Theories on Predesination

[Marker]

I believe in predestination.  About the free will, I kind of look at it as "localized" free will.  This means, because we don't know the future, to us it looks like we are making the choices, but the universe/God/Higher Power already knows what choices we're going to make.  I don't know if that came off sounding like I meant it to.  Basically, some would say this means we only have the illusion of free will, but I say we're still making hte choices, even if someone else knows what were going to choose.  

Look at it like this:  If you watch a movie, and someone asked you if your closest friend would like it, you could probably tell them correctly whether they would or not, because you know them so well.  Now I think the universe/God/Whatever knows us as well as or better than we know ourselves, so it knows what choices we will make.

Long post but I think it needed some explanation.

[Parmenion]

Twasn't a long post at all so dont worry, some of the posts in these forums are pages long.
The way i see predestination is this. Our higher mind ,which is a part of us all even if we don't realise it, knows what we are to do.In fact it chose this life for us to teach us particular lessons or so that we can accomplish specific goals. So without realising it, the choices that we are to make, we have allready forseen and we are on a certain path. The path we are on was our own choosing in the first place and this is how predestination and free will exist harmoniously.

Parmenion

[Shawn McCaffrey]

Yeah I allways thought taht it was like God knew what we would do so It's not preDESTINY just preKNOWLEDGE, and what Parmenion said.  All rolled into one!  Hmmm still a lot of research to do.

[sublime]

hrmmmm i've thought of this a few times... if God already knows what we are going to do, is it possible for him to change it? if not, what is the point of prayer to try and change people... if God already has knowledge of the things people are going to do and he doesnt "help" them in anyway to change then isn't the act of prayer for improvement of the self/others pointless?

[Shawn McCaffrey]

I know what you mean, but if you say that then you must think that if God know that we are gonna pray then he has factored in all the help and things not only us but other spirits, i.e. angels, guides, demons, do to change is, so its not like hes just looking at us, he also knows what he will do in the future as well. MAYBE.  this is a perplexing discussion indeed.

[kakkarot]

how about look at it this way: God has set before us a path that He wishes us to follow. We can either follow it, or not. If we follow it, we won't ALWAYS be taking the right steps; sometimes it will get foggy, or the path will lead in ways that we choose not to go, etc.

And, heck, we might not even be able to see it, we might get caught up so much in petty issues that we THINK are important that when God comes knocking we say "Not now, this is really important. I'll do what you want me to do LATER". Sometimes we don't believe that God exists, that it's all just "crazy talk" and just do whatever we want to do.

but i think shawn's description of a play is rather accurate too: people have their roles, but whether they follow them, and how closely they follow them, is up to them and to lady luck.

~kakkarot

[Shawn McCaffrey]

Lots of people beleive in predestination, but this is ... ahhh! how?  I mean if we have a free will we can't be allready determined.  Grrrrr I think... MAYBE, It's like a play, the main plot is expected, but every step is never the same, sometimes someone messes up a little, sometimes someone forgets their line!  And sometimes the stage burns down.  Or maybe I have no clue.  Any more ideas?