Yahweh created man with the right of freewill or individual self-determination. This (limited) right has been little understood or taught and even less often exercised.
Self-determination has been defined as the right to choose or the right to decide without coercion, force, or undue influence. Humanists claim that freewill is the right to choose without any outside influence, but the author rejects that definition. All our decisions are tempered by outside influences. We consider how our choices may effect family, friends, our reputation, law and regulations, moral upbringing, our views of right and wrong, societal norms, temptation, imagination, etc. The issue is whether those influences are "undue" and "coercive". The right of choice must be non-coercive. Yahweh gave man this (limited) right in this age. Sometimes it is called "freewill".
The United Nations supports this right (not that the author gives any credibility to actions of the United Nations) for groups of people, but not necessarily for individuals.
"Self-determination is a core principle of international law, arising from customary international law, but also recognized as a general principle of law, and enshrined in a number of international treaties. For instance, self-determination is protected in the United Nations Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as a right of 'all peoples.'" (Legal Information Institute, Cornell University)
These references are only to point out that "self-determination" is a valid concept, not some fanatical daydream.
In the Garden of Eden, man was given the conscious choice to either follow his Creator Yahweh or the false god, the fallen angel Lucifer - Satan.
Man could have been created without choice. He would have followed his Creator because he had no alternate choice.
Yahweh could have kept Satan out of the garden completely. Then, man would have had a choice, but no knowledge of any alternative. This would have been the same as no choice at all.
Instead, Yahweh allowed Satan to have limited access in the garden. Yahweh told man that Satan's tree was forbidden and probably explained why (but we have no record of that explanation, or lack thereof).
Yahweh wanted then, and still wants today, that men love, honor and follow Him because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to. There is no such thing as forced love. As soon as coercion enters the equation, it leads to force which leads to fear and violence which leads to injury or death. This can NOT result in love, nor be the product of love. It can only result in fear and be the product of fear.
When you were young, and someone of the opposite sex caught your fancy, you could have tried to force them to love you. But that is called kidnapping or assault and is criminal. Instead, you had to woo and date and court them until they finally chose you.
This is what Yahweh has been doing with His creation since the beginning. He has been courting mankind. The outcome (in this age) depends on our freewill choice (ultimately, the will of Yahweh prevails and we are predestined to be saved.).
