>>520510138
your interpretation of determinism is that anything can happen, it just doesn't and everything's pre-planned, which isn't categorically true.
God, despite being simultaneous, has to interact with us within the bounds of time because we exist there while trapped in the material world, and offset by our free will.
within your metaphor, lets say that God wants us to pick a single brown M&M out of a bowl. In one cycle in the material world, you're a guy that hates the brown ones. In another, you are unlucky enough not to pick it. After thousands of cycles of stochastic outcomes, you finally pick the right one.
it's not really a test. Basically there are criteria for exiting the material world that you're trapped in, and it's up to you to fulfill those because God doesn't fuck with free will, but he's rooting for you.
>>520510169
the realistic answer is "it depends"
does that daoist practice cause you to be a good person and focus on spiritual development and helping other souls along the way to the point that you're spiritually ready to leave the material world behind? Sure.
What matters is that at the end of your life, you're offered a choice to leave or go back. To those that believe in jesus, he does a fuckton of helping. If you don't, it's a much more difficult path, and is even described as so by daoists and tibetan buddhists. To do so alone is a herculean undertaking and most buddhists and daoists will openly admit that exiting like that on your own is extremely difficult.
jews have convinced everyone through pilpul that you need to litigate all of this shit with god when in reality it's just your choice (albeit an extremely difficult choice if you don't have anyone helping you)
Without jesus imagine staring down the barrel of the light and someone telling you "you can go back and experience that all again, but better!" and having the spiritual fortitude to say "nah, I'm done, I had a good time but it's time to go back where I belong"