Determinism - just another theory?

I took it that some feel that life is scripted , and some feel that it is not. Again--how would anyone know? (am I off the mark here?)

 

Oh ok, I was under the impression you were replying to me, not the op.

 

And by the way---MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

 

There are so many variables at play that give rise to any situation, really an infinite number, that I don't see how everything can be said to be predetermined, either. Aesthetically, what's the difference? Nothing appears predetermined. A blade of grass turns this way or that. A leaf blows into the picture. Someone's stomach rumbles. Et cetera, et cetera. Who can just look at the entire picture and say, "Oh, this is the very definition of a predetermined situation." It all just seems like utter chaos, and how things seem is all we have to rely on.

Of course everything has a cause, but to see if it's random or orderly we have to trek back to initial causes. And what we have at the beginning is either "random" (or I would say "arbitrary") quantum fluctuations giving rise to everything or we have an arbitrary God giving rise to everything. Hence, not absolutely EVERYTHING can be predetermined, as neither of those causes were preceded by anything.

 

I don't feel my reasoning is any of those things. It wasn't a confusing question... there was just no link between me telling you that you don't know what I am well aware of, and what I think of torture, murder and rape, which I had also never said I was okay with. It was just a meaningless question to which the answer was "no" anyway.

This is what I am not arguing for, this is entirely subjective, and is a belief I would have called myself crazy for, only a year or so ago. But it is where I have found myself, and so I am exploring it. I have never needed an easy answer, I've always preferred mystery to an easy answer that may not be true, which is why my own interest is intriguing to me. If you want to know "where the knowledge comes from", I could tell you all about the experiences, conversations and books that have made me think so.. but it wouldn't mean anything to you, it wouldn't prove it as knowledge.

All I wanted to say was that when you say "God can't be all-powerful if he doesn't rid the world of evil", was that there is a view of God where that isn't an issue. It would take away free will and void the purpose of us existing in the first place. And MAYBE, reality here is more like the abstraction of a film than we think it is. That's what I'm thinking about, maybe I'm wrong. But if I were right, it solves the reason God doesn't "remove evil". He knows it's not real anyway.

Yes, sorry, I missed out the word "don't"
I will edit it.

 

Adopting your view, I feel it was a meaningful question.

.... I'm just going to leave this in because I was attempting to respond to another part and this quote doesn't illustrate it but I think it highlights the beginning of confusion in regards to some of the parts above.

There's an aspect of Pantheism, I got that much!

I am asking how your knowledge is attained and support for it, so if there are sources you can provide that potentially illuminate your position, I definitely suggest you post them. I wanted you to provide arguments because that's what initially you were responding to, if you want.

Staying with the analogy, what I've repeatedly been trying to convey is I don't have the same reference point as you for this illusory aspect of reality you claim. However, we both have the same reference of understanding the difference between a film and reality.

But I mean if the ideas are ineffable and not subject to rational inquiry, then you don't need to attempt to explain it.

 

Any god or gods couldn't claim free will. As long as they are affected by something, or affect something, their existence is deterministic.