When did God give man Free Will?

[MineralMan]

54. Part of the problem is that there are a couple of concepts of

what free will actually is or would be. That confuses the argument at times, I'm afraid.

When the parties in a discussion don't agree on definitions, useful discussion is next to impossible.

I tend to define it very narrowly. If an individual has two or more choices of a course of action at any given time, then free will exists, in my definition. For whatever reason the individual picks one course of action over another, there is a choice. Sometimes, it's an unconscious choice, and sometimes it's a reasoned choice, but it is a choice to be made by that individual.

Probably quite a high percentage of our choices are made unconsciously. Research backs that up. However, we often opt to consider pros and cons of the choices we have and make one based on some level of reasoning. Either way, though, we often make what turn out to be the wrong choice, to our regret and disappointment.

I'll give an example: If I go into a restaurant that offers dishes from a cuisine that's not familiar to me, I cannot make a choice based on past choices of the menu items. So, I'm in a situation where I have to look at the menu and the ingredients of the various dishes and try to pick something that I'm likely to enjoy. I might ask the waiter about the dishes. If there are pictures on the menu, I can consult those. I will take much longer in such a situation in deciding than I would at a familiar restaurant. I might ask my table mates what they have liked and whether they can tell me something about a menu item that might help me. I'm going to try very hard to choose something that is likely to please me, but may not succeed. I will, however, choose something to order, based on whatever criteria I apply. Once the food arrives, I will discover whether or not I made a good choice, but I will have chosen from many options, using a process that I have used before, but on a menu that is unfamiliar. Fortunately, I'm an adventurous eater, so I usually do OK.