Accepting our Fate

[Trailblazer]

I believe in free will but I also believe in fate and predestination. I covered this in the OP of another thread I started recently:

I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things

What I want to address in this thread is accepting what God has fated/predestined for us, which I believe is God’s Will for us. I think we should do all we can do to solve our own problems, since we have free will, but there are times when we have done all we can do and there is nothing more we can do. I believe that we are then at the mercy of God and trying to accept our fate, whatever that is. I am not saying I am always good at accepting my fate but I really don’t see that I have any other choice, once I have done all I can do.

That sentiment is expressed in the Serenity Prayer:

This opens the door to a discussion of how much free will we really have to make changes in our lives. How do we know when we have done all that we can do to solve a problem? How limited are we? What are we really free to do?

 

[rational experiences]

If the problem is human behaviour. It's seen.

We know our will is a condition of choice. And a lot of humans choose nasty evil harmful cruel intentions.

Everywhere on earth the behaviour intent to hurt family is expressed and some countries worse than others.

So a human asks if a spiritual being who oversees us is real then why doesn't it intervene?

Obvious advice rational says.....As it can't be where destruction change is expressed otherwise it could not realise it's purpose unconditional. Loving unconditionally we've always human stated proof as we get messages.

We have human experiences that involve supernatural conditions for human proof.

To be encouraged that we are not alone but need to work together again as mutual human family life.

Spiritual as healing becoming developing behaviour....nurturing as health knowing our planet is especial to human life.

What human teaching humans meant.

So we teach one United purpose is humanity as we seem to have forgotten human species one species is our family.

Nature is balanced in its family communions..... human live a huge imbalance. Both as earths environmental destruction and chosen human self destruction.

We say the past owns all examples. We keep waiting for a miracle to save us now.

Yet the teaching of life said it was humans who chose to not live the balanced spiritual life as based on two heavenly teachings.

The balances.

Light and removal and clear darkness at peace.

Two mutually supportive bodies owning balances.

So we do all comparing as a thinker.

We know both conditions we express removal and yet at peace .... yet to be balanced you are advised and then you learn to keep balanced.

Simply because two forms in balance are very different.

Hence human life body mind experiences versus chosen destructive invention was removing earths form taught us. As bodily and behaviour family life species changed.

Trust that life is supported when you don't change the mass of earth. Was human taught by humans about humans. Human behaviour is very self destructive.

As keeping and maintaining balances is how life is nurtured.

Simple basic non arguments as we do the assessing as the human .... involved as taught advice as the human. Living a humans experience.

Is pretty basic advice enough human experience advised we know who we're meant to be as behaviour.....it's only a non belief that we held any self purpose that causes the being destructive human will expressed.

As God is will in science is two naturally reactive bodies as gods earth mass or gods heavens mass. Human explained and only natural terms.

Man's he him his God will was to take a human science position and force react the advice about god themselves.

Which is only a humans scientists will. How to be taught as a human to force change earth unnaturally.

Which we knew and were taught is part of a humans self destructive nature.

 

[osgart]

I think we are free to will what we will, but not necessarily free to do as we would will. In some sense once we go down a path it's harder to choose otherwise. It's possible that once free will is exercised people can become slaves to the desires they choose. I think the more virtuous someone becomes the freer their will becomes. There's no law against virtues. Virtuous desire is free from guilt, and thus free in will. Virtue is liberty and thus free will.

I think we all start out with free will but not everybody makes the best decisions with their free will, and that could lead to slave will.

If God is true and all powerful then perhaps God's truth could liberate the worst of humanity. Iow God could influence our free will to desire only the best in life. I think free will is perfectly compatible with such a God. I suppose no matter what God does a person can always say no. However if God has a handle on good and evil I would suspect no soul is beyond God's reach. I know some believers believe in universal salvation instead of exclusive salvation. Universal salvation would be my first choice, but I wouldn't make things free and easy for the worst people. I think punishment as deserved has its power and place. It's impossible I think to know the heights and depths of free will.

