Isn't this two different questions, free will and a god and free will?

As I don't subscribe to the notion of the existance of any god he/she or its influence etc is irrelevant, it doesn't exist.

As to the header, I have a free will to do or attempt anything that is within my abilities to do so. Yes I am the product of nature and nuture and yes there are cultural, legal and/or conventional constraints but that doesn't mean that within that I don't have a free will to choose a great many things.

I'm not free to do what ever I like as this may impinge on the liberties of others but then that's a matter of judgement. I have the free will to stab someone, I choose not to and there may be repurcussions if I did but that doesn't alter the fact that I have the free will to do so in the first place.

Sam Harris makes the best argument against free will. Facts he presents:

Scientist can predict peoples action by observing specific set of neurons.

Scientist can delay the experience of intention well after they have actually acted on said experience. That is an assuming thought.

There is more and it's been a while since I have read his book on the subject. If curious to know more just ask.
I'll look it up

The Dilemma of Determinism shows that free will is impossible. Either our choices are 'determined' by something which doesn't give us free will or it's random which doesn't give us free will either because it's like rolling dice. Those are the options. Random or not random and free will doesn't fit into either one of them.

Not again!

It doesn't matter if we do or don't; either side of the debate can win and it won't affect anyone other than the philosophers who engage in the mental masturbation such metaphysical discussions encourage.

My opinion, not yours...

God doesn't exist. So it doesn't matter.

But, most theologians are Compatibilists anyway, and as logic has never stopped them, why not be one?

I don't think we have Free Will. We are constrained by the laws of our nation. We have to file for income tax, get a Driver's License, put our trash in the can etc.

Strictly hypothetically speaking... if there was a god and he knew all things, then he knew every action that you would take before he even created you. In this scenario free will is an illusion. Furthermore if the god of the bible knew every action you would take before you took it then he knew upon creating this universe that he was damning a sizeable portion of human history to hell including billions of people that never even heard of Jehovah. This leaves us with a few possibilities. God either A: isn't all knowing, B: isn't all powerful, A & B, or doesn't exist. I follow the lack of evidence to conclude that he doesn't exist.

Adam many of us here are questioning a god while others are questioning if a god even exists. I do not believe in organized religion and the existence of god. I therefore believe I can do whattever I want to without a god's approval.

No, we don't have free will. Every decision we make is driven by causes which are already in place, and those are driven by other causes all the way back. We are simply programmed to try to do the best thing in any situation, so whenever we choose between two or more things, we simply try to work out which is best, and if we later realise we made the wrong decision, we regret it and resolve not to make the same miscalculation in future. However, that doesn't mean it's futile to try to improve the world by calling for people to do something different that can reduce suffering or amplify enjoyment - our words have a causal role too, and good ideas can make a massive difference to our collective quality of life. Our understanding that we can improve things by transmitting anything that causes things to become better (rather than blocking their progress) leads to us all being happier.

In your mind you do

There is an argument about this, which assuming you believe in the Abrahamic god's powers such as omniscient, all powerful and so on...goes something like this:

God know everything... all of time, the present, the past and the future, but if this is so then his knowledge of the present is a memory for him, one that he can't change because it has already occurred for him. That means that all our actions are our own free choice from our point of view, because god can't change what he already knows without contradicting himself.

That is one of my biggest problems with religion. Marketing companies can use psychology to effect a person's behavior, but a God doesn't get it?

I tried to have free will...but something made me comment