There's an age-old argument about these two - destiny and karma. Seems they are conflicting but to me, it's not. Because I always believe our work defines our destiny and we must pay for our misdeed.
Now the question is - If we make choices that are very bad Karmically, surely our destiny would also be altered?
Let me be clear on this as per my belief.
I'm a believer so I always believe God has written our fate even before we were born, even before the world is made. It sounds conflicting to if it can alter destiny. Because of so then there's nothing we can do in this world, none of our work can change/make things better. But what I believe is a bit different from this.
God has sure written the fate. But as God is timeless as per what I believe so it's possible for him to see what will happen. Now what we are doing in the present time is just what God has seen already. What we are going to do is up to us, we have free will and can choose any path. Only the thing is, the path we will take is already known by God because he's timeless. He is not manipulating our life by any means.
So in that sense, our destiny is fixed/written but this is not like we can't change it or it can't be changed as per our deed.
Now coming to karma, Yes, I strongly believe in that.
Not everything will be decided in our afterlife, some punishments will be paid off in this life. Even if you are not a believer, you will notice karma works, it works so well. Because we all have to pay in our own ways, there's no way out of it. Maybe instant karma or maybe in other ways, it will work on us.
"Karma is not what happens to you, but is how you respond to what happens to you?"
Yes, that's when I start to strong belief in the afterlife. Because everything can't be decided in this life. But that's another topic to discuss.
Anyway, you can name it God's punishment or karma as per your belief. We can't control what happens to us in the name of karma but we can control how we deal with that. I believe that no matter what we do there's no way out of doing great in life mentally, physically, financially, and every way without facing karma for our bad deeds. Even if that will not work in this life it will work in our afterlife.
I know all these can make anyone question my belief. Again, I would like to clarify it's up to you what you believe or not. As per what I understand, our fate is in our own hands. Do good, you will get good. Do worse you will see the worse in life; as simple as that.
Let me give you an example to clarify this.
If I do wrong to someone, it's already written in my fate that I will do this. But that doesn't mean I couldn't change my will. It's just that, God knows that I would not be able to change my will and do that. He is not a manipulator or influencer. He is just an observer and only influences by making sure we pay off for our deed. Also, if I change my mind and become a better person that's already written but not like I can't change that now.
So destiny is in our own hands and we have to face karma by all means. That's what I believe in one sentence.
I do respect your belief so please let's not argue on this.