Sometimes when I teach a class in the schools I start out by telling the kids that they have a right to do whatever they want to do, I cannot physically stop them (unless it is physically dangeous to the person or others). they can sit there and not do anything, leave the room and the school, and even talk. However, I have the right to delve out the consequences for any behavior that warrants it.
God would say, you have all the freedom you want, but if you want His blessings, you have the freedom to honor Him as your Creator.
What does "honoring" this god, have to do with getting blessings? Or, more to the point, what does "honoring" that god have to do with deserving blessings? Is that god deserving of "honor" merely because it has the power to create? Why should I be in a debt-obligation that I never asked for, that came to me unbidden? What's ethical, or for that matter honorable, about a contract that is forced on me?
A being does not deserve respect, much less obedience, merely because it is powerful. And I obviously do not have "freedom," if I can only deviate from divine command on pain of unimaginably severe punishment.
An ethically evolved attitude would say that if I receive "blessings," it is on account of my own, righteous action (or, luck). It is a primitive, child-like ethics which says, "no matter what you do, please the Elder, the one who is bigger and stronger than you, so that he decides not to punish you!" A deity which dispenses reward and punishment simply on the basis of others' obsequious recognition "You're number One!" is not an honorable deity, but a mere tyrant. If I choose the right, it is something that is right, regardless of what any Creator thinks. And if I choose the right, I deserve reward, regardless of what any Creator thinks.
I get that you have a problem with 'God'. Do you have a problem with parents training their children? The parent tells the child: this is how you must behave or ..., if the parent states that punishment will be given, should the parent carry thru? Should the parent allow the child to use unacceptable behavior? Should the parent allow the child to do whatever action is chosen, regardless of the consequences? Does the child initially do things to 'please' the parent? Does punishment and thus 'fear' need to be applied to get the message across that some behavior is unacceptable? Once the child has learned the parent has the 'power' to inflict 'misery' (be it phycological, physical, seperation, etc), the child is 'taught' that pleasing the parent has 'rewards', displeasing the parent, causes 'problems'.
G*d is very much like a loving parent. The Bible is a book about peoples' 'spiritual' growth. It is a story that 'every' person must live. How it ends is entirely up to them. If they want to misbehave, there is punishment, if they want to behave, there are rewards. It is so simply and practical, that most 'intellectuals' cannot grasp it. They have sacrificed their spirituality for knowledge and proverbs says something about intellect without 'wisdom' is useless.
Evil is always attracted to wealth and power (things that can come from moral behavior as well as immoral behavior). It will always seek to pull people away from the Lord. It will use, any arguement, any force, any law, any method. People (most) take awhile to uncover deceit, evil in their midst can operate for some time before discovery. If you are not seeking 'goodness' (the Lord) to begin with, how can you identify evil? If you are not willing to identify evil, how can you say that life without the belief in God lets you choose to be 'good'? What do you have for comparison? If every behavior is 'acceptable', what authority do you have to decalre 'any' behavior as 'bad'?