You say:
"Let's say for instance nothing is random in the universe in regard to absolutely everything. So for example at this moment in time, a solar flare triggers and earthquake in "x city" and 3,000 people die. The ground is forever changed and the lives of all of the people it affects. Is it destiny? Did not all of the people who chose to live at this time decide as part of their life plan they would survive or die in this earthquake? They would have already known it was going to happen because it would have been a major event in their lives. "

BOB:
I do not believe in a future made for us and all we have to do is follow in the tracks...That said I also do not believe what is to be, is to be...I DO believe in free will. Krishnamurti said "Matter follows thought" and while that may be *possibly* true, it would have to be a concensus of the whole (at least as per my thinking). The other possibility is that not only are we all an interconnected web, but separate in an ironic way. There used to be an old phrase I as a kid heard from my church group. "If God is all powerfull, can He, make a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it?"
Having said all that I still think there is a Ken Kesey....:-) I have seen "One Flew Over the etc Nest". We are NOT a closed system....there WILL be a start and an END and I say "will be" a start because in the space beyond time, the line between start and end does not exist.....Go figure:-)