“If he wanted us to be perfect he might as well could have not created free will.”
God is omniscient, he knows everything past, present and future.
That means he knows everything you’re going to do. That means there is no free will. You cannot choose something other than what he already knows.
So there really isn’t anything as true free will, just “unknown will” , unknown to us at least.
We don’t know ahead of time how we’re going to react to some future situation, but he does, right?
Knowing doesn’t mean causing.
Just because God knows everything we will do (and we don’t) doesn’t mean he causes us to do those things. We still have free will and chose to do them.
Even while we lived in sin and enmity with God, He still provided a path to the perfection He intended for us at great personal expense through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Before He created the universe, He knew this was going to be necessary and He created us anyway.
Yup. A lump of iron doesn't know why it's being heated up and hammered and dunked in cold water, or have an understanding of its destiny but the Blacksmith does, whether He's creating a sword or a plowshare.