Sidelined:
Then why the punishment for exercising free choice?
It's not that God wants to punish us. He does not. But His justice requires payment. He filled that requirement. We are
already in the state of lost-ness. He has reached down with His own 'right hand' to offer us what
He wills for us (eternally). If we refuse, then we stay in the state of confusion we are
already in. And that is essentially what hell is.