Fate, Destiny and Expiration Dates

2007-05-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

The question of whether or not one believes in fate / destiny or in other words, the “expiration date” on life is often discussed by those who believe in a God and also those who do not believe in a God.

People who do believe in a God must realize that, by believing in a God you automatically believe in the idea and accept the fact that your life is controlled by destiny or fate!

One of the essential fundamentals of a “god” is that a “god” created everything, knows everything and is in control of everything. Everything means EVERYTHING, no exceptions.
So therefore, because this is case, a human’s life is created by god, and controlled by god, remember, no exceptions!

More importantly, because god is supposed to be “all powerful” and “all knowing”, God allegedly already knows a million years before you are even born what kind of life you will have, what kind of life you will lead and ultimately what will be your demise!

God knows all of this because he is a God! But more importantly, spiritualist HAVE TO understand and accept this because of something they wholeheartedly believe in called “GOD”S PLAN”!

Due to the premise of “God” allegedly possessing a divine plan for all of us, our lives are allegedly already “plotted out” millions of years before we are born!

But wait a minute! I thought that one of the main “selling points” about God and religion is that we are supposed to have something called FREE WILL?

We are supposed to have the freedom to do with our life as we please and the freedom to make the choices and decision we want to whether right or wrong!
But because a God already has our lives plotted out and knows the outcome, we do not and cannot have free will if one thinks seriously about religious philosophy!
In other words, if you believe in a God, by logic, any situation we encounter in life where we feel we have a “choice”, we really do not have a choice!
We merely have the perception or appearance of a choice. Choice thus becomes an illusion.

For example, imagine you are walking down the street and come to a fork in the road where you can either turn left or turn right. Remember, as a religionist with belief in an omniscient god and divine plan, one really has no choice. Even if you were to contemplate with yourself on whether to go left or right and eventually two days later you come to the decision that you will want to go left, the end result (if you believe in a God) is still that you had no choice. God supposedly knew before you were even born that you would go left! He knew this because he has a “plan” for all of us and no matter what we think or try to do, it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to deviate from the divine plan and path he has created for us!

If one makes the choice to not to accept this simple concept, it is purely out of denial.
For example, if John Doe is an atheist, by religious logic, he is nothing more than the manifestation of God’s divine plan. Obviously, this is what God knew and wanted for John Doe because “God” created the plan, his life and knew that he would turn out to be an atheist 20 billion years ago before John Doe was even born! This is simple logic and a simple truth!
Now, one who believes in God may say, “God knows how you are ultimately going to turn out but “he” stills presents you with the free will of choice to make your own decisions”.

This is NONSENSE!
If one thinks rationally about the above statement it is easily seen that because a God creates us, and is all knowing and powerful, he therefore already has your life plotted out on his mighty chalkboard in heaven. Because it is “divine”, it is impossible for you to go against it even if you tried! And because it is impossible to stray from the divine plan we all allegedly have, we therefore have no “real” choice or choices in life. You simply have the appearance of choices or the perception of choices.

For instance, If, I were to decide right now to not finish writing this chapter, was it really my choice? Or was it simply part of God’s plan all along that I would not finish writing this chapter? The solution to this mind bender (if you believe in a god and religion) is that it was part of God’s almighty plan all along therefore I never even had the chance to truly “decide” to stop writing this blog! Luckily, I am a rational atheist, so this blog entry will go on!

Another defense or reply the religionist often uses is that, “we do indeed have choices in life because we are “God-like” or made in the image of God. We have a “Covenant” with God” or something along those lines.

Again, this is an unsatisfying rebuttal. I have already earlier explained how we are allegedly “God-like” and made in his image, but humans are greater than 95% identical to gorillas! So in other words, what this rebuttal hinges upon is that, to be “GOD -LIKE” is to be 95% gorilla? Nowhere does the matter of us having a choice or free will fit into this equation?

I will give another example involving the appearance of free will and choices and God’s Plan. Suppose there is a female named Denise Scott. Denise is a very respectable, spiritual, loveable being.

She is living out Gods plan being the spiritual person that she is. Suppose one day Denise “snaps” and intentionally commits murder, and kills five people. Was that her choice? Or was it all part of God’s divine plan for Denise Scott?

If you believe in God, you have to automatically accept the fact that God knew way in advance (yep, prior to the rise of the dinosaurs) that Denise Scott would kill five people on that day! God already knew it was going to happen. “God” didn’t just find out as it happened! It’s not a surprise to “him”. He knew that before Denise Scott even existed! So therefore, because God knew that Denise Scott would kill five people on that exact day, it was part of God’s plan all along for her and the responsibility lies fully with the all-knowing entity! By committing those murders, she was just doing what God created her for! So by logic, if she is doing what God created her to do and doing what god always knew she would do, what is the problem? Why should this individual be punished, when it is a “God” whom has ultimate control over and responsibility for the divine plan?

Therefore, if one is to take free will and the divine plan seriously, there is no difference between a murderer and a philanthropist. All of these people were allegedly created by God and are just doing what he created them for. They are adhering to God’s divine plan whether they like it or not and being what he made them to be! If one believes in a god, they must realize that there is no escape from the life God has planned for you! Because even if you try to, then it is obvious, it was in God’s plan for you to try and escape from his divine plan!
Believing in a God is the most important decision one will make in life. A decision of this caliber and magnitude should first realistically and logically be pondered and tested. All of the possible logical contradictions to the power of an omnipotent god, what it means to have free will, what does a divine plan entail, is it possible that there is no God, etc, should first be analyzed by a potential “believer” before they make this decision. Almost invariably, it is not, simply due to the fact that most of us automatically inherit a predisposition toward belief in gods, faith and the supernatural from our upbringing.

By believing in a God and all of the intrinsic properties of one, it is easily seen how the religionist automatically has to believe in destiny and fate!
No matter what they do in life, they are just doing what was planned for them! Not to say that a belief in destiny or fate is truly a bad thing, but it nullifies and ultimately refutes another main principle of religion (prayer).

The rational atheist on the other hand, whom does not believe in a God, realistically and logically, is one who really DOES have FREE WILL! The rational atheist does not believe his or her life as created and planned by any “higher” power so therefore they are free to make any choice and it will really be the choice of the individual! It won’t be the individual thinking they have a choice or perceiving a choice when they are really doing nothing more than allegedly living out a god’s plan or will.

Ironically the concept of “free -will” is a component that religions yearn for but comes automatic with the viewpoint of rational atheist and application of reason and logic. However, once you apply reason and logic to the view of the religionist, it is easily seen that they cannot possibly ever have free will! The religionist is simply “along for the ride” and whether or not they accept, they can’t veer off course.

-JSY

The Fallacy of Fate and Destiny

Fate, Destiny and Expiration Dates