I would now like to tackle a rather heavily contested question. Are our lives predetermined? And, as with most difficult and highly debated questions, there is a simple and even obvious answer. If there are an infinite number of choices in life then predestination cannot exist.
We must ask if there is predestination, who knows about it? That is, if our lives are predetermined, someone or something must by definition hold that information.
Let's take the religious side first. That is, if we are predestined, then someone or something must know the outcome, otherwise we aren't predestined. There are those who say that God (I'm going to overlook this one) is devoid of time and therefore sees all that will happen. I have to contest however that evidence in the Bible proves this otherwise. God does seem surprised by human action quite frequently. You'd figure he'd have seen it from the beginning and not been too crushed when Adam ate the apple...
Anywho... onto (slightly) more logical arguments... "God" created man in "His image" but gave him free will. Does this mean that God does not have free will? Can God choose to be bad? Or is the very definition of bad determined based around what God doesn't do? (Talk about a sweet deal.) Regardless, I do think we have a consensus that man does err, even if made in "God's image". Therefore, it is possible for man to make mistakes in judgement.
Some are going to say that this is true, but God still sees everything, even the errors of man. Alright, if he sees our mistakes then how can he punish us for them if there is nothing that could be done to stop them, as God had already "seen" them? Therefore, if God is allowed to punish man, which I think all religious people will believe, then he is either committing a sin, in punishing someone for something they didn't have any control over doing, or doesn't have the power of predestination. You pick. Then again, God may not exist, so the whole argument would be void. That would be simpler.
I would also like to address that the common justification of God's omnipotence is that God exists extraneous of time. However, let's look at this too. If God is extraneous of time then he cannot have an impact on it, or even realize it exists. Because for to see the progression of time is to be classified by it. What you were doing when Rome burned, what you were thinking when Timmy's dog died, etc. If time exists anywhere, it is possible to judge your actions in accordance with time.
But then again I can make a second argument. Devoid of time, nothing changes. No action can be taken, because if something changes then there will be a time when it was the same and a separate time at which and after which it was changed. So how can God do anything ever if devoid of time?
Now let's move to a purely logical and empirical argument... If there are an infinite number of possible choices at any one time, then, providing that knowledge of predestination doesn't pop out of thin air and must be discovered through clues, then one must be able to learn all infinitely possible choices before understanding which one will be taken for certain. Unfortunately, with an infinite number of possibilities for even the first choice, you will forever be trying to predict the result of the first action and never even make it to the second, never mind the rest. Thus rendering you unable to predetermine life.
Of course we can come back to the same argument again, a time-devoid existence. If you have an infinite amount of time to ponder the infinite number of possibilities, the you will certainly be up to the task right? Wrong! And, for the same reason as God. You cannot accomplish anything, or change anything if you are devoid of time, because the moment something changes or is accomplished, even the smallest of things, you have time and are restricted by the infinite number of choices again.
So then, now that we understand that if there are an infinite number of choices that predestination cannot exist, let's prove that man has an infinite number of choices...
Let's start again with the religious view. Now there is no clear-cut answer to this one. But I think we can infer that if God created us in his image and gave us free will, that he gave us free will to test what we would do with it (that is providing predestination did not exist). Therefore there is no reason why God would then restrict our possible choices. In fact if he did, it would mean that he didn't actually give us free will at all.
Maybe however that even God cannot make an infinite number of choices for us to make because we are bound by time? Wrong, we only have to make one choice and I think it's pretty clear that we don't even weigh all the logical options before deciding many times never mind all possible of an infinite number of options.
The last argument will also work devoid of God. Man can have an infinite number of choices, but it's not necessary for any one man to know all options to make a decision. So we can throw that argument out in both cases.
But back to religion for a second... So it boils down to this: Either God gave you free will and infinite options, didn't give you free will by not giving you infinite numbers of choices, or God is incapable of giving infinite numbers of choices. The first scenario supports my belief. The second then disproves his omnipotence. God cannot be omnipotent if he can't create an infinite number of possibilities because that would mean that there would be a limit to God's knowledge. And if there's a limit to God's knowledge, it is feasible that then God may not be able to know how the universe will turn out. After all, the argument of predestination was created to solve the conflict that God's omnipotence created regarding our lives. (If God is omnipotent doesn't he know everything that has, is, and will ever happen?) With omnipotence out of the picture, then predestination has no reason to exist at all. Which then also answers option number three. If God is not omnipotent, then there is little reason to believe that he can see how the universe turns out. Predestination rests with the belief that God is omnipotent and if God is not omnipotent then God is also not, by definition, able to see everything.
Well, now that we've finished with religion... thankfully... we'll move on to logical reasons why man has infinite choices and thereby predestination cannot exist.
Firstly, if we cannot prove that there is a limit to the number of choices we have at any one time, then we cannot justify there being a limited number of choices to be made.
If there are a finite number of choices then logically at some point somewhere in the world there will come a decision that has only one choice or no choices at all. This is impossible because to have choice you must have at least 2 options by definition of the word choice.
If this is true, that there is a set number of choices to choose from, then there must be something that restricts or designates the number of choices. This is not predestination, as that contends no choices at all. It is also not free will which contends infinite options. But, it would have to be somewhere in between infinite and zero. Anyone who knows anything about numbers should see a problem here. Neither of these "numbers" are numbers at all. They are absolutes and contain no physical value whatsoever. That is, you cannot perceive three times zero worth of something or one sixth infinity worth of something. Therefore, there is no middle ground between "free will" and "predestination" theories. And, because of this, we have proven that there is nothing that designates the number of choices that man has. Thus, choices are either infinite or zero. But as I said, there is no determining factor as to which one will be true, infinite or zero. Therefore, as we are able to comprehend options, there must be at least two options, thereby there must be an infinite number of options.
Now we have proven that man has infinite possible choices, which means that predestination cannot exist at all.
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