Quote:Agreed....Destiny didn't make me decide to buy that bottle of Pepsi when I went to buy a loaf of bread...I saw the bottle of Pepsi in the little cooler by the checkout and said, man that sounds good right now so I bought it...That's not a predetermined event... That's called impulse buying because I had zero intention of buying that Pepsi until I saw it and then I wanted it...

 

Something caused your impulse: ".I saw the bottle of Pepsi in the little cooler by the checkout..."  Plus you saw a commercial plus you were thirsty.   Your decision was caused.   And that's why you were destined to buy that Pepsi: because one event led to another which led to another.  

 

"I had zero intention of buying that Pepsi until I saw it and then I wanted it..."  If you are saying there was no reason for you to want that Pepsi, I don't buy that.   There were plenty of reasons (causes).   Thirst, advertising, knowledge of how it tastes based  on prior experience, etc.  

 

Everything that happens has a cause.   Nothing is truly spontaneous.   The billiard balls on the billiard table don't move themselves.  

 

Think of it this way: Energy cannot be created or destroyed.   That is one of the fundamental tenets of science.   So if energy cannot be created or destroyed, that means that the energy it took for you to make a decision and take whatever action you take came from somewhere else.  That energy had to be transferred from some other source.  That is the proof that everything has a cause and that nothing is truly spontaneous.  

 

So if everything has a cause and nothing is truly spontaneous, and 2 plus 2 always equals 4, then everything is caused, and  the exact same set of circumstances will lead to the exact same results every time.  Without that, there would be no science.  And that is why what you think of as free will is an illusion.  You and I are simply experiencing life.   We are passengers.    We think we have control over our own destiny, but we don't.  

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