I suppose I could ask God the question, is it good to change the hearts and minds of the most vile and wicked people on Earth? Or is eternal doom a necessity because God could not, or would not change them?

I don't think there is a great measuring stick for free will or not having free will. The best I think I can do is live in the here and now and work on things under my control to the best of my ability. I think it's wise to gather as much true wisdom and knowledge as one can.

Accepting my limits and limitations perhaps I can grow beyond some of them. But I'll never have all the answers in this life.

 

[The Hammer]

I believe in free will but I also believe in fate and predestination. I covered this in the OP of another thread I started recently:

I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things

What I want to address in this thread is accepting what God has fated/predestined for us, which I believe is God’s Will for us. I think we should do all we can do to solve our own problems, since we have free will, but there are times when we have done all we can do and there is nothing more we can do. I believe that we are then at the mercy of God and trying to accept our fate, whatever that is. I am not saying I am always good at accepting my fate but I really don’t see that I have any other choice, once I have done all I can do.

That sentiment is expressed in the Serenity Prayer:

View attachment 62365

This opens the door to a discussion of how much free will we really have to make changes in our lives. How do we know when we have done all that we can do to solve a problem? How limited are we? What are we really free to do?

My OP The Plan covers my views on how Fate works.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I believe in free will but I also believe in fate and predestination. I covered this in the OP of another thread I started recently:

I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things

What I want to address in this thread is accepting what God has fated/predestined for us, which I believe is God’s Will for us. I think we should do all we can do to solve our own problems, since we have free will, but there are times when we have done all we can do and there is nothing more we can do. I believe that we are then at the mercy of God and trying to accept our fate, whatever that is. I am not saying I am always good at accepting my fate but I really don’t see that I have any other choice, once I have done all I can do.

That sentiment is expressed in the Serenity Prayer:

View attachment 62365

This opens the door to a discussion of how much free will we really have to make changes in our lives. How do we know when we have done all that we can do to solve a problem? How limited are we? What are we really free to do?

Look at the words I highlighted. If you believe those words, then you have no free will, nor are you responsible for anything that you do, and any punishment or reward you incur as a result is 100% unfair and undeserved.

Period.

 

[sun rise]

How do we know when we have done all that we can do to solve a problem?

That's a very good question partly because we all or most of us question ourselves with that question. And to me that question is at least partly rhetorical because it's very very common to think "if only we had known" we could have responded better.

Given how fallible humans are, the more we can be gentle with ourselves the better. The more we can treat problems as chances to learn rather than treat our imperfect problem solving as failure, the happier we'll be.

 

[Trailblazer]

Look at the words I highlighted. If you believe those words, then you have no free will, nor are you responsible for anything that you do, and any punishment or reward you incur as a result is 100% unfair and undeserved.

Period.

No, that is not true because I do not believe that everything that happens to us is fated/predestined. Some things are subject to our free will choices and some things are fated/predestined by God.

As I said in that other thread I cited:

I believe that Isaiah 45:7 refers to fate and predestination and that prosperity and disaster are things that happen to us that are beyond our control.

In short, God is responsible for both the Good and the Bad things that happen to us, those things that are not subject to free will and thus are beyond our control.

“Some things are subject to the free will of man, such as justice, equity, tyranny and injustice, in other words, good and evil actions; it is evident and clear that these actions are, for the most part, left to the will of man. But there are certain things to which man is forced and compelled, such as sleep, death, sickness, decline of power, injuries and misfortunes; these are not subject to the will of man, and he is not responsible for them, for he is compelled to endure them. But in the choice of good and bad actions he is free, and he commits them according to his own will.”
Some Answered Questions, p. 248

Man is compelled to endure them because God set it up that way since we live in a material world where some of the bad things happen are beyond our control. That is our destiny, our fate, for which God is responsible.

 

[shivsomashekhar]

This is ancient Greek/Roman Stoicism - without the redundant theistic element.

Accept/Realize/See that only certain things are in our control and focus on the controllable.

Also Stephen Covey's circle of concern vs. circle of influence