Fate

Fate in the sense of a rigid controlling powerover human actions, with its focus or seat in the stars, is notonly nonexistent, but impossible.

But sometimes the word fate is used for divineprovidence.

Fate as divine providence is a changeless rule, butthis does not mean fixity and mechanical necessity of events. As wehave noted elsewhere, providence does not interfere with free willitself, nor does it render meaningless the notion of contingenthappenings.

Fate as providence has reference to creatures andcreatural effects; it has no reference to the divine operations inthemselves.