I came across a rather non-scholarly question on RG, about the existence of destiny. A lot of great philosophical discussions could be had about destiny, and I think RG is a fine place to have rigorous philosophical discussions, not just discussions about scientific research.
Unfortunately, most of the answers simply amounted to either "yes, destiny exists" or some affirmation of a god belief. But that bring up an interesting philosophical and theological question: if a person believes that their god determines their fate, does anger towards a life event constitute a rejection of that god?
I could see it as being a form of blasphemy. If the god in question decides one's fate, then anger towards something that happens in one's life is anger towards the one that made it happen, in this hypothetical, god.
Philosophy is classically known as the mother of all sciences, in fact, human reasoning drives research in any area, and theology, which is the study of God, does not escape from it either, even the same has relation with human reasoning and vice versa. The question, besides interesting, is very particularized. This is about a God who determines the destiny of people, then here are other questions: What is God about? What is the definition of destination? One of many answers could be related to the God of Jews and Christians, which is the same, but for one and the same God does not act in the same way. For example, in the book of Job (Bible), this character showed anger in front of the events of his life, and it was considered blasphemy by some and not by others. Another example: The Catholic Church determined as a heresy the Calvinist position of the predestination of people to be saved.
The subject is very broad
Regards
s. C Lyons
, you say that "there is no valid relationship between a person's anger and God." However, the question that I presented presupposes that the person believes that their god has created their destiny. For instance, if we live in an deterministic universe, and god created the initial configuration of the universe, then it's all "god's will."
In hebrew and Catholic tradition, the hypotesis of a deterministic universe where man can do nothing regarding his own fate is quite difficult to formulate. Catholic understanding of "God has created the destiny of men" is not deterministic because God is the destiny of men, God didn't creates Himself, He created men for being with Him; moreover, God created men free, and the happiness of men is being with God. So, in Catholic tradition is quite difficult to understand that men can reach their destiny (God) without using their freedom (or regardless their own use of freedom). How do Catholic (and Hebrew) tradition deals with suffering in an event in life? The suffering of a good man has a poetic answer in the book of Job. God's "answer" to Job presents the infinite distance between the way man understands life on earth and God's own way of understanding it; it states also the goodness of God, his allmighty power, his infinite knowledge and his love for men. There is human freedom, and God's one, the former is created/limitated, the later is absolute; however, they co-exist and dialogue. In some hebrew thinkers, the explanation for this co-existence of both freedoms is explained stating that God makes room for human freedom and respects it. In some Roman Catholic understandings of the co-existence of both freedoms, God's freedom is the root of men's freedom, the condition for it. This means men are free because God gives them this gift, sustains it and warrants it. Terrence Malik's moovie "The tree of life" adresses this question [I mean suffering of good man] in an interesting way; you will find useful also Attenborought's moovie "Shadowlands". There are some good books dealing with this: C.S.Lewis "The Problem of Pain" and "A Grief Observed", for instance. Obviously, in Roman Catholic understanding man can allways react against God, but this is understood as a (wrong) way of using freedom, sometimes is just a way of searching the sense of what happens (like in Job's question "Why?" or, "Why me?"), but this is not a proof of determinism. So, at least from an hebrew and catholic point of view, there is no answer to your question, because "destiny" is understood in a very different way.
Miguel De Salis, there are a lot of reasons to argue otherwise, including the idea that god created everything and that everything is according to its will. But of course not everyone believes this. Please review the question: if a person believes that their god determines their fate, does anger towards a life event constitute a rejection of that god?
So this question is specific to the condition mentioned in the question.
Dear professor
Greetings and Regards
I would like to introduce the Shiite perspective. We believe in the only God who is both a creator and a breeder. He created all the worlds with his love and loved his servants.
Shiites do not accept determinism. They also do not accept absolute freedom. We have limited will and discretion. We do not choose the place of birth, time of birth, time and place of death, our family.
But we have the power to choose how we live. Of course, each choice has a consequence.
If someone has a stressful life and lack of mobility, he / she will choose to drink, cigarettes, alcohol and ... heart disease, blood pressure, myocardial infarction, cirrhosis of the liver, lung cancer and ... the result of this choice and lifestyle.
So the world reflects upon us as a mirror, our actions. Unhealthy habits, high-risk behaviors, destructive excitement hurts us.
Of course, sometimes, without having these kinds of behaviors, people have problems with cancer. Of course, sometimes the patient is angry why God has sickened me?
In these cases, the Prophet said: "Everyone is closer to God, his problems are greater (like the prophet or Imam Hussein). These are signs of God's love. Of course, it's hard to understand.
But for someone who loves God, tolerance of difficulty becomes easy. Because he knows God sees him and hears his voice and fulfills his prayer.
With respect
Minoo Asadzandi
آنکه به درگاه مقربتر است
جام بلا بیشترش می دهند
The best way to initiate the answer to your question is to first identify who your god is that is being addressed. The various studies of religion and or worship of a god instead of God differs among each belief. It would be a hypothetical answer if there is no insight on what you believe. It would be a critical mistake for me to answer this question without knowing what you believe. This inquiry can be addressed better with this information.
Daniel Goldman
Sharon Brooks the properties of the god are set out in the scenario that I described in the initial post, or at least I specifically said the following: if a person believes that their god determines their fate, does anger towards a life event constitute a rejection of that god?
So while it's true that not all gods determine fate, etc, the property is in the question.
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