Why does God punish us when He gives us free-will? God gives us free-will. But why does God punish us for exercising our free-will in certain ways (disobeying Him, sinning)? Why even both to give us free will, if we are to be punished for exercising our free will in a certain way. 

I would say that is not really free will. If I give you a glass of water on the table, and say you are free to drink the glass of water, but if you drink it, I will kill you --- Why even bother to give that person the option of drinking the water, when you are essentially hindering his free-will and stopping him from drinking the glass of water?

If I want to carry out an action but in the back of my mind I know it is a sin, I might hesitate to carry out that action if I know God will punish me. Isn't that not obstructing my free-will? Why give me free will, if you punish me for making certain choices I want to make?
I would not call it punishment but rather, the RESULT or OUTCOME of freewill.

Let's give an example.


  You tell your little son not to touch the hot iron on the
  table. But, out of curiosity, the boy touched it anyway and the little
  hands burned. The child exercised his own freewill even if a strict
  warning was given by you. This is a result of freewill.


The same thing apply to Adam and Eve. They were strictly warned not to eat the fruit from the tree at middle of the garden. 


  Genesis 2:17 (NIV) "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”


God did not say "I will punish you" but rather, the tragic result of it was given as a warning, "Death". Death is the result by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eve knew very well what she was doing. Instead of listening to God, she listened to that serpent who was inferior to her. Adam also followed his wife and they both transgressed. The effect of the fruit immediately fell on them. All was cursed, the ground was cursed, man was cursed, sin and death entered the world!


  Romans 5:12 (NIV) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one
  man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people,
  because all sinned


But God in His mercy prepared a way out, the one and only way out, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the death penalty of sins, offered his blood for atonement of sins and became the one and only way to God. He is now the remedy from death. 


  John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the
  life. No one comes to the Father except through me".


Now, this is again another freewill exercise. IF you chose to receive Jesus Christ, you will get eternal life, ELSE, you prefer to reject Him, you remain in your sins and never receive the remedy from death.