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Typical. Take my quotes out of context. Did you bother to read anything else, like the part right after the first sentence you used where I qualified my statement? If someone reads the post in its entirety, there is no contradiction.

Yes, we are free to do what we want, but we are not free of consequences. There is no such thing as a life without consequences. If you live according to what God wants, you probably won't get AIDS. I say "probably", because the story of Job comes to mind. However, Job didn't die because God wouldn't let Satan kill him. He said that Satan could harm him in any way, but couldn't take his life. This was all to test Job's dedication to God.

Read the story, or continue to be ignorant, either way it's your choice. If you read the Bible and then choose to not follow God, at least you'll be making an informed decision. You are free to choose God or to turn away from him. Both decisions have consequences. You may not realize the consequences until after you die, but they are waiting for you.

Ultimately, God is in control.

That old Bible verse, "The wages of sin is death" is certainly true in this instance. And the literal hell of it is, innocent people must pay those wages too, when they become infected by one of the sinners.

This old-fashioned language may offend some. Tough.

"Read the story, or continue to be ignorant, "

You know nothing of my knowledge of the Bible or God, and your ignorance has led you to make statements with no supporting information. A childish mistake, but one that I can forgive.

Unless you assume God has no knowledge of the consequences of His actions, He specifically created the fallen angel Satan, one of whose pre-ordained tasks was to torture poor Job. Conversely, God knew that Job would prevail in the trials, yet He still put poor Job through them. Even today's scientists would not put a lab rat through such an experiment , knowing with 100% certainty what the outcome would be.

Or perhaps you don't believe in an all-powerfull, all-knowing God.