Fate or Free Will?

I was told once that everything happens for a reason, and apparently most people have heard that, and they use that same phrase to comfort themselves when anything goes wrong.  But these same people, the ones who say, “everything happens for a reason” do not believe in fate.  Instead they believe they truly have free will.  But if everything happens for a reason, then it is only logical to assume that it was meant to happen at that time and therefore it was their fate, which means that no matter what had happened previously it would happen anyway.  So do we have free will, or is everything predetermined? Does everything happen for a reason?
            Obviously, there is no true way to test whether we truly have free will or not, however, in believing in fate one admits that there is something ‘out there’ bigger than themselves.  Therefore, in the belief of fate one inadvertently believes in a higher power.  Because there cannot be fate without something pulling the strings, something making sure that fate is fulfilled.  In the Bible, God says he gives us our free will, which would mean that me typing this is something I came up with on my own and not something I was supposed to do.  It means that each individual decision we each make is truly our own whether it is to eat another slice of pizza or get that bowl of ice cream you know you don’t need but want so badly. 
            Fate is the opposite.  Fate is essentially saying that from the moment we are born our lives are already planned.  No matter what we do through our lives, if we are meant to be a lawyer that is what will happen, if a girl gets pregnant at sixteen it is simply because that is what is ‘written’ and therefore it will happen that way.  In Greek mythology there were creatures that watched over the fates of everything, and it is a good example of what it would be like if fate is true.  If fate is true then there must be a higher power watching over to make sure that what is supposed to happen happens at the time in which it is supposed to happen.  Therefore, if you declare as an atheist you cannot believe in fate. 

            So do we truly have free will, or are we all just condemned to our fates?

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