Christians - do you believe in fate, destiny and soul mates?

rebel if a guy's destiny is a fat chick, purchase a one way ticket on the Amtrak rails.

No to all three. Nor does "free will" involve them.

If you had bothered to do a search you would have found a number of entries that are a part of most good intro philosophy courses on the apparent dilemma of free will vs. determinism.

Knowledge of the future is possible for humans, and such knowledge doesn't seem to commit us to the view that our actions are completely determined. Many parents have the experience of knowing what their children will do even before the children know."I knew you'd do that (say that, touch that, etc.)" is not an uncommon expression. The fact that a parent has this knowledge doesn't seem to compell the child to behave that way.

So, someone having full knowledge of the future need not remove the notion of free will.

HTH

Charles

We all have choices, and we are fully responsible for them.

God is all-knowing and omnipresent. He has His plan, and He's fully in control over all things. His will works out to His ends just as He says it will be. God has made and knows all of us, so He knows what makes us tick and He can control our circumstances so that there's only 1 real option if we love Him and 1 other option if we hate Him.

In everything choice we have, it is always geared towards a choice between loving and hating God. Ultimately, God knows where we will fail and where we'll succeed. He uses our good and bad decisions to amplify His glory and to let it be known. Every choice you're given in life was set before you because God let it happen. God's purposes, are His own but His intentions ultimately are to bring you closer to Him.

Man-kind has an arrogant image of itself (as a whole) and they believe they can fully understand and know all things about God (usually this is assumed upon the platform of God not existing or God being less than Almighty). We can never fully understand how an infinite God has absolute control and yet we still have a free will with a free choice.

I personally know that God is too awesome to sum up in a statement or even in a large series of books. It's not that we don't have a free will, but we're so limited in understanding compared to God that we are a variable God is able to "work around" so to speak. Not that God is constantly making adjustments, but that God knows the full consequence of every action both man's and His. He makes the perfect actions to ensure His plan unfolds as He intends, nothing can stop it. Understand, it's not God's will against ours. God designs our will to work for His purposes.

Really the question should be directed more towards the purpose of your life as opposed to the control you have over your own life.

No, no and no.

God's knowledge of the future (omniscience) and control of the present and future (predestination) are not the same thing. We can chose to follow God's plans or to oppose them (or make faulty choices based on a misunderstanding of God's plans, like the revolting Phelps cult).

I believe in soulmates. And destiny is forseen by God but chosen by me.

By the way, fate and destiny are the same thing.

so what if God knew, you still came to the decision with no prior knowledge of the outcome.

Fate? No

Destiny? No

Soul Mates? No

There is no plan laid out for me, I make my own way and my own decisions. knowing what someone will do is not the same as causing them to do it.