

What didnt you understand in what I said?

its par of the fate no? everythings fate.. i tohught fate meant an outcome of things which whatever it is happens is it including the cause and effect1 or not cause and effect

Well if I understand you correctly then I must add that fate does not interfer with cause and effect. However, fate implies that a higher cause can override a human/natural cause and produce a different effect than would be natural and expected.

For example, remember in Schindler's List when the Nazi was trying to shoot an older Jew but his gun wouldnt fire? It should have been certain that the natural effect and fate of the man was death, however it is possible that God supernaturally acted and prevented the gun from firing and thus over-rode the natural fate and delivered a new fate where he determined the Jew would live.