Question re: Gods Divine Plan

This question illustrates those aspects of "cognition"
namely "prediction and control" whose inevitable limitations lead to the invention of "God" to secure the perceived boundaries of our existence.
Such is the psychological need to find a "purpose for existence" that humans are prepared to ignore all evidence to the contrary, or ascribe the existence of such "evidence "to that other myth "the Devil" who is engaged in some celestial dispute with the planning authority. (The Devil will fail of course unless we naughty humans give him our support or fail to support the good guy).

Its fairy tales for adults, and its about time we grew up !

Hey, we DO have meteorology now!! You can all stop beseeching the "Invisible Lightning-and-Thunder-Being in the Sky" to smite your enemies dead!!

That's the best way I've ever seen it put.

Sorry, Monger, didn't mean to strike a discordant note . . .

(heh, Setanta gets my sig line)

To further pimp Eris. . .I believe that deep down we possess only chaos; neither real free will nor predestination.
As a wiser guy once said, reality is the original Rorschach.

yes - but what is the original reality.................................Loki?

it is referred to as a singularity

God gave us free will. He knows the future, but we don't. HE DOES have a plan for us but if we refuse to go for that plan or let our sin get in the way, the plan won't happen.
When i pray I am not asking God what is going to happen, I pray for wisdom and guidance to make the right desiscion that will get me closer to him and is in everyone's best interest.
prayer is also a time with God, a time to talk to your Creator and tell him your fears. Just as, as a parent you may want your kids to talk to you more. tell them how they are etc... I thin that's how God feels too.
also, you can pray for other people not just for yourself... pray for God helps someone else out.
I don't know how much prayer helps, but it is a nice way to express yourself and to let out tangled emotions.

Maybe not.

In fact, maybe there are no gods.

Interesting guess -- even though it is pulled out of thin air.

innie, if God knows the future, he knows of every choice/decision we will ever make and how it will affect his Plan. He knew it from the beginning and must have taken every sin we would ever commit into account. Not only that, but he knows why we make each bad decision and exactly what it would take to tip the scales so that we would choose correctly.

So why do you suppose that God neglects to give certain people enough wisdom/guidance to make the right decisions? Are some people predestined to fail?

Heywood,
rereading your topic it came to mind that things are being overstated.
Your advice to just pray, "your will be done" is the best thing to do. And try to go through the day with that in your mind. Excellent advice. Sorry it took so long to see the accuracy of your post. Most of us jumped on thinking you were asking why pray. :wink:

Re: Question re: Gods Divine Plan


Well God ofcourse know all. He knows what will happen in the future and everything. But the reason we are here is because this life is a test set forth by God. It is a test to see if we will follow His ways and rules. The Qur'an says that God only created humans to worship Him. So we need to pray inorder to worship God. It is a direct order from Him.

I said that this life is a test. So you might ask if everything is already predetermined by God and He knows whether each person will be going to hell or heaven, then why would He create us in the first place? If He knows where we will be ending up, then why have us here anyway?

Well, it is true that He knows who will be going to heaven or hell, He knows the ending already, it is all predetermined. But it is up to us humans who will be able to choose who is going where. If we live by Gods laws and rules, then we should go to Heaven. I say should because no matter what, everything is God's will. But if we live by our own rules or man-made laws and don't worship God, then we will be punished for it. Basically God is testing us to see what decisions we make in this life.

Knowing all is not compatible with free will.

Craven I was not talking about free will. What are you talking about? Reread what I wrote, I am simply replying to the original question.

Qkid

I love that last "basically" of yours !

Your exposition reminds me of Einsteins famous description of "radio" ...

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat".

Fresco:
Thanx man. I am not sure I really understood it. I am only a Q-"KID" you know?

My apologies Qkid.

I think you missed the irony there ! (Einstein's "basic explanation" was anything but .)