Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I am not making a claim, I am only expressing a feeling, and I could be wrong so I am open to other perspectives. This is only the way I am feeling now, based upon my trying to change certain things and being unable to do so. In short, I feel completely stuck, like I have no control over my own life, and I feel like God is the only one who can help me. Everything I have tried to do goes to hell in a breadbasket so I have resigned myself to hoping that God will help me by guiding me to decide what to do and assisting me to do it, or that God will help me via fate, by causing things to happen to me.
I believe that everyone's fate is already written in the Book of Life, which is the Tablet of Fate.
“O thou who art the fruit of My Tree and the leaf thereof! On thee be My glory and My mercy. Let not thine heart grieve over what hath befallen thee. Wert thou to scan the pages of the Book of Life, thou wouldst, most certainly, discover that which would dissipate thy sorrows and dissolve thine anguish.
Know thou, O fruit of My Tree, that the decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer, as related to fate and predestination, are of two kinds. Both are to be obeyed and accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by men, impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch as it is fixed and settled. God, however, is able to alter or repeal it. As the harm that must result from such a change will be greater than if the decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly acquiesce in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the same.
The decree that is impending, however, is such that prayer and entreaty can succeed in averting it.
God grant that thou who art the fruit of My Tree, and they that are associated with thee, may be shielded from its evil consequences.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 132-133
Then there is the question: What is caused by God's decree and what is caused by a free will choice? I think some things happen to us that are not decreed by God, they are chosen by us, and some things that we do not choose are decreed by God.
Moreover, even if something is decreed by God, not everything that is decreed by God is fixed and settled. The passage above says that the decree that is impending is such that prayer and entreaty can succeed in averting it, so I might be able to influence God’s decree that is impending by praying to God.
What is the connection between fate and free will? How can we have free will if everything is predetermined by God? I believe that God is all-knowing so God knows everything we are going to do, and that has already been written on the Tablet of Fate, but I do not believe that what God knows causes anyone to do anything. I believe things happen because we make a choice to do them and act on that choice.
Is what ends up being written on the Tablet of Fate simply what God knows we are going to choose to do? But what about things that happen to us that are not chosen by us? I think those things are also our fate. In short, I think there is the fate we choose and the fate we don't choose, and I think the passage above is referring to the fate we don't choose, the fate we are hoping to avert, God's decree.
I believe that everyone's fate is already written in the Book of Life, which is the Tablet of Fate.
“O thou who art the fruit of My Tree and the leaf thereof! On thee be My glory and My mercy. Let not thine heart grieve over what hath befallen thee. Wert thou to scan the pages of the Book of Life, thou wouldst, most certainly, discover that which would dissipate thy sorrows and dissolve thine anguish.
Know thou, O fruit of My Tree, that the decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer, as related to fate and predestination, are of two kinds. Both are to be obeyed and accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by men, impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch as it is fixed and settled. God, however, is able to alter or repeal it. As the harm that must result from such a change will be greater than if the decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly acquiesce in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the same.
The decree that is impending, however, is such that prayer and entreaty can succeed in averting it.
God grant that thou who art the fruit of My Tree, and they that are associated with thee, may be shielded from its evil consequences.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 132-133
Then there is the question: What is caused by God's decree and what is caused by a free will choice? I think some things happen to us that are not decreed by God, they are chosen by us, and some things that we do not choose are decreed by God.
Moreover, even if something is decreed by God, not everything that is decreed by God is fixed and settled. The passage above says that the decree that is impending is such that prayer and entreaty can succeed in averting it, so I might be able to influence God’s decree that is impending by praying to God.
What is the connection between fate and free will? How can we have free will if everything is predetermined by God? I believe that God is all-knowing so God knows everything we are going to do, and that has already been written on the Tablet of Fate, but I do not believe that what God knows causes anyone to do anything. I believe things happen because we make a choice to do them and act on that choice.
Is what ends up being written on the Tablet of Fate simply what God knows we are going to choose to do? But what about things that happen to us that are not chosen by us? I think those things are also our fate. In short, I think there is the fate we choose and the fate we don't choose, and I think the passage above is referring to the fate we don't choose, the fate we are hoping to avert, God's decree.
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