Isaac Bashevis Singer once said, "we must believe in free will; we have no choice." I think it's very self-evident that free will is required to make sense of our thoughts in a meaningful way. If we didn't have free will, then we wouldn't be in charge of our thoughts and so our efforts to discern the truth would ultimately be meaningless and any effort would assume that we're in control of our thoughts! It never ceases to amaze me that those who do not believe in free will, continue to argue for things and expect others to understand their arguments and change their minds, as if they do believe in free will!
What does free will even mean? Some theists might ask, "do you think your will can trump the will of God?" or "Did you choose to be born? Did you choose your parents?" and the list of similar questions goes on. I think it's clear that these people are confusing free will with omnipotence. Free will does not mean that the one who possesses it can get everything they will or desire. So the answer to these questions are simple. No I do not believe that my will can trump the will of God. After all, it is God who has created us and He did not have to give us any type of freedom, but I believe that He has given us certain freedoms and I think that believing otherwise, reduces rationality to absurdity. Neither did I choose to be born, nor did I choose my parents. After all, how could I do such things before I even existed?! It's a logically absurd question to ask.
Now if you have never looked into this topic, you may be surprised to find out that there is actually two types of free will! Sounds a bit silly and I agree! I believe in reality, there's only one type of free will and the other type is nothing but a bunch of mumbo jumbo and empty philosophy. This type of free will which in my view, is no free will at all, is called compatibilism. It's a view that says free will and determinism are compatible or in other words, free will has nothing to do with the causality of the universe or the origin of everything that exists. Adherents to this view argue that regardless of how we've come to exist, we're free to choose, because what we choose is ultimately what we desire and no one is forcing us to choose what we choose.
One major problem with compatibilism is that it begs the question and does not comment on the possibility of free will being simply nothing more than illusion. The other problem is that separating free will from the causality of the universe or the origin of everything that exists, is impossible. What if the origin of everything that exists is a powerful and evil being who has not chosen to give us any type of freedom and any type of freedom that we seem to experience is nothing more than an illusion? And what if the origin of everything that exists did not have any freedom itself, and was similar to a piece of wood? How can we claim to have freedom in this case? Wouldn't everything be completely out of our control in this case and wouldn't the freedom we experience be anything more than an illusion? I would say so because there is no room for any type of freedom under these metaphysics.
Furthermore, some critics argue that they would choose different things, under different circumstances. However, counter-factual statements such as if I was born in Saudi Arabia, I would be a Sunni Muslim, or if I was born in Iran, I would be a Shia Muslim, or if I was born in America, I would be a Christian, do not hold any water, simply because there is no evidence to prove any of it. When these critics are confronted with contrary evidence, they then argue that the exact circumstances of these individuals must have been different and their analogies are more general. But again there is no evidence to prove any of this. In fact, there is contrary evidence to suggest that our circumstances ultimately do not tamper with our beliefs. We can see this in twins who are born, and raised in the same country, city, family and have attended the same school, and have been around the same people and yet have ended up with having different beliefs.
The other type of free will, which is actually free will, is also known as libertarian or contra-causal free will. According to this philosophy, a decision is only free if it's not causally determined and the thinking agents can will to believe X or will not to believe X. It acknowledges that we can respond to reason or reasons regardless of our circumstances or upbringing or the world that we found ourselves in, per say. Of course this type of free will, not only requires a powerful and intelligent Creator to be the origin of everything that exists, but also requires this Creator to be good and trustworthy. You may ask why? Well, think about it like this. Criminals tend to hide their crimes and tend not to leave any evidence behind, so they may not get caught. In the same way, we would expect an evil god to not want to get caught. If criminals had the power to blind everyone, especially the cops, to their crimes, they would totally do so. Wouldn't an evil god also blind his creatures to his crimes? And what better way to blind his creatures than stripping their freedom of thought away while still giving them the illusion that they're free, such that they would still worship him or feel bad if they don't worship him. It's kind of a no-brainer.
So we must believe in free will. We have no choice! But this also takes us to another axiom in flawless reasoning. We must also believe that there is a good and trustworthy Creator, because we cannot possibly have "libertarian/contra-causal" free will, without the existence of such a Creator. And this is not just about believing that such a Creator exists, but also trusting Him with everything. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment in the law, He replied: "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your mind and with all your soul. This is the first and greatest commandment." —Matthew 22:37-38.
This commandment is actually a necessary axiom for flawless reasoning. Any type of reasoning that does not start with this axiom is ultimately doomed to fail somewhere along the way! So I would like to complete the title of this article by saying that we MUST not only believe that God exists, but we MUST also trust Him - we have no choice! Any other route of reasoning is bound to reduce rationality to absurdity.
