Who or What Weaves Our Fate?

Can we choose our destiny, or is it already chosen for us?

FATEIs It Selected For Us?

• To what degree?• Do we make up is as we go

along• Do we have to? Or can we plan

ahead?• To what extent?

Do We Control It?• Do we have any say?• Can we fight it?• Who chooses it? • Is it God, our family, our

friends, our leaders?

Is it selected for us?

Does someone or something greater choose our destiny?

Justinian I, Emperor of Byzantium,

He thought that…• The fate we live out on

earth was chosen for us by an almighty power

• fate is a path, and to stray from that path earned you eternal damnation

• Fate must be accepted, for it is indestructible and unalterable

“Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render to every one his due”-Justinian

John Calvin

Saw fate as• everyone and everything was

well thought out and planned by God

• God "freely and unchangeably ordaining whatsoever comes to pass.”

• God's foreknowledge of the way in which they will either freely reject Christ or freely accept him, and if it came to reject, he made their fate one of eternal damnation

"There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.” -John Calvin

Pope Benedict XVI

He believes…• That choosing your own fate

and allowing yourself to flow with the current is only acceptable today because of the lack of religious enthusiasm

“Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. ... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards.”

-Pope Benedict XVI

If our fate is preordained…

Can we fight it, can we change our fates?

The Unknown Rebel• Tried to change not just his fate,

but the fate of many others on June 5, 1989 in Tiananmen Square

• Some would say his fate was to live in Communist China and he was to accept it

• He didn’t accept it and tried step away from his path and alter the paths of others, including Zhao Ziyang

• This resulted in no one knowing whether he is dead or alive, and being infamous as an anonymous warrior whose weapon was peace

Defining Moments

Do we make our own fate?

Do we create it as we go along, or do the decisions we make now generate

our fate for the later years?

Bernard Kouchner• Believes that all people have the right to

medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that the needs of these people supersede respect for national borders

• He works with people who might see their fate as to live in poverty and have no access to medical care whatsoever and works repeatedly to change that fate

• Thinks that we have the power within ourselves to change not only our fate, but also the fate of those among us

• And since we have the power, we should use it, and work around whatever obstacles present themselves. After all, – “obstacles are those frightful things you see

when you take your eyes off your goal”• -Henry Ford

“To be alone as a pioneer...like we were, was difficult. My strategy was not only to help the people, or transform the world, but to do both,”

-Bernard Kouchner

Henry Ford• believed that we control our fates, and if

we do not like where we are, or who we are, we had the power to change it

• He himself was born the son of a farmer, and ended up changing the entire franchise system to lower costs and have dealerships in every city possible, but it was not without perseverance

• He saw something he believed to be wrong, and worked at it to change it. He believed if you thought you could do something, you could, and if you didn’t believe in yourself, you couldn’t do it

• worked his hardest to change the fate of others by creating peace

“Don't find fault, find a remedy.”-Henry Ford

We walk alone until the end

Come the End

So, here we are. We are born, and we will die. But we have all of our lives to draw our own lines in the sand, and to take the path untrodden.

A Tree of FateWe squander each life

Dealing with strifeWhile climbing up life’s tree

This tree unique to meIt’s trunk is the baseA fact we must face

It may not be carved in stoneIt is unalterable, and we must walk it alone

But then we come to a place where, into branches, the trunk will splitAnd one limb may be lit

Or you may not know which to chooseAnd all you can think about is what you have to lose

However the choice may not always be quickThe route you will take, is solely your pick

Sometimes the branch may breakSometimes the branch may be fake

Sometimes the branch isn’t climbable after allSometimes the branch is so frail, you’re forced to crawl

You’ve been misleadAnd with that you might wind up dead

For the branch may be weakSo we must think, before we speak

The branch may be smallBut we have to take a leap of faith, and pray we don’t fall

For each branchIs a chance

That leads us to our future

Fate