Without free choices in life we would be nothing more than automotons?

Yes

Dawn

God gave us free will too chose good and evil

The problem of free will assumed quite a new character with the advent of the Christian religion. The doctrine that God has created man, has commanded him to obey the moral law, and has promised to reward or punish him for observance or violation of this law, made the reality of moral liberty an issue of transcendent importance. Unless man is really free, he cannot be justly held responsible for his actions, any more than for the date of his birth or the colour of his eyes. All alike are inexorably predetermined for him. Again, the difficulty of the question was augmented still further by the Christian dogma of the fall of man and his redemption by grace. St. Paul, especially in his Epistle to the Romans, is the great source of the Catholic theology of grace.

The problem of free will was being debated long before Christianity came along. Plato and others wrote prolifically on this.
How is the reality of moral