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.

• God should be the one who is in control of our destiny and future.

• To make your own fate is playing God, and should not be done.

“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 selected…

Can we fight it, can we change our fates?

The Unknown Rebel• 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• Whether he is dead or

alive, he is an anonymous warrior whose weapon was peace

The Merging of Two Sides of Berlin • East Berliners were fated to

live under Communist Rule• Regardless, the wall fell,

and they lived in United Berlin

• Does this mean their fate was to make sure the wall was brought down?

• Or was their fate to live in East Berlin and they managed to change it?

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 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 believed if you thought you could do something, you could, and if you didn’t believe in yourself, you couldn’t.

• Worked to change the fate of others by creating peace.

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

Walking Along the Course of Life

We walk over mountains, through valleys, and the flattest plains.

But can we find a map for when the next mountain is, or when we will stumble over

a pothole in life’s road?

Guidance

• If you could, would you take a map that has your entire life, your entire past, and your entire future drawn upon it?

• Or would you choose to frolic blindly with no sight of the future?

Scavenger Hunt•Perhaps life is a scavenger hunt, and we have to use clues from other decisions to make new choices.•Maybe we all hold bits and pieces. We are given sections of our own map, and we find more along the trail.•We don’t get the full picture, but we can see a snapshot. A snapshot of what might happen if you choose to go one way, and a snapshot of what might happen if we choose to go another way. •Because we see these glimpses, we have a guess as to what we should choose

Looking at the World as One

• But we also have segments of other people’s guides, so we must offer them guidance the best we can

• If we don’t, who’s to say they won’t do the same to us?

• After all, it isn’t us versus the world, we coexist. We are all individuals, yet we strive to be united as one people.

• In order to unify, we must help each other. Instead of watching someone struggle, offer a hand, and a voice of guidance, or simply an ear to listen

Choosing Our New Direction

If we have the power to choose which way we wish to take our lives, what happens when we make a wrong turn?

Carpe Diem

Although perhaps it’s not about regrets, it’s about being where you are right now. If all of a sudden the floor drops from beneath a person, and they just run in the first direction they see, one is bound to regret it. They might feel lost, and afraid, and have no idea how to return to where they once were...

What if we looked at life differently?

What If..

• What if we only think about where we are right now, and where to go from here

• What If it’s not about turning back, it’s about living in the moment

We are without a

map until we can see the

light at the end of the

tunnel.

We walk alone in the dark tunnel, with no guidance of where the tunnel turns.

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 less trodden.

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