[Ali Imran]

I don't know. You know? Let me figure it out. In the Garden of Eden where everything was peachy keen, the First Couple had only one prohibition - to not eat the forbidden fruit. (of knowledge of good and evil) I guess God gave Adam and Eve the power of freedom of choice in order to appreciate their act of obedience to His commandment. I believe God finds no joy in His creation obeying Him robotically. In a similar vein, you'll be none too pleased with the stiff and mechanical behavior of your children who are always ready to do your bidding like a robot.

The old proverb that says, "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother"(Proverbs 10:1), is completely accurate. No one can be prouder than Dad when his child makes a wise decision. But when a child acts without wisdom, no one grieves more deeply than a mother.

All humans have free will, but the underlying issue is the existence of evil. You're "sinking your teeth" into the Achilles' heel of Christianity. This vulnerable point has been the subject of considerable philosophical speculation and criticism. Would you care to explain the origin of evil on rational grounds?

We don't have the concept of original sin in our paradigm. We believe every human is born with a clean slate. What St Paul taught you is a foreign concept in both Judaism and Islam. Also, sin is a transgression and Adam wasn't the first transgressor. It was a satan named Iblees in our paradigm or Lucifer in Judaism.

What is missing in Christianity is God's forgiving nature. Many verses in the Jewish Bible speak of God's forgiving nature, the most explicit being Ezekiel 18, which actually cancels out the idea of vicarious atonement introduced by St Paul. There is not a single Jewish prophet, including the son of Mary, that taught this vicarious atonement. 

We believe in a forgiving God, who often forgives without needing payment of any kind.