After all, what value is there in a creation which only functions in a mechanical matter as a robot as opposed to a creation with a free will which chooses to love and obey?"
I respect that this reflects your opinion and that you are likely in the majority view. It does not, however, describe what the Book describes.
AS I tried to start out my prior reply I mentioned the thought that we imagine ourselves as ‘creators’ of something like a PC. we as creators do have the sovereign right to use or dispose of our creation in whatever way we desire.
If that creation (in this case a PC) wasn’t function correctly, we do have the right to modify it by adding, deleting, or modifying various parts to make it perform correctly. However our imaginary PC is not able to do things which it is not made for despite how versatile they are these days.
Likewise God who is our creator also has the right to modify, improve, or destroy His creation which among other things is us as individuals.
There are many verses in the bible which either outright proclaim or strongly suggest that God created man to worship Him out of love, honor, and obedience.
To those who do use their free will to do so are the one’s fulfilling what God’s desires as free will individuals choosing to do what is pleasing to God.
AS created individuals, mankind was designed to be able to learn right from wrong and eliminate our wrong doings as much as possible by learning God’s will for our lives.
In so far as pre-destination, God sees the entirety of His creation knowing the beginning to the end. He already knows what our responses to His will are and He prepares us with specific gifts via the Holy Spirit to be able to perform what He sees us being able to do.
Remember that a ‘house’ (undertaking) built by man’s hands (and will) alone will fail because if an undertaking is done without the participation of God it is a failure in His sight.
In many cases, doing things in opposition to God’s will may result in immediate and severe punishment up to and including death.
As the bible also declares God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through Him (The Son) may be saved. It also states that he that has the Son (of God) has life but he that has not the Son (of God) has not life but the wrath of God abides (already exists and remains) on him.
Considering the above, if God created the evil what ‘right’ would He have to hate it? Also why would God have provided a way out of or redemption of that evil if He is the one who created it? If MAN was CREATED evil rather than inheriting it as ‘Original Sin’ what ‘right’ does have to complain against His own creation and why would He then provide a remedy against for MAN to remove the evil which ‘God’ created man with?
The bible states that Adam was responsible for committing the original sin (by mankind) and therefore both He and his mate Eve were cursed while a greater curse was placed against the Earth rather than totally cursing Adam, Eve and their descendants thereby permanently disabling them from any redemption.
As to the Original sin, It was for partaking of the forbidden ‘fruit’ of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because of THAT sin, he was cursed and prevented from partaking of the “Tree of Life”.
That choice of partaking of that ‘tree’ was an exercise of free will even though he knew of God’s command not to partake of it. Once again, it is free will (this time exercised against the will of God) rather than God forcing someone to do evil.
The bottom line again is that without free will man would NOT be capable of worshiping God by loving, worshiping, and obeying Him due to his own desires but man would merely be a mechanical or robotic creation no better than the least of God’s angels created to perform the most menial of tasks.