What do moderates think Jesus died for?

[T0 Th3 M4X]

So Max and Thoreauvian ... there is no free will for either of you?

Actually, I have argued in favor of free will at several different atheist forums. 

Above I wrote, "As I have already pointed out, we have no real choice.  Even in relying on someone or something other than ourselves, we are relying on our own assessments and interpretations of them.  It's inescapable."  I didn't mean that in the sense of having no free will in the matter.  We can always choose something irrational, even when rationally we are constrained to just one choice.

The fact that we are always relying on our own assessments and interpretations is really just another way to say we do have free will.  We do things for reasons and not merely because of physical causes.

I have the ability to make choices. I don't believe any of us are determined to be puppets.

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What exactly is free will without desires already in place to act on?

Don't we necessarily act upon desires that we had no control over being there in the first place?

That's one argument.  However, not all of our desires are based on unconscious motivations alone.  If I want to do what is reasonable, for instance, I may have to work against what I would prefer to do.

In other words, we have all sorts of conflicting desires and must choose between them.  We do this by consciously considering them, assigning priorities, constraining some while pursuing others, assigning certain times and places for certain desires, or just holding to what seems true and reasonable regardless of what we feel.

Agreed 100 percent.