When debating with religious people something that is destined to come up is the free-will argument. It basically goes like this:

A: The "god" gave us free will so we can do what we want.

B: The "god" can't be held responsible for what humans do with their free will.

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So, the problem here is that they assume that free will exists (and that a "god" exists), but does free will really exist? - The short answer is "No", and I will prove it to you.

Pick a color that you like, any color. Now ask yourself "why do I like this color?". - The answer is bound to events that has already occured, you yourself have no say in it. If you think that you do, try the following: Imagine something that you really dislike, or really love. Now, in an instant, start to love the thing you hate/hate the thing you love. Can't do it? Of course not. You have no say in what you like and what you do not like.

Pick a direction; right, left, up, or down. - Or then again, maybe you don't choose any of the diretions mentioned, or a direction at all. Can you force the answer to be one of the unlisted directions? Yes. Is that free-will? No. You force yourself to pick as you are not satisfied with the options.

So how is this not free will? - Because you never decided on your own. Inside your head, an internal battle is unfolding as you yourself try to come with an answer, this, you are not aware of because it is an extremely fast process.

Pink and Blue.

Back in the 70's it was normal for boys to like pink and blue to girls, then this inverted so that the boys were more connected to blue, and girls to pink.

Why do most boys dislike pink nowadays? Because of culture. - "A boy should like blue and play with guns. A girl should like pink and play with dolls."

So sadly the boys think that "pink is bad due to it not being part of their gender, but the opposite gender". And girls may do the opposite.

Luckily, not all kids are brainless, and do start to wonder why this is. Some will say that they do like pink even if they are guys. Some girls will say that they do enjoy to play war, although it is a "boy thing". - What am I trying to say? - Simple. To brainwash a kid to think that x is "not for you"/"bad", has an effect on the kid if presented with it. Not only kids are susceptible to such abuse, even more "grown-ups" are mentally unstable to such degree as to accept the most irrational position if given a threat harsh enough. I.E: "If you don't accept Jay-Zus you will BARN in wool!"/"Accept Aye-Slam or jaws will dye!" - This can actually make people who are gullible enough to accept the ridiculous claim and accept the religion, which is not only unintelligent, but a great showcase of how religions bash themselves into people's life using threats. It also is a grand showcase of the person's flawed rational thinking which most likely has to do with a flawed educational-system or religious indoctrination from a very young age.

Being able to reason well WILL help one to think about options reasonably and in such way "decide" the most reasonable answer, or search for deeper understanding within the subject being discussed. - Do you decide? Yes. Is it a choice to "decide" the reasonable answer? No. You have no choice because your way of thinking determines the outcome. Yes, this can be altered depending on if you are intelligent enough to accept that you may be wrong, something that is extremely important in learning, but you will always go with what makes sense to you. BUT what about colors? Why can't we decide to like a color that we don't like? Or, if we don't dislike any colors... can we decide to dislike one color entirely? - No. If we assume that we want to dislike green, and that we like it very much, this is simply something that won't happen.

Contexts.

I never used to like purple. Now I do, and I know why:

I like purple because of this character, Akuma. It made me realize that purple really is a powerful and beautiful color.

Some people will disagree, and that is definitely understandable as people are different.

Some people that may not necessarily like purple normally, may like purple in this very context, whereas they don't like purple under normal circumstances. But do they choose to like it in this context? No.

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Ok, time to wrap this up.

Free will does not exist. It may seem like it does, but it doesn't as I have proven to you guys just now. Determinism? Absolutely. We have to determine, it is just that, well, we can't affect the determinated outcome that will be the final answer.

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Thanks for reading.