free will? or schmee fill?

Just in the last few weeks ive had a few interesting discussions on the idea and possibility of free will. I come from a catholic background and this topic has always been one of most interest.

here is the problem.

every decision i (or we) make has a certain number of possible outcomes. For example. This morning i woke up and went to the store and bought a handle of whiskey for 9 dollars. NOW by making the decision to goto the store i opened up a infinite amount of possibilities but at the same time I, in a sense, "closed down" an infinite amount of possibilities. Im sure most of you follow this. SOOO here is the problem....

if the sole reason that i am here experiencing consciousness is the byproduct of two other peoples descisions (IE my parents decided to have sex hence i was born) Then how can I have a free will if the whole reason that i am here is not my decision in the first place. I didnt CHOOSE to come here two other people made that decision.

in other words if the whole reason that i am even here writing this was the direct effect of someone elses decision then how can i be held responsible for all the following outcomes if I didnt even in effect act on this first decision.

maybe its malarky.

what do you guys think?

(

[edit on 8-9-2007 by 911fnord]

Sounds like an easy out.

"Not my fault I'm here".

We do have free will.

Blame not the parents,
look in a mirror.

Regards,
Lex

We had no free will as far as our birth was concerned.

However, there comes a time when we DO start making decisions for ourselves and it's at that point that our free will kicks in.

The only limits to our free will are the consequences we are willing to face based on our actions.

For example, I can easily walk upstairs and drive a phillips head screwdriver through the ear of my annoying ass neighbor, BUT, I'm not willing to face possible jail time and/or death as a result of my actions.

Consequence is nature's way of keeping our free will in check.


But damn do I hate that guy!

Jasn

Your parents are no accident outside your control.

Your free will chose them.

Before you were born you were a spirit floating among endless billions of others in the great infinity of space. When the molocular foumdation for new life was created when your parents had sex, you were attracted to inhibit it and give it a soul.

It's not a random attraction; it was because the spirit of you somehow felt they deserved exactly you.

It's called the Law of Karma.

i like that "law of karma"

free will is just such an interesting topic. thanks guys for your input.

It takes a while for you to actually realize you "have" free will. When children are born, they have an underdeveloped conciseness. They are purely automated. If you touch a child's palm, they automatically close their hands to squeeze. If you tickle them, they laugh. As the brain enlarges and develops, it realizes it can do things. I guess for the religious sort as myself, it's your soul getting use to "life", because once you learn you are present in the universe, you suddenly begin having memories, you can think, your automatics are still there, but it upgrades to have the conciseness take hold of the body and you can now make your life your own.

To put it into computer terms, your automatics and and what runs you as a baby is the BIOS, but your conciseness is Windows XP/Vista or Mac OSX or UBUNTU, whichever one you chose.