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Goodbye Jesus

Do You Believe In "fate?"


Bad2g4e

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I hear several people say, "What's meant to be, will be." What do you think about this? I'm asking because, I recently spoke with a family member that said, "I'm filling out job apps, but what's meant to be, will be." I thought it was a joke, they were serious, however.

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When I was a teenager, a friend of mine told me that he believed in fate and that everything was predetermined.  So I hit him.  Hard.  Then I shrugged and then told him I was sorry that fate ordained that to happen.  He laughed and never brought it up again.

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Short answer, no I don't believe in fate, destiny, god etc

 

People don't like the idea of random chance, or that their life can be affected by the decisions of others (The HR person doing the job hiring for instance)

 

So they put it down to fate, destiny, God etc

 

But as William Shakespeare wrote "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves"

 

In saying that I do hold the view that in many situations you simply cannot control or affect with any great degree the outcome. So for example, I live in a high risk earthquake zone. We know a big one is coming. I prepare as best I can. But I am aware there is a risk I will die in an earthquake, so in that instance I hold "what will be will be". In other words, it isn't fate or destiny, its just what happens.

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No I don't believe in fate. Random events occur and when the law of large numbers is factored in, it is inevitable that some of these random events appear to be preprogramed or destined. Example, if I didn't have a bad cold that forced me stay home from work I would probably been involved in that massive traffic accident on the interstate and I may have been one of the fatalities. My cold was predetermined because it wasn't my time to die.

 

Human rationalization often leads people to believe fate, rather than random coincidence, is responsible for events in their life.

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No, no fate for me either. The phrase "it's meant to be" implies that somebody planned it, in my mind at least, and then I ask, "Who?" and it ends there.

 

People, myself and others, make choices. And then there are weird coincidences and some strange stuff that gets difficult to explain. But no big destiny planned by a supernatural being, no.

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NO such thing as fate.

 

What happens is a result of beings making thier own choices and how those begins and choices interact.

 

Some folks seem to gain some sense of contentment by placing their choices, and their future, in something, or someone, other than themselves. Personally that scares the crap out of me. BOTH The thought of some entity, other than myself, having that much influense on my life, AND the fact that some are OK with that.

 

    - MOHO

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I don't believe in anything that implies some divine oversight. Fate would require that.

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Follow up:

 

Even as a scream'n critty I never bought off on the obvious stories.

 

OOOOOPS!

That comment was meant for the scary hell thread. SORRY.

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Probability plays a significant role, particularly with elective choices, and the likelihood of a predetermined consequence from prior events or behavior can approach the concept of deterministic fate.  For example, say someone chooses to work hard at an education, ending up with a Doctorate in some field.  That increases the probability that the person will have a career in that field along with attendant expectations.  Someone who smokes cigarettes for decades increases the probability of health problems.  While not absolute, certain or predestined, like the concept of "fate" suggests, the probability of a particular effect or result can be very high given certain prior choices.

 

As to random events, all happen in the range between "not expected" and "entirely expected", with most falling inbetween these two limits.  Similar to elective choices by sentient beings discussed above, the events are affected by, and their probability determined by, natural laws of chemistry, classical physics, quantum mechanics and biology.

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Nope. The choices we make, along with others' choices and circumstances, determine what happens. "Fate" is an easy way out of having control over your life. By the way, people who believe that they and not outside forces are in control of themselves and their lives tend to make decisions that lead to good outcomes, and have better coping skills when they run into a problem.

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Nope. The choices we make, along with others' choices and circumstances, determine what happens. "Fate" is an easy way out of having control over your life. By the way, people who believe that they and not outside forces are in control of themselves and their lives tend to make decisions that lead to good outcomes, and have better coping skills when they run into a problem.

 

 

The main difference between Secular Humanism, on the one had, and most Religions, on the other hand, is the diametrically opposed tenants regarding who can solve the issues/problems caused by humans.  Secular Humanists contend that only human societies can repair/fix/solve those problems.  Religionists claim that only their gods can repair/fix/solve those problems.

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No, I do not believe in fate.  What I witness is Pinko, not fate.

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Nope. I believe that every choice you make will have a good or not so good outcome and that will depend on a lot of things. If I book a trip down south and it rains all week, that outcome is just nature. If I love someone and they don't love me back, that is the outcome of the other person not feeling the same way. If I plan to go out today to the mall and I fall down my stairs and sprain my ankle, that was an unlucky accident so it's up to me to be very careful. I believe in the strongest, fittest and luckiest as far as survival goes. But I do like to stay as positive as I can, so I love reading positive stuff to help me in my reactions with any given situation. And I love to play, *Lets play pretend*, and make life into a big game. And I think it's very important to have a plan B up your sleeve at all times.

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No.

 

Interestingly, this was one of the main points that kickstarted my deconversion. Either God was controlling everything and he was a complete asshole, or he didn't exist. I went with the answer that made sense.

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Tying in with VioletButterfly, it was the idea of god's will, or divine destiny, which started me on the road to deconversion.  I'd like to be able to say that I looked at the world and felt the horrific; but the truth is much more selfish.  I got pissed because god's plan wasn't working for me.  I wanted to know why, if god had such a divine destiny for me, he wasn't doing anything to move that plan forward.  Why I had spent 30 years waiting for him to show up; and he still hadn't come.  I realized that if my life was ever going to amount to anything at all, I'd have to take the reins and get to work myself.

 

Later I was able to realize that if god had a plan for everyone, as I had believed, then his plan must include the horrific.  10-year-old girls getting raped?  If god had a plan, then that must be part of it.  Genocide, pestilence, famine, wars and rumors of wars?  god's plan.  Corporate greed enslaving the masses and destroying the planet?  Divine destiny.  His ways are not our ways after all.  Once I was able to get out of myself, it was easier to see that god either does not have a plan, or his plan is atrocious... or maybe he just doesn't exist in the first place.

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Dont know and dont really care. If there is a fate its as confusing and absent as a god would be if one existed.

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