Fate alone is mightier than Knowledge.

Creative Forums Creative Writing
1

A man is born into the world
as a man with empty eyes.
Thus is born the great desire,
the great hunger of life.

Alas, we are sometimes drawn away from the gods by the gods,
the Gods that we wish to follow.
Alas, we do not always know in what direction
they intend us to take to course;
be it the way ahead
and, more often,
backward.

What should we be, we who ask?
What should we be, if the Gods answer?
Our nature would not be the kind that cries
out for what is more than it can bear.
Our nature would not cry out to any god
more than a man is capable of, or for more than he can understand,
for that beyond the fire in his hearth, the friend at his side, love,
for something beyond these.
And, behold! that divine response arrives,
a new wave cast over us out of the sea of life.
I know not whether love, or hate,
has more often been the cause.
The God that we ask, the one to whom we call,
is the God who gives all of his own to share with us.
Thus, we find our way by what we have.
But this is a gift of Fate;
Fate alone, mightier than Knowledge.
But the gods, they are not subject to our caprices,
they are not a woman to be seduced, a man to be duped.

Alas, the great desire of life beyond the limits of mortality!
No, not the thirst of those who live but to die,
or of the great souls that are ever lost, -
it is not for us- the hunger of the soul that is all-powerful,
to see the world around us as but a drop of dew on the ground,
to live only as a shadow in the world;
it is not for us- this great desire,
this great hunger that we must fill by seeing through the eyes of others.

Thus, in the heart of a man,
a man has his roots:
roots of other men,
roots of his fathers,
and he has forgotten the place in which he lived.
Thus, the spirit of man has its house:
the house of his fathers,
the house of the world,
the house of his memory,
and within this memory he lives.
Thus, man dies in the shadow of himself.

For a man is sad
when he lives beyond the world, beyond himself,
and as soon as he returns to it,
to the world and to himself,
he sees them just as they are,
and finds sadness in them only,
Because the world is unjust, and Nature hard:
Because all things are ruled by an unseen law of iron and fire.

2

How depressing to render this over a human potential without end.

3

Yes it is, as fate without faith is but a hollow form of it’s self. For Gods, to exist in men’s hearts is to overcome this ultimate paradox.

4

Spend Eternity with God
Receive Forgiveness from God

Without faith it is impossible to please God

QUESTION:

What does it mean that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)?
without faith it is impossible to please God

ANSWER

In Hebrews 11, we learn about faith from the Bible’s Old Testament heroes. One crucial detail stands out in their lives: they placed their whole confidence in God, entrusting themselves into His hands. The actions and accomplishments of these men and women proved that faith pleases God, and He rewards those who seek Him: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The author of the book of Hebrews points out two critical convictions of believers. First, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists.” Those who desire to draw near to God must have a deep-rooted belief that He is real. Such belief is not mere intellectual knowledge but a wholehearted devotion to His presence and participation in every part of one’s life. Without a genuine conviction that God exists, it is impossible to have an intimate relationship with Him. Second, the Lord’s followers must believe “that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” This aspect of faith trusts in the character of God as a good, loving, generous, gracious, and merciful Father (James 1:17; Psalm 84:11; Lamentations 3:22–23). These two certainties are the groundwork of saving faith—a faith that pleases God.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because faith is the avenue by which we come to God and trust Him for our salvation. In His infinite goodness, God provides the very thing we need to draw near to Him: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). God gives us the faith required to please Him""

And the avenue to come to God means exactly what ’ fated ’ to be with God means.

It is the man in the .irrir that man begins to know God.

5

In Hebrews 11, we learn about faith from the Bible’s Old Testament heroes. One crucial detail stands out in their lives: they placed their whole confidence in God, entrusting themselves into His hands. The actions and accomplishments of these men and women proved that faith pleases God, and He rewards those who seek Him: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The author of the book of Hebrews points out two critical convictions of believers. First, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists.” Those who desire to draw near to God must have a deep-rooted belief that He is real. Such belief is not mere intellectual knowledge but a wholehearted devotion to His presence and participation in every part of one’s life. Without a genuine conviction that God exists, it is impossible to have an intimate relationship with Him. Second, the Lord’s followers must believe “that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” This aspect of faith trusts in the character of God as a good, loving, generous, gracious, and merciful Father (James 1:17; Psalm 84:11; Lamentations 3:22–23). These two certainties are the groundwork of saving faith—a faith that pleases God.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because faith is the avenue by which we come to God and trust Him for our salvation. In His infinite goodness, God provides the very thing we need to draw near to Him: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). God gives us the faith required to please Him

When people say that they have a fate or destiny, they really mean that they have no control of their own lives and that they are resigned to a certain path that cannot be changed. The concept gives control over to God, or whatever supreme being the person worships. For instance, the Romans and Greeks believed that the Fates (three goddesses) weaved the destinies of all men. No one could change the design. Some Christians believe that God has predetermined our path and that we are just tokens in his plan.

However, other Bible verses remind us that God may know the plans He has for us, but we do have some control over our own direction.

Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (NLT)

Destiny vs. Free Will
While the Bible does talk of destiny, it is usually a destined outcome based upon our decisions. Think about Adam and Eve: Adam and Eve were not predestined to eat of the Tree but were designed by God to live in the Garden forever. They had the choice to remain in the Garden with God or not listen to His warnings, yet they chose the path of disobedience. We have those same choices that define our path.

There is a reason we have the Bible as a guide. It helps us make Godly decisions and keeps us on an obedient path that keeps us from unwanted consequences. God is clear that we have the choice to love Him and follow Him … or not. Sometimes people use God as a scapegoat for the bad things that happen to us, but really it is more often our own choices or the choices of those around us that lead to our situation. It sounds harsh, and sometimes it is, but what happens in our lives is part of our own free will.

James 4:2 - “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.” (NIV)

So, Who’s In Charge?
So, if we have free will, does that mean God’s not in control? Here is where things can get sticky and confusing for people. God is still sovereign — He is still omnipotent and omnipresent. Even when we make bad choices, or when things fall into our laps, God is still in control. It’s all still part of His plan.

Think of the control God has like a birthday party. You plan for the party, you invite the guests, buy the food, and get the supplies to decorate the room. You send a friend to pick up the cake, but he decides to make a pit stop and doesn’t double check the cake, thus showing up late with the wrong cake and leaving you no time to go back to the bakery. This turn of events can either ruin the party or you can do something to make it work flawlessly. Luckily, you have some icing left over from that time you baked a cake for your mom. You take a few minutes to change the name, serve the cake, and no one knows any different. It’s still the successful party you originally planned.

That’s how God works. He has plans, and He’d love for us to follow His plan exactly, but sometimes we make the wrong choices. That’s what consequences are for. They help bring us back to the path God wants us to be on — if we’re receptive to it.

There is a reason so many preachers remind us to pray for God’s will for our lives. It is why we turn to the Bible for answers to problems that we face. When we have a big decision to make, we should always look to God first. Look at David. He wanted desperately to remain in God’s will, so he turned to God often for help. It was the one time that he didn’t turn to God that he made the biggest, worst decision of his life. Still, God knows we’re imperfect. It is why He so often offers us forgiveness and discipline. He will always be willing to get us back on the right path, to carry us through bad times, and be our biggest support.

Matthew 6:10 - Come and set up your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven. (CEV)

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Faith is beleiving a thing you know aint so.
There is nothing weaker or more pathetic than faith

7

Not unless faith has been a definite game changer in your life that someone who has not gone through it can’t account for.

Disproving a religious experience is equally tenuous as provying it.It is disingenuous to express this otherwise.

God does not play dice !

8

There is nothing weaker or more pathetic than reducing super complex human phenomena like faith or love or whatever to single sentence skeletons that have no meaning basically.

Is that your thing? You just think in quips? Do single sentences circumscribe your philosophy?

9

I hate reductionism and I hate this kind of rhetoric, which is so stupid. It’s the kind of thing that says that those who don’t agree with me are retarded. It’s just a way to say that you don’t have to look at things rationally, that you can dismiss things by saying that the only way to understand them is just to think them through in a few snappy sentences. Like most people do, I am sure, on most subjects.

And so I am sorry, but if I want to give meaning to a complex phenomenon like faith, I will not say “it’s believing a thing you know isn’t so.” I will say, to quote the title of a famous song, that “God gave me this”, and then you’ll STILL have to do some thinking, but at least it’s not an easy question that you can dismiss out of hand.

10

Maybe I am wrong.
Afterall faith can move buildings.

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11

Sculptor

eed

That might be called blind faith - believing in something, without question, which for the most part someone refuses to see cannot or will not happen or just cannot be so.

Actually, the way I look at it, there can be great strength and courage within a reasonable faith that causes someone to “hold on”, to trust beyond belief, that what is believed in and hoped for, can come to them eventually. The opposite of that would be giving up, which to me would be considered to be weaker.

What about the Jews in the concentration camps? Whether their belief and faith was in their God or in a strong faith that someone would come eventually and save them, free them, it was that which gave them the courage to go on surviving and not giving up, despite everything which they saw happening all around them.

What about the pilots of the military aircraft going in and out of Afghanistan? Did that require some kind of “real” faith (even with their skills) knowing that there could be no real certainty of their success or that they might survive?

We all live on faith or by faith and most of the time we don’t even realize it. It is what gets us up in the morning and through the day and doing all of the things, some of which we usually do without some thought. Without it, we would be paralyzed with fear, unable to move or to do things.

So, there is nothing pathetic about faith.