Suspension of Disbelief

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)...

The future is unwritten and fluid. There is nothing that we are that is concrete. Our jobs, our families, our homes, our friends, our daily activities, none are concrete. Anything can change at any time. And for all of us, we are able to maneuver within our means. Our means... But do they really exist? Is there really anything that we cannot do if we don't really really want to? Do you really believe that there is something that you can't do if you really try? If you do, you've got larger problems than any I can solve. Good luck. But beyond this I have a rather more frightening thought. If we choose not to follow a given path, any given path, and decide to do something else, will anyone actually predict how our actions would have changed their lives? Let me give you an example. If my parents never met, I would not have been born. Would anyone actually be asking where I am? No. If I never moved to my home city, would my friends ask what happened to me? No. If I had gone to a...