Free Will and Sin

Okay, so a bunch of atheists argue, "God didn't have to grant us free will. Or if He did, He could have limited the options to only good options. Hence, He is responsible for evil."

Let's leave aside the fact that the conclusion is a non-sequitur. First of all, is it true that God could have limited the options to only good options? Nope. Does the fact that we can freely will evil and God can't make us more free than God? Nope. 

The Definition of Goodness
I argue that God is "The Good". He is the source and origin of all goodness in reality. Thus, to be "good" is to be conformed to God's character. So to choose the good is to choose to be conformed to God's character. Hence, an action is "good" because it aligns one with God's character. 

Free Will
For our purposes, "free will" is the ability to select between possible outcomes. If the choice to do the good is the choice to be conformed/to manifest God's character, it should become clear why evil is logically incoherent for God. God cannot be not-God. He can't ever not be conformed to His own character. However, for a creature, this is a viable option. A creature can indeed choose not to be conformed to God's character because a creature isn't God. Thus, it's a legitimate possibility. This doesn't make the creature more free, since again, God's actions aren't limited in this case. For Him to choose evil is simply logically incoherent.

Note: The character of God is not His Divine omniscience, ominpotence, etc. The character of God refers to the dispositions of God. They refer not to His abilities that define His being, but rather His dispositions that yield actions in accord with these dispositions. His "character" is what we normally mean by the term "character". I'm not talking about His Divine nature-though His character is a subset of His nature (the subset that the creature ought to strive to be conformed to).

How can God give us Free will?
Under idealism, the world exists in the mind of God. God could simply "loan" us the ability to do so. That is, God sustains our ability to make free choices in His own. He, as it were, roots our freedom to choose in His own freedom to choose, "loaning" that ability out to us. It flows from Him and into His creatures. 

It doesn't seem impossible that a Mind much more powerful than our own would be able to do something like this. 

Moral Choices
I think it is therefore the case that moral choices entail the possibility of evil under this definition of free will. An action is good NOT because an agent could have done otherwise (as some people suggest). It is good because it conforms to God's nature. Thus, whenever making morally significant choices, free will entails the possibility of evil (until we submit ourselves to God's Spirit), since not being conformed to God's nature remains a viable option for anything "not-God". 

Tautology?
So what does it mean when I say "God is good"? Is this mere tautology? Am I saying "God is God?" Nope. I'm saying something actually extremely profound I think. When I say God is good, I am expressing praise for all that He is. I expressing my delight that God's goodness consists in manifesting His own fullness. To praise God by saying "God is good" is to delight in the perfection of His attributes. 

Conclusion
Okay, so that should put that objection to death. Bam.