Pre-destination Vs Today's Secular Faith, was it of use, is it now?

In the past scotlands faith held strongly with pre-destination, and in many parts still does. can we the descendents, or simple celtic enthusiast hold with such a conviction in a far more secular time? could this point be one of the stronger holdovers from the "old religions" ? Would like to know if anyone has a perspective on this or something informative.

If you are secular in your thought process you must preclude pre-destination as an option as it requires a destiner. Also I think it is important to point out that pre-destination and pre-determination are not the same thing I.E. pre-destination does not absolutely mean unavoidable destiny, although it is quite frequently thought of with this definition.

Cause and effect in generating karma is another explanation for the vagaries of life. God and the devil didn't do it, we did it to ourselves......

Although I don't share your Budhist beliefs, my friend, I have to agree. I think that God does guide us in our actions and decisions. It is up to us whether or not to accept that guidance. Much like it is up to my 17 yo son to accept mine.

I think the family dynamic is identical to how God set up our lives. We raise our children to have certain skills and values. Then we set them free and hope for the best. We'll help when asked, given that we think the request has merit. We hope that our children keep in touch with us. If they do, our bond remains strong and can even get stronger. We do not plan their entire lives for them and force them to follow that plan.

The problem is that he doesn't equate your advise with God's.

You know, I see a lot of sense in that, and a lot of philosophy, but I personally deisagree. I have a hard time comprehending how exactly our higher being, whoever they are, can guide us. The only way is in showing us a natural sign. But a physical entity shown to us by our higher being(s) means nothing if we dont persieve it the same way as they. If our house burns down, and god (using the term lightly) means for us to understand that our neighbourhood is a bad place that we shouldnt be part of, there is no way that we will automatically persieve it that way. One would probably rather think it a strengthening test, and stay and rebuild, which is, exactly the opposite of what god wanted.