Life - mapped out for you or what you make of it?

Danye

Hi all,

Do you think that our life is mapped out for us by God?

Or is life what you make of it?

No matter what you do or try, can you get away from the life that is planned out for you?

Or is the truth somewhere in the middle?

Kylta

I believe in the saying "Whats for you wont pass you by." Life can be mapped out for you but it does not mean its gods design. I believe its faith or life. I mean how many people have won the lottery or recovered from major illnesses, who actually don't believe in any deity.

Danye

Kylta wrote: »

I believe in the saying "Whats for you wont pass you by." Life can be mapped out for you but it does not mean its gods design. I believe its faith or life. I mean how many people have won the lottery or recovered from major illnesses, who actually don't believe in any deity.

Thanks for the reply.

Is the saying “What’s meant for you won’t pass you” just another way of saying your life is mapped out?

If your created by God, who then maps out or designs your life, if not God?

Maybe those things happened to show the people that there is a God and therefore bring them closer to him?

Kylta

I believe in Fate. Some people with power or money believe they can decide their own fate. But thats just putting off the inevitable "when your time is up its up!" People who have faith in god or gods believe in divine intervention will lead them to were their destination. People will argue evolution brought us here and not gods design.

Danye

Kylta wrote: »

I believe in Fate. Some people with power or money believe they can decide their own fate. But thats just putting off the inevitable "when your time is up its up!" People who have faith in god or gods believe in divine intervention will lead them to were their destination. People will argue evolution brought us here and not gods design.

Thanks.

So then, if you believe in fate, you believe that you’ll end up where your suppose to be in life, with the right people in the right job in the right circumstances? If that’s true, and we all have our fate pre determined why should anyone try to grow, better themselves and improve?

smacl

Danye wrote: »

Thanks.

So then, if you believe in fate, you believe that you’ll end up where your suppose to be in life, with the right people in the right job in the right circumstances? If that’s true, and we all have our fate pre determined why should anyone try to grow, better themselves and improve?

I think that if you believe we all have free will it implies that we can influence our own fate. If this was not the case for example, suicide would be an act of god, whereas I don't think many people believe this to be true regardless of their religious beliefs.

Danye

smacl wrote: »

I think that if you believe we all have free will it implies that we can influence our own fate. If this was not the case for example, suicide would be an act of god, whereas I don't think many people believe this to be true regardless of their religious beliefs.

So we have free will, we get to choose what we do, which in turn will influence our life (fate) but how much influence do we have? Is it fully in our control? Is it 50/50? Do we have enough influence to alter our fate completely?

Jesus came to earth with a pre determined outcome. Did we?

BTW sorry if you think my question is antagonizing. I’m genuinely interested in peoples views. It’s a question I’ve been grappling with a while.

smacl

Danye wrote: »

So we have free will, we get to choose what we do, which in turn will influence our life (fate) but how much influence do we have? Is it fully in our control? Is it 50/50? Do we have enough influence to alter our fate completely?

Jesus came to earth with a pre determined outcome. Did we?

BTW sorry if you think my question is antagonizing. I’m genuinely interested in peoples views. It’s a question I’ve been grappling with a while.

Personally I'm an atheist and think the balance lies somewhere between our own actions and luck (or fate if your prefer). I don't think there's a lot of benefit in second guessing how we'll meet our demise but do believe it is worth putting the effort in to maximise our chances of leading a long, healthy, happy and fulfilling life. If we can help others achieve the same on the way, so much the better.

Kylta

[QUOTE=Danye;11296827

Jesus came to earth with a pre determined outcome. Did we?


What was jesus pre.determined.outcome?where did you read this?

Danye

Kylta wrote: »

[QUOTE=Danye;11296827

Jesus came to earth with a pre determined outcome. Did we?


What was jesus pre.determined.outcome?where did you read this?

Jesus came to earth with a plan he new about and how his time on earth would come to an end see Matthew 16:21 (Apologies if that’s not the right way to quote a passage)

Kylta

Danye wrote: »

Thanks.

So then, if you believe in fate, you believe that you’ll end up where your suppose to be in life, with the right people in the right job in the right circumstances? If that’s true, and we all have our fate pre determined why should anyone try to grow, better themselves and improve?

People differ with their wants and needs, some people strive to be bosses, some people are career driven, some are slackers some just want to get by. Some.want to get rich, some dont care about money. We are all born to die its the only thing we are guaranteed in this life. But life is about enjoying yourself while your here. Because something is pre designed doesn't mean you can't have a good time going through life

Kylta

Danye wrote: »

Kylta wrote: »

Jesus came to earth with a plan he new about and how his time on earth would come to an end see Matthew 16:21 (Apologies if that’s not the right way to quote a passage)

Who said the bible is the proper teaching of christ and not his apostles

Danye

Kylta wrote: »

People differ with their wants and needs, some people strive to be bosses, some people are career driven, some are slackers some just want to get by. Some.want to get rich, some dont care about money. We are all born to die its the only thing we are guaranteed in this life. But life is about enjoying yourself while your here. Because something is pre designed doesn't mean you can't have a good time going through life

But regardless of what these people want, are they destined to never get them because that’s the hand they’re dealt? Or is it possible for them to achieve their wants regardless of the hand they were dealt?

Danye

Kylta wrote: »

Danye wrote: »

Who said the bible is the proper teaching of christ and not his apostles

I don’t know actually. Do you not think the Bible is the proper teaching?

Who should one learn from if looking to get to know Christ?

Kylta

Danye wrote: »

But regardless of what these people want, are they destined to never get them because that’s the hand they’re dealt? Or is it possible for them to achieve their wants regardless of the hand they were dealt?

No I believe if you want something badly enough you'll get it. How many people have risen from poverty to riches on the backof hard work. It does not say whether they rely on god or not to achieve their destination. All I know is that at the end of life we die. But for the majority of people is a time and place we are unaware off. But whichever road we take will lead to this destination.

Kylta

Danye wrote: »

Kylta wrote: »

I don’t know actually. Do you not think the Bible is the proper teaching?

Who should one learn from if looking to get to know Christ?

The bible was written maybe 60 or so years after christ was crucifed. How do we known what the apostles or maybe somebody else wrote down was true. If you see 10 people at an accident you have 10 different stories. In regards to the bible you had many many versions yet it preaches from 4 apostles (could be wrong on that, its a long time since.I had a bible in my hands)

hinault

Danye wrote: »

Hi all,

Do you think that our life is mapped out for us by God?

Or is life what you make of it?

No matter what you do or try, can you get away from the life that is planned out for you?

Or is the truth somewhere in the middle?

The only church founded by Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church, has long considered the questions which you have raised here.

God wills that every single person be saved, but He has given every single human being free will. Free will means that each person has a choice to either try to conform their lives as best they can to God's commandments, or to not conform their lives to God's will to varying degrees.

I think this video might be helpful to you because it addresses some of the issues that you raise

theological

Danye wrote: »

Hi all,

Do you think that our life is mapped out for us by God?

Or is life what you make of it?

No matter what you do or try, can you get away from the life that is planned out for you?

Or is the truth somewhere in the middle?

God's word in Scripture provides us boundaries for what is good and honourable to Him. We still need to make decisions within those boundaries. There are lots of good and acceptable options for you within those boundaries.

If we think we need to wait for God's prompting in every area we will be paralysed in making decisions. Commit your decisions to God in prayer and evaluate them based on His Word in Scripture.

Now does God determine what happens in our lives. Yes. God has a sovereign will, and a moral will. Whatever happens for good or for ill has been permitted by God's sovereign will insofar as He has allowed it to happen. God's moral will however may say that some decisions are better than others based on what He has declared in His word.

Kylta

theological wrote: »

God's word in Scripture provides us boundaries for what is good and honourable to Him. We still need to make decisions within those boundaries. There are lots of good and acceptable options for you within those boundaries.

If we think we need to wait for God's prompting in every area we will be paralysed in making decisions. Commit your decisions to God in prayer and evaluate them based on His Word in Scripture.

Now does God determine what happens in our lives. Yes. God has a sovereign will, and a moral will. Whatever happens for good or for ill has been permitted by God's sovereign will insofar as He has allowed it to happen. God's moral will however may say that some decisions are better than others based on what He has declared in His word.

Valid point if you believe in god, or goddess, or any kind deity.

theological

Kylta wrote: »

The bible was written maybe 60 or so years after christ was crucifed. How do we known what the apostles or maybe somebody else wrote down was true. If you see 10 people at an accident you have 10 different stories. In regards to the bible you had many many versions yet it preaches from 4 apostles (could be wrong on that, its a long time since.I had a bible in my hands)

I'll help you with this one.

The New Testament texts were written in a life time of Jesus. If one wanted to dispute any of the details in it (and it is very very detailed in terms of places, events, and people) then they could have simply asked those who were claimed to be witnesses and it could have been disproved in a moment.

There were a lot of people with an agenda to disprove it also. The Romans, and the ultra-religious Jews that were around at the time of Jesus.

People claim that the Bible is unfalsifiable. It isn't, and it certainly wasn't at the time it was first circulated.

The earliest accounts aren't 60 years after Jesus. The letters of Paul were published 21 years after Jesus' crucifixion, and these contain information about the beliefs of early Christians. It was circulated amongst the early church orally before this point.

Perhaps it'd be good to get a Bible into your hands and rediscover it, and rediscover who Jesus is again afresh?