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Who or What Weaves Our Fate?

Who or What Weaves Our Fate?. Can we choose our destiny, or is it already chosen for us?. FATE. Is It Selected For Us?. 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?. To what degree?

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Who or What Weaves Our Fate?

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  1. Who or What Weaves Our Fate? Can we choose our destiny, or is it already chosen for us?

  2. FATE Is It Selected For Us? 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? • To what degree? • Do we make up is as we go along? • Do we have to? Or can we plan ahead? • To what extent?

  3. Is it selected for us? Does someone or something greater choose our destiny?

  4. 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

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

  6. 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

  7. "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

  8. 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.

  9. “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

  10. If our fate is selected… Can we fight it, can we change our fates?

  11. 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

  12. 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?

  13. 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?

  14. 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

  15. “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

  16. 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.

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

  18. 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?

  19. 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?

  20. 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

  21. 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

  22. 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?

  23. 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...

  24. What if we looked at life differently?

  25. 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

  26. We walk alone in the dark tunnel, with no guidance of where the tunnel turns. We are without a map until we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

  27. 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 pathless trodden.

  28. A Tree of Fate We squander each life Dealing with strife While climbing up life’s tree This tree unique to me It’s trunk is the base A fact we must face It may not be carved in stone It is unalterable, and we must walk it alone But then we come to a place where, into branches, the trunk will split And one limb may be lit Or you may not know which to choose And all you can think about is what you have to lose However the choice may not always be quick The route you will take, is solely your pick Sometimes the branch may break Sometimes the branch may be fake Sometimes the branch isn’t climbable after all Sometimes the branch is so frail, you’re forced to crawl You’ve been mislead And with that you might wind up dead For the branch may be weak So we must think, before we speak The branch may be small But we have to take a leap of faith, and pray we don’t fall For each branch Is a chance That leads us to our future Fate

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