If your life is Predestined (predetermined), there has to be a God or some other kind of creator that established your destiny. You are unable to alter your life or your circumstances from what has been determined for you. Your thoughts, feelings, concerns, actions, and everything that you think are results of your own mind are actually the results of a plan previously decided for you. Even if you think you are rebelling against your fate, your rebellion is part of your destiny. You cannot avoid whatever happens to you. There is some second in the future when you will die physically, and what happens after that cannot be changed.

Whether you are good or bad is part of the plan; and you are not responsible for your behavior or character. If you could deviate from this pattern, the entire future would be altered. Even the slightest alteration in your life would affect everything in the world, if not immediately, eventually. If, for example, you were predestined to meet a future spouse at some certain place at a certain time and if you could fail and did fail to go to that place, you would not meet the person intended as your spouse. In addition to being at the proper place, you must also fall in love and decide to marry the person. The other person must respond to you in the proper way and agree to marry you, and so on and so on. Any alteration in your predestined affairs would change your future life and the lives and destinies of the intended spouse and future offspring possibly resulting from that union. Not only would your actions affect your intended spouse and offspring, but everyone related to both of you in any way would also have their destinies altered. Eventually this would alter the entire celestial scheme of things for everyone.

Predestination seems incompatible with everything taught about good and evil by traditional religions, even those that believe in predestination. If it is possible to receive a reward, you should be rewarded for being and doing whatever you were destined for, whatever that might be. If you are predestined to live as you do, you should not be blamed, nor should you be punished for doing what you are destined to do, regardless of how evil it might be. You will die when your “number is up,” no matter what risks you take. Therefore, you can do whatever you think you are “supposed” to do. This concept eliminates all challenges to an individual; it denies the possibility of growth based on personal efforts; and it describes a meaningless existence—from the individual’s point of view. You are merely an actor on a grand celestial stage blindly following the script and the guidance of a celestial stage director.

This concept is similar to the fundamental belief of Gnosticism. There are many varieties of beliefs included in the term Gnosticism; but they all share the belief that some people are destined for salvation and some are destined for destruction. Only certain people are capable of knowing and understanding the secrets of God and being saved. Others who cannot acquire that knowledge will not be saved. Salvation comes through knowledge, not works or faith.

You might have Free Will and be completely free without a predetermined destiny. You are in complete control of your life; and you have to devise your own purpose for living; it is entirely as you want it. God, if you choose to believe there is such a being, is not concerned about you or any other human, except perhaps as an interested observer. You do not have a purpose in life. You are completely free, with all your actions strictly the result of your own thoughts and desires. You are free to accept or strive to change what you feel are restrictions on your life. You might wish you were of the opposite sex or a member of a different racial or ethnic group, or wish you were born richer or better looking or in another country. In modern times, in the USA, many of these conditions can be overcome with patience, skill, effort, money, and/or some other kind of sacrifice. In this case, there will be some natural restrictions on your complete freedom. Obviously, you cannot defy certain natural laws such as the pull of gravity, the flow of time, or results of carelessness, nor should you violate civil or criminal laws.

As in lives of most humans, the world will probably be unaware of your existence and what you do or think will not affect the future of more than a few other people. Your goals may or may not be what others think you should have. That is irrelevant. You are the “master of your fate, the captain of your soul.” (From Invictus, by William Ernest Henley.) This complete freedom can be either exhilarating, or frustrating. You cannot blame God or other humans for your failings or your troubles. Even when others accidentally, incidentally, or deliberately cause you harm or interfere with your plans, the way you respond is up to you. Many things that happen to you are outside of your control and some of them might harm you. However, sometimes, these misfortunes can be adapted to your plans; or you might be able to modify your plans, and eventually you might receive some kind of benefit from the misfortune. This does not necessarily mean there is no Creator or Supreme Being. The Creator might not be interested in you; or He might have some reason for allowing you to live in any way you want to.

There is a third possibility, which is a combination of the two preceding possible scenarios: you could have Free Will with a Purpose. You still have a predetermined destiny; but the way you reach that destiny is up to you. Even though you have a pre-determined destiny, you can deviate from the plan.