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Predicting the future

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Lonnie | 22:14 Wed 16th May 2007 | Religion & Spirituality
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Does anyone on this site, really believe that its possible to accurately predict the future?.

I'll explain the reason for this question later, including my thinking on it.
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Lonnie - Yes, I do believe that some people, mediums, clairvoyants, shamans, can predict the future in certain cases, and with verying degrees of accuracy.
I do not, however, think it is right for anybody to engage in such predictions, or to appeal to the so called talents of those with this ability.
The reason I think it is wrong, is that I believe in God, and the future is His domain, and only ours by divine revelation, as set out in the Bible.
....... are you going to make a prediction?
The Lotto numbers maybe?
..... if you do, I hope you're more accurate than a certain charlatan wizard I know!
Well, it's possible to make scientific predictions about some things; if I let go of this apple it will hit the floor, at some point in the future the poles will switch etc., but I don't think this is what you mean, so my answer is 'only by being so vague or so general that it can be applied to a given event post fact'.
oy, Theland...my lotto prediction is accurate. I just got the week wrong, it will happen in the future...
.... good job I kept the ticket then!
Lonnie, I think it's possible, but rare. Most 'accurate' predictions may in reality turn out to be lucky guesses. I look forward to the explanation of your question.

Hedge your bets, Theland. Hang on to that ticket!
Hang on to it? I've stitched it into my underwear!
A load of rubbish, if you guess about the future enough, you are bound to get the odd thing right,
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Hi Theland,
Sorry, no predictions on Lotto tickets, although beleivers have to quote the bible, or their own scriptures.

Waldo,
Agree with you totally about the Scientific predictions, but your right about what I mean with this post.

Wizard,
I missed your Lotto prediction, we'er just buying a new conservatory, and can do with a decent win, can you reprint your prediction?.

Hi Naomi,
Here it comes, may be a bit garbled though.

I was watching last night, 'Nostradamus 500 years later', obviously, they were showing the fors and against, but it got me thinking, (the experiance was total agony, just not used to it). anyway, it occurred to me, that if it was possible to predict the future, (which I don't believe), the only way of knowing your right, is after the event, which in turn, would mean that our futures are fixed, and can't be changed, which in turn, brings us to a creator,

If our futures are fixed?. Think i'll leave it there for a bit, also got to go to work.
I don't believe it's possible even though strangely I've had many of these experiences in various forms, that I usually keep to myself, I think if people do experience these things but they don't readily share them if fear of being labelled a 'wierdo'.. I'm only sharing this story as I'm anonomous here.
I was woken as usual by my radio alarm at 7.15am (so I though) to the news, a breaking story about a bus explosion, a possible bomb, traffic problems & chaos. I pressed the sleep button for my usual 10mins of coming around. My dream of that night was so vivid I couldn't get it out of my mind:
I was at a friends in London, from the window I had a view over the city. Animated 'drawings' of cartoon like bombs were being dropped on london. The flat filled with this smoke and there was bright, brigh orange red fire. The smoke was lethal and I was trying to escape, I grabbed my video camera (most prized possesion) to leave, and was in panic but had nowhere to go. I went to the window for air, from which the view of the city had changed and was now a see of calm, so tranquil and beautiful in pastel colours, quite misty & hazy.. As the haze began to lift I could see this figure of a man in a rowing boat. It was a beautiful picture, I began to record it on my camera. The mist was evaporating and more was becoming clear, I zoomed in the focus to reveal there was no man on a boat, but the man was sat on a pile of rubble, there was complete devestation all around as far as the eye could see.
This was my dream. I went to work & forgot about it. Until.. Later when it was being reported that there had been all these bombs on the underground & the bus, the date was 7th July. I couldn't have heard the news as I did at 7.15am because it happened until after 8.50 am. And the dream, well!! that wasn't the end of it.
Continued.....

Some weeks later I had the same dream, exactly the same but in a slighly different location, the smoke filled the room, the brigh, brigh orange/red etc, only this time when I looked out of the window I didn't see a picture of devestation but the mist lifted to reveal rainbows, beautiful skies and primary colours. The day of this dream was July 21st.. When the bommers hadn't been successful!!

Make what you will of it. A strange experience that I can't explain, especially the news I heard before it happened. I still don't believe in predicting the future but who knows eh!!
Ele, Your accounts are certainly odd, and if you can't explain them rationally, which you clearly can't, and you say you've had many of these experiences in various forms, I fail to see why you don't believe it's possible to predict the future. You seem very sure it happened, so why do you say that?

People have often had so called gifts of of shamanism, without asking and wondered why. It is well documented. I believe you wholeheartedly.
I'd like to discuss this more.
Well, let's do it then. I'm interested.
I say that because I suppose I'm of the opinion that people who can predict, should therfore be able to predict on tap. Why would their foresight be limited & for what reason?

I can give other examples, if you're interested in this read on:
sometimes I've said things & not known where my words have come from. An example of this would be: my friend was expecting a baby and I said (not thinking) "I don't even know why you're worried about the pain & after efects of birth because you're having a cesarian" She was deeply offended by my comment and I was embarrased, but I knew this was right. After the birth she said "You knew I'd have a cesarian, how did you know?" - that was words.

One morning I woke with thoughts of my sister, she has 2 boys, I thought she would have another child and it would be a girl, just a thought. And then another thought, that she would misscarry, I knew this would happen. My thoughs were interupped by voices downstairs. My sisters husband had come around to tell us that my sis was in hospital as she'd just miscarried. She & we didn't even know she was pregnant. I know it would have been a girl - that was a thought.

A friend got an aquaintance of his to come to mine for something. I'd never met him but he turned up as arranged. I've never felt so uncomfortable in someones presence. I knew he was a peadofile. Just knew. Awkward subject but I told my friend my feelings of him. He wanted to go to the police because of the job this guy did, but we couldn't really on my 'intuition' alone. But just stayed clear of him. My friend called me many months later to say had I heard. The guy got sentenced to 4 years for child p__n images on his pc. - that was a feeling.

There are many, many more stories but the above are examples of Words, Thoughts and Feelings. This could be coincidence or intuition, statistics or guessing. I don't know. But if you belive in this, maybe this is the way
ele - I believe you totally. Do not keep this to yourself, but do share your experiences with us all. It is weird, and we all have our own interpretations of the Whys, Hows, and Wherefores? It is an education reading your posts.
As you know, my belief is that such "gifts" are in fact quite the opposite, and should be lost at all costs. However, you are where you are, and please don't refrain from telling us more.
I am often at odds with Naomi, who does not believe in my God, but believes in a spiritual dimension, nevertheless, her interpretation of your experiences, is as valuable as anybodys, and there are others so that, between us all, we can all learn, and, with your permission, comment.
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Point is, if people can predict the future, and i'm hypothesising here, it must be impossible to change it, otherwise you would never know, therefore, our lives are set in stone, and as they say, the worlds a stage, and even though we think we have free will, we don't.
Theland, there's little point in saying experiences like ele's are wrong, since she clearly has no control over them and does nothing to induce them. Is she 'predicting the future', or would you say she's intuitive? Is there a difference? What if, for example, ele's mind had somehow intercepted the bombers' thoughts and those thoughts were interpreted in her dreams? It might also explain why she knew the man was a paedophile - perhaps she picked up his thoughts. Who knows if that's possible? It would not, however, explain her intuition where her sister and her friend were concerned since they weren't aware themselves. Perhaps in those cases, ele's mind was somehow able to 'read' their physiological condition?

Bringing it down a level, why, without even speaking, do people often take an instant dislike to another person - or instantly like them? It has to be some sort of instinct or intuition, which we all possess to a degree. Would you say that's wrong? I think some people are more intuitive than others, and it may be because they're able to tap into parts of the mind, albeit unknowingly, that others are unable to. I believe naturally talented people do the same. I mean, what makes someone a brilliant artist when the next person's skills remain at age 4? I'm sure there's going to be a scientific explanation for all these things one of these days. The human mind at the moment is a mystery. (Ask Mr N - he'll tell you mine certainly is!).

Lonnie, my possible solutions to ele's experiences don't explain how people like Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce supposedly predicted the future. That our future is pre-determined is a daunting thought indeed. As you rightly say, Shakespeare said "all the world's a stage", so maybe we are all actors playing our parts. What a horrible thought. It reminds me of the very worst of Hollywood.
As you say Lonnie predicting the future seems to imply pre destination.

A hundred years or so ago it would be argued that if you knew the precise position and motion of every atom in the Universe you could in principle predict the future perfectly.

Obviously that is impossible in practice but the implication was that evrything was pre-ordained and free will was an illusion.

In the first decades of the 20th Century Quantum mechanics came about that showed that at the sub-atomic scale things were truely random. Provoking Einstein's famous outburst "God does not play dice with the universe" (He could never accept this.)

Towards the end of the last century we started to investigate non linear dynamics (better known as chaos theory) and began to see how tiny perturbations can get amplified into major events - the famous butterfly effect!

The way things currently stand therefore is that most scientists will tell you the Universe is not pre-ordained and there is at least the possibility that we have free will or at least something approximating to it.

The Joker in this pack though is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics which suggests that the universe is constantly dividing at quantum events exploring every possibility.

This does have the rather interesting implication that should you not will the lottery tomorrow you can console yourself knowing that in some universe somewhere you have!

How that interpretation affects free-will is rather mind blowing .

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