Free will is the highest gift God gave to humans. If we did not have free will and were simply forced to serve God, there would be no beauty or life in ourselves, and no joy or glory for God (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
It is most beautiful and precious when we serve God voluntarily and love Him wholeheartedly, in free will. Because of our free will, man and woman are supreme in all creation.
Some believe that Adam and Eve fell because they had free will. Of course, their free will made it possible for them to choose to fall. If they had fallen because of their free will, however, there would always be the danger of falling, even after they had become perfect. Insecurity would exist even in the heavenly kingdom, where we are to have complete freedom.
Such insecurity would then exist forever, and the promised attainment of perfection would be impossible. If God's creation cannot become as perfect as He is, then God Himself is not perfect or Almighty.
Though free will did not cause the Fall, Adam and Eve lost their freedom because of their Fall and became subject to Satan's dominion.
Hence, man and woman spiritually do not have complete freedom to do what is right and good in God's eyes; instead, we have the freedom to do what is wrong and evil. On this point, St. Paul lamented and said:
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ... Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:14-15, 24)
Hence, we must restore our lost freedom before we can restore our original nature and the Garden of Eden. One of the signs that a New Age has come is that now people all over the world are seeking freedom at all costs, on the individual level as well as national levels.
Young Oon Kim