For debate:
1. Does free-will exist?
 
Here's one simple definition of free-will:
Free will, in humans, the power or capacity to choose among alternatives or to act in certain situations independently of natural, social, or divine restraints. Free will is denied by some proponents of determinism.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/free-will

Here's another good description:
Free will is the idea that we are able to have some choice in how we act and assumes that we are free to choose our behavior, in other words we are self determined.

For example, people can make a free choice as to whether to commit a crime or not (unless they are a child or they are insane). This does not mean that behavior is random, but we are free from the causal influences of past events. According to freewill a person is responsible for their own actions.
Source: Simple Psychology

In light of these definition, I lean more towards not accepting that free-will exists. I have not come across any examples of a behavior that can't be said to be caused. Furthermore, I don't know of any mechanism, perhaps apart from consciousness, that would make free-will possible. Even the sense of a "self" is increasingly being understood as being an illusion - nothing more than a biological phenomenon of the brain.

Given all of the above information, I still accept that we can choose our behavior. We can do this by being able to adjust and/or manipulate the factors that cause or influence our behavior, i.e. environment and biology. Given this power, I can theoretically conform my behavior to anything I can imagine (anything possible that can be enacted through human behavior). I used to think this was enough for free-will but it's still involves the person being part of a causal chain, whereas free-will should not involve any causal factors other than "self".
 
In my opinion, free-will exists to some extent. While we can't act directly against our code--someone with a severe mental illness or physical injury can't say that they are completely healed all of the sudden, in most cases, we are capable of changing our situation gradually with daily decisions. I define free-will as in the freedom of choice. When you are subject to natural, social, or divine restraints, there's still slight choices that you can make to overcome them over time. It may not be enough to destroy said restraints--that shouldn't be one's goal in life as it's an impossible one to accomplish head on, but it's enough to get to a place where you are happy enough with yourself and your circumstances, also some--not all--restraints can be overcame from doing what you can right now. Despite anything, you have a choice of what you do with what you're given. I would say most people have free-will those without it are usually those with severe health issues who have to depend on copious amounts of doctors and drugs to live. There are people with no free-will but it's usually those that require consistent care and are very dependent of others to take care of themselves and have to depend on someone else to make decisions as to how they would live for them. Babies as well lack free will since they are incapable of determining or changing the situation that their given and depend solely on someone else for their care. So, free-will exists, but not everyone has it and it can be striped away from someone if natural, social, or divine restraints exceed human capabilities.
 
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I freely chose to post on this thread. But something drew me to it. A force beyond my control.. like a magnet. I'm a slave to these gravitational pulls.
Just like I was drawn to eating ice cream daily . But now I quit.
Only be addicted to good things. That's my conclusion.
 
I recently had a little debate on free-will and it was a good chance for me to sum up some of my best thinking yet on the issue.

My previous position was that free-will likely did not exist, but now I accept that it exists in levels or degrees. I thought to myself that if I accept any level of free-will then it is because I don't see how or where every part of my life is outside of my control. The areas that are not set in stone leave room for freedom, in my view.

The only way I could change my mind on this is if someone can show how I'm just as restricted and controlled as a tree branch or even other animals (like lions). The key differences I see are that tree branches and many other animals interact in the world blindly, passively, and reflexively. They don't understand nor do they have the capacity to notice that the laws of nature control their behaviors. In contrast, humans can know about all of the factors and forces that control us. We can also play an active role in changing how we behave. A lion can't actively or intentionally change it's behavior; it's completely passive in the process. Humans can intentionally change their behavior or act out all behaviors that are humanly possible, and we can do this because we have the knowledge and the freedom of thought to think and act on it at any time.
 
You are speaking to relative freedom which includes the idea that we can ascertain our reality on a level which allows for understanding and thus being able to create from the stuff of the earth.

Yet, because we exist within a reality experience which most obviously inhibits our freedom to the greater extent, we cannot say for sure that we have true free will, but we certainly can argue that what will we do have, has relative freedom of movement toward recreation.

Primarily we build machines, and these presently without consciousness so unable to even acknowledge their existence or use will.

Zooming out [as it were] we could acknowledge that while we have will which we can use relatively freely, we can also understand the possibility that given the reality we find ourselves within, it might be more the case of an illusion of free will, in the sense that we can engage humility in that we are largely at the mercy of nature and if we can engage with any mind behind the creation we are engaging with. it is conceivable that the mind will respond to our acknowledgement and provide any and all assistance we require - which involves a type of gradual surrender to that mind on the grounds that it naturally enough sees better than we do.

Surrender of ones will to a higher order of consciousness has its own rewards re the individual personality.

This in itself does not signify one become a mindless robot. Rather one becomes aware of the greater thing which administers the lesser thing - the mind behind creation is a conglomerate of all minds which have surrendered their own wants and desires in regard to the "needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few".

In the surrender, one has not surrendered ones self in the scheme of things but rather, surrenders ones personal unrelated ambition re the current reality we are finding ourselves and one another within.

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The strongest doubt I have towards determinism is active or intentional behavior. Here's how the APA defines those terms:
"goal-oriented behavior in which an individual uses strategies to achieve various ends or effects." I think this is unlike anything else in the Universe, in that everything else seems to act blindly and passively. The fact that intentional behavior exists may not be enough to disprove determinism entirely, but I see it as being enough to show that we have more freedom or less determined than a rock.
 
The following is a true personal testimony.

Fact one: I insisted on having my OWN choice.
When I became a Christian eventually I wanted to be married. The congregation that I meet with had well meaning match makers. But I DETERMINED within myself that NOBODY but NOBODY was going to sneakily arrange for my marrying anybody. I was going to have MY own self determined choice no matter what.

Fact two: The woman I finally married DID NOT WANT married life, PERIOD.
Many young Christian women longed to get married. The Christian sister I ended up marrying was definitely NOT one of these types. Whenever there was a wedding meeting (and we had quite a few) you could be sure that she was not there. She ALWAYS found something else to do across town. Her father had been an abusive alcaholic. And she could not help identifying married life as only probematic because of this.

Fact three: The Holy Spirit had made known to this stubborn single minded woman that I was the person who she would marry.
After we had been married for a few years, my wife opened up to me and told me a secret. She said that the very day I entered into the meeting hall God spoke to her and said "There is the man that you are going to marry." Note that this was while she was resolute on being SINGLE. And note that she confessed to me years after we were married, that the first time she saw me she had this speaking from God.

Of course NONE of this was known to me from day #1 that I began to meet with that congregation. As a matter of fact she was not on the lift of perspective condidates. (I had a kind of shopping list) and it covered not just that city but other cities across the land. Not terribly pracrtical, I know. And when the Holy Spirit made known to her that I would be her future wife she told the Lord - "Okay. But I an going to fight You." And believe me Fight she did.

Conclusion: So now I had a kind of delimma. I KNEW that I had MY choice and that no one maneuvored me into courting and marrying this stubborn single minded woman who did not want to be married - period. But on the other hand I believed her that God in His FOREKNOWLEDGE knew what my choice would end up being.

So it seems a paradox for me. Did she and I have free will or not? Was it predestined or was it the result of both of our free will choices.

I have come to the conclusion that probably it was all free will BUT I cannot blame God for being omniscient and knowing the future. In the Bible sometimes He did FORETELL and PROPHECY the future.

At present I believe that we must have free will. Yet we cannot blame God is He transdends all time and eternity and knows everything that will happen. I don't think this property of God makes free will not exist. Presently I think our free will exists YET God omniscient and over all time and eternity knows all things.

Some would philisophically counter - "Why THEN - we are not free." I see thier point. But I think probably God's transcendent foreknowledghe of all things in time and eternity doesn't mean our freedom of will does not exists.

Thanks for reading my true personal testimony.
 
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I have come to the conclusion that probably it was all free will BUT I cannot blame God for being omniscient and knowing the future. In the Bible sometimes He did FORETELL and PROPHECY the future.

At present I believe that we must have free will. Yet we cannot blame God is He transdends all time and eternity and knows everything that will happen. I don't think this property of God makes free will not exist. Presently I think our free will exists YET God omniscient and over all time and eternity knows all things.
Foreknowledge negating free-will is a view that is held by many, but I also have not been convinced by it. It's seems to be missing a step or making an assumption that I just can't pinpoint. At the least, I'd remain agnostic on it. :)