Who believes in Destiny? Why/Why not?

[Pete]

Ubermensch made a very good point when he brought up The Matrix, 'cause what Neo said at the start of the film is pretty much how I used to feel. I rejected destiny, because to me it was the same thing as fate, and I didn't believe in fate because, I wanted to be in control of my life.


But I've realised that being too much in control of my life, is just as bad as blindly leading a "scripted life", another great description that Ube brought up. It will just fuck things up. Or things won't turn out as intended (eg. how you Habib said that people who work and study their arses off to get their university degrees yet they don't become very successful and rich).


So now I try to manage myself into achieving the things I want, but at the same time not tightly holding myself onto one particular path. It's more like "I'm going thataway->", instead of "60m 146' degrees 05' 86" South 17 degrees 43' 32" East".


I know, it's kinda wierd. For instance, (this is the extremely short, rough version) I recently left my job to work for another company. I felt terrible about it, upset. But just a few days ago I learnt that my previous company is crumbling- it's just not being managed properly and the programme is falling apart. If I hadn't left, I would have been caught up in it. This new company is much better suited to what I need, and what I want.
Now, was I destined to leave my previous company?


That's what I am questioning now.

[AYHJA]

From my definition of the word destiny, the answer is yes...I also forgot to mention instinct as a part of that equation, humans are not void of it...Just like I mentioned about the behavior of birds and bears, we are capable of 'using the force' and protecting ourselves...I'm sure I'm not the only one that has felt someone staring at them only to look up and see them doing it...Or, having a feeling about that cute girl being in the Student Union, going and seeing her...

[trashtalkr]

The difference between us and animals is that we have the ability to reason. Animals move solely by instinct. Just because God knows our actions before they happen does not mean we don't have a choice. God is outside of time and so He sees all before/as/after they happen all at the same time. The only reason we have a concept of choice is because we are held by the confines of time.

If you believe God loves us...Why would he knowingly subject us to the dark side of humanity..? If you knew that any offspring you had would become a murderer of innocents...Or a child molestor...Would you still want to have childen..?

The thing is, we don't know how the kids are going to turn out before we have them. Only God knows that. There has to be evil in the world though. If there wasn't evil, then we would have no concept of what goodness was. There needs to be something to relate it to. We can only call a line crooked if we know what a straight line is

[AYHJA]

That's what I mean tt...WE don't know what our kids are like, but if you subscribe to the idea that God is all powerful, he knew exactly what would happen if he created humanity...So that's what I mean when I say that...

And time is not a straight line, if God is multi-dimensional he's seeing the big picture, which we cannot, which includes a variety of possibilities, dimensions...Unless you're wording it in a way I can't understand, your view (The only reason we have a concept of choice is because we are held by the confines of time.) is conflicted...

The ability to reason is based from intelligence, you can't believe animals are void of that...

[Habib]

Sorry guys I was quite away from this topic, my computer broke down, my apologies.
I'm actually doing this topic for my Theory of Knowledge essay in school, so I'm trying to get ideas, evidences etc from here and you are all making good points.

I totally agree and I'm very impressed with what TT said...I never thought about goodness in that way ever. That is, there has to be evil in this world, unless we won't know the concept of "goodness".

So, in conclusion, AYHJA, is this what you are saying: That God doesn't know about everyone's life? And that he hasn't planned it, etc? Like, we as humans could do something, and God didn't know about that thing we did before we did it?

[Fapper]

I dont belive in destiny, just like some people decide to belive in it.
I enjoy reading the ancient greeks who based most of their mithology on the tragic fight against destiny and the consecuent loss, but that destiny they talk about exists for artistic reasons and that's the great thing.
It's a very human thing to judge a failure or success as 'It was my destiny', i don't think it's fair to treat that as a truth when the destiny flag can only be raised at the end of the road.
You can say your destiny is to achieve something in the future, but i think it's just a self-encouraging sentence.

[Pete]

The difference between us and animals is that we have the ability to reason. Animals move solely by instinct. Just because God knows our actions before they happen does not mean we don't have a choice. God is outside of time and so He sees all before/as/after they happen all at the same time. The only reason we have a concept of choice is because we are held by the confines of time.

I disagree. I do believe that animals often move by instinct, but I do know for a fact that they do have the ability to reason.

I'll discuss this further later on.