does everyone believe that god has a plan for you. I do but i also believe that his time frame is not that what we want. and that we have to understand that and be content with what we have.

I've liked fate, too bossy and boring... besides it cheats at cards.

That being said, I believe we have free will, but since God is supposed to know all he can plan around our actions before we do them so it can seem like he is almost controlling you, but he isn't because he isn't like that.

Then there are moments where I doubt he cares. I don't think it matters to him if you decided to I don't know, brush your teeth today.

it's god's time
if it where my time
i'd decide when i die

If you were a terrible person, you could decide when someone else dies, does that count?

Jeff, You heard the part where it reads: Ask and it shall be given? Seek and ye shall find? Knock and it shall be opened?
Put the first letters of each together and it still tells you to ASK....

If that were true then god would have had to have planned all the unplanned pregnancies.

No, I definitely do not believe that god has a plan for every single human.

From my point of view that idea is a totally unrealistic romantic idea. I don’t even know where it comes from. I don’t think the Bible even mentions any such notion anywhere, or if it does it must be awfully obscure. You’d think that if a god inspired a book and he had a plan for every individual he would have conveyed that information clearly and unambiguously as the main theme of the book, yet that obviously isn’t the case. He merely said, “Be fruitful and multiply”.

Where does this notion that god has a specific plan for every individual come from?

Does anyone know?

It doesn’t appear to have a biblical basis, at least not a unambiguous one. You’d think if such a concept were important to a god it would have made the front page in the Bible and not have been tucked away as some obscure footnote somewhere.

Everything has a time and a place...

A time and place for everything and everything in its place. Hey, you ever heard this is neither the time or place for that?

Well done, Hillfolk!

Seriously though, someone's life is so long and effects so many people it is difficult to say that it didn't have purpose, even stories about aborted babies can tug at our hearts and make us think about the world.

Whether a divine power is behind all this is uncertain, I feel is mostly a coincidence though.

Joshyfox wrote:
“Seriously though, someone's life is so long and effects so many people it is difficult to say that it didn't have purpose”

I think there’s a huge difference between saying that a life has a purpose and has a “pre-planned” purpose.

I don’t believe that god has a pre-planned purpose for me, but that doesn’t lead me to believe that my life is purposeless.

From my point of view the purpose of life is to live it and share it with others. That *is* the purpose of life. Having preplanned agendas wouldn’t make it anymore meaningful. In fact, that would just bring into question the whole purpose of free will.

I believe that god gave us free will precisely because he wants us to use it. The freedom to exercise that free will *is* the purpose of life!

I couldn't have said that better myself Abra, Free-will rocks!

Abra;

In reference to your question - most people get the idea that God has "plans" for people from Jeremiah 29: 10-13. Realizing of course that this is a text within context - and a bit of a stretch to say that it encompasses everyone who has - or will ever live, but it is a valid reference to your question.
I personally think it is just a matter of God's knowing the choices we will make given options - so though we remain with free will, I do not believfe that we control our options. As much as I've tried - I've never been able to control when it will rain - or snow - or when my power goes out. I just determine what to do when I'm faced with it.

to see and understand the plan that God has for each one of us, we have to eliminate the algebra from our brain.
We have to set our mind free just a little baby.
A baby does not know what is going to be of him. Nevertheless, he trusts his mother to feed him and protect him
That baby does not have algebra in his mind.
Algebra makes things so simple i agree. However, algebra complicates what is really important which what my Heavenly Father wants for me.
I've always been A+ student in algebra and any other class related to numerous including 3 semesters of calculus, but i don't let that to ofuscate my mind when i have to deal with my Creator.
The bible does not need to be explpicit. The bible becomes explicit when we have the heart and mind open to see our Creator through its lines. When we deny the existance of God to justify our behavior (whether is good or bad) we are like a person who is drawning we desperately try to keep our head out and breath.
In the same way we try desperately to find ludicrous things within the bible to justify the non presence of God in our lifes.

Atte.

TLW

thank you joshyfox and abra both for putting it better than i ever could have.

Keep in mind Miguel that mathematics came from the mind of God.

I don’t believe that god would want me not to use logic and reason. If that were the case then why give me a logical reasoning brain?

I seriously want no parts of any idea of a God that requires that I ignore reason. In my mind, reason came from god, and I value reason because of this. To me reason is godly. To abandon reason in favor of mythology or superstition is ungodly in my mind.

Not meant as an argument, but rather just to share my view of things.

My intellect is one of the most cherished gifts from god that I possess. I would never use my intellect in an attempt to belittle or deny god. Although it may seem that way to others. But that’s only because they confuse religion with god.

When I denounce religions, I am not denouncing god. On the contrary, I am helping to reveal the truth of god and to dispel the graven images that mankind has created of a god that has fallen prey to human frailties.

~~~

“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.” – Albert Einstein

Maybe, but I'll be darned
if I know what it is.

"Maybe, but I'll be darned
if I know what it is."

That's just it there. If god has a specific purpose in mind for each individual she sure is good at keeping it secret!

I think the purpose is not specific, but abstract. The purpose is to simply be the best that you can be at whatever you chose to do.

Precisely what you choose to do is entirely up to you. Just do it well! That's the purpose!

at this moment i'm reading a book called "studies about the old testament" which basically it's a book that make a study of the jewish tradition made by a christian scholar. Though he is a christian he argues more with reason than with faith based on a religion.
What I'm trying to say my good James, is that u r right to a certain extent we need logic to distinguish between myth and reality. For instance the idea that if I have sex before marriage I'll go to hell (very catholic) it's a myth. To this extent i agree with you.
However, at some point there are somethings that happens (sometimes negative things) and we are not able to control, and still we need to find God's will there. In this point I drop algebra, physics, and everything.
For the simple fact that God's logics is not the same as Man logics.
Have a good day James. It's always good having you around.

I believe that there is a set plan for us in life, yet in not knowing what it exacttly is, its our jobs to live life, learn, prosper and grow within our Soul,, we all have a choosen path a road so to say, on this road comes pain, lonelyness, faith, hope and with some deep soul searching we strive to acheive greatness and strive to make a place for us in this thing called life,,, in hopes that in the end we shall stand next to our Creator and then life truely begins.

(((((((((((((((((denisse)))))))))))))))