"You have to pursue your own dreams, but you are given your dreams by the God". Has the author contradicted himself?

Use this forum to discuss the May 2021 Book of the month, "Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through" by Jeff Meyer.
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Harty Muli
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Re: "You have to pursue your own dreams, but you are given your dreams by the God". Has the author contradicted himself?

Post by Harty Muli »

The statement seems to be a contradiction since its possible to have dreams that are not inspired by God. I also think dreams are unique to an individual because they involve personal challenges and triumphs.
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Post by Sohana Hasan »

I've thought about this, and would say that, no, the author is not contradicting himself. I believe this because, in this quote, it says that you should "pursue your own dreams." It says nothing about choosing those dreams. So, maybe the author is saying that God chooses what your dreams will be, but you pursue them?
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Post by Cwaganagwa Dorothy »

In my opinion, no, I do not think that the author has contradicted himself. I have a number of talents and skills. While I was young, I wanted something that saw because I was impressed. From what I was told at that age I threw it away. I picked that which seemed manageable, but I changed when I saw something more impressive. But today what I want is what I cherished first, because I know it is possible in other way but with the guidance of God because He helped me know and understand what I want and it is just a matter of time.
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Post by Natalia Nazeem »

Sushan wrote: 01 May 2021, 02:24
Saint Bruno wrote: 01 May 2021, 00:55 I don't think that the author has contradicted himself. To every one that God created is a special purpose. So the dreams you pursue is in line with your purpose. That's what I think the author means. Just as we are different, so are our dreams. Chasing our dreams is thus, fulfilling our purpose given by God, the giver of dreams.
If I get it correct, you too have said it. God is the giver of our dreams. If so, how can we pursue our own dreams? It will always be someone else's dream, atleast of God's. If this is true, what has happened to the free will that He gave us? If all of us are given a purpose by the God, there will be nothing called free will. Correct me if I am wrong
I think it's more along the lines of God giving us the ability to dream - to hope, and have ambition, and the drive to work towards something, towards a larger purpose, perhaps. In that sense, we still have our free will in choosing what are dreams are (and changing our mind about what we want to achieve), but the fact that we can dream is something that's God-given - hence, God is the 'giver of dreams'.
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Post by Maria_Kubicova »

I don’t think he did. God gave everyone of us a special purpose when he created us. I believe the author meant that we fulfill God’s purpose by pursuing our dreams.
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Post by Laksha Maria Charbel »

Every human being has a unique relationship with God. The author is trying to convey that, this bond is often weakened in pursuit of material(worldly) pleasures. When one prioritizes their bond with God, they become one with him. Therefore, the pursuit of one's goal here is referred to as being the same as God's plan.
I do believe in fulfilling our destiny. One that is unique to each of us and is revealed to us when we are close to God. While we are to care for one another, it would be unwise to base one's purpose on someone else's wishes. Even if it is someone close to us.
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Post by Kuchi Mercy »

The author has not contradicted himself. I believe he means our dreams should be aligned to what God wants for us. Taking up parents or anyone else's dreams as ours, may not always be the best option and may not always lead to failure. The bottom line is that it should be your dream, that point where what gives you gladness coincides with what the universe desires from you.
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Post by review-specialist »

The statement, "You have to pursue your own dreams, but you are given your dreams by God" is not a contradiction. God has given us the ability to dream but it is up to us to have that drive to accomplish those dreams.
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Post by Cleopatra banda »

The author did not contradict himself.everyone has his/her own dreams to persue , each one needs to discover his purpose in order to focus on it. We can't follow our parents or friends dreams neither can they follow my dreams , because they have there own race to run so the best we can both do for each other is to support each others dream.
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Post by Ldpuff »

What a concept to wrap one's head around! I believe that God puts something in our hearts and knows how it will turn out in the end, but the exact twists and turns we take are up to each of us. For instance, he will not stop us from sinning so I believe in the same sense we have the freedom with our hopes and dreams. Maybe we are meant to do one thing, but we will be happy doing another - just not 100% fulfilled.
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Post by Emily_Jen »

I believe the author is in order. God has his plans for everyone, and I think if people can figure out what the want to do with their lives, they'd be inline with God's plan. So I don't think there's any contradictions here. If anything, the author makes a lot of uncommon sense with that statement.
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Post by Jordan Cane »

In my opinion, the author does contradicted himself with this statement. If we are of our own body and mind, then the dreams we conjure ourselves and pursue should therefore belong only to ourselves and not to "the God". If this were true, then I'd argue that all people would know what their so-called purpose in life would be and life would become robotic - free of creativity or imagination. Because life does not exist in this way, I therefore believe there is no God placing ideas in people's heads or influencing the actions on any person. However, that's a whole other conversation to be had!
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Post by ROSEY-ANN »

Sushan wrote: 01 May 2021, 00:04 "God has created you to dream. He urges you to crave your own BIG dream. You were not created to merely carry out someone else’s. You were created to live a life of service, yes, but service can be weighty if we don’t unearth our own, unique, God-given vision." (Foreword)

The author wants his readers to break free from others' dreams and pursue their own dreams. And that have been the main purpose of writing this book, and as per the author that is the intent of God as well.

“The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger coincide.”

But on the other hand, as per the author, our dreams are not our own dreams but which are given to us by God.

Has the author contradicted his own concept?

At the same time, can't we make our parents' or our closest ones dreams as ours and pursue them? Will it lead us to failure always?
I do not think the author contradicted himself. I think the author means that God is the source of godly dreams. We have the choice of pursuing godly pursuits or not. We have to choose the path towards those dreams.
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Post by Kate Justice »

In my opinion, the author hasn't in any way contradicted himself. God made us and therefore knows what is best for us, he gives us a dream and then it becomes our dream to pursue. He is the originator of all dreams a way to explain it would be like a bag with lots of individual labeled gifts inside the Bag with the bag (our dream source) being God, the gifts our individually tailored dreams designed to maximize our full potential and the recipient of the gifts us humans. You take the gift with your name on it and it becomes yours, your dream then you run with it not someone else's dream.
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Post by mbhuibregtse »

The author's message is very vague. I am religious, but I do not agree with the statement, "put it in God's hands." I do believe that God has a greater purpose for all of us, but I also believe that we have a strong influence over our lives through our choices.
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