The Problem of Evil (XXVII)

[Esquilax]

And why does he make that choice? Why so inconsistently, too, since our free will only seems to matter on Earth, and not one jot once we die? For that matter, how do you know this at all? It really does just seem like an argument of convenience, rather than anything based in verifiable observations.

Because free will is valued more highly than just about anything else (with the exception of knowledge of God). For one, without free will, we would not have love.

... And you don't have an issue squaring this statement with the fact that god stops caring for our free will the moment we die within your theology because...?

If you can't have love without free will, then your capacity for love becomes immediately curtailed upon entry into the afterlife, where god just chooses for you where you're going and what you'll do once you get there.

For that matter, how do you know any of what you just said is true?

And... wait. If knowledge of god is valued more highly than free will, and your position is that god allows incalculable suffering to occur in order to preserve free will because of that value, then... you don't see a problem there? You've got something you've just acknowledged is more valuable than free will, but this thing is specifically being withheld from humanity in order to preserve free will, and the motivation behind that, to you, is that free will has a high value, but you've just told us that the thing being withheld in order to protect free will (which is being protected because of its value) is more valuable than the thing it's being withheld to protect!

Your argument has a clear logical contradiction, Steve; it cannot be true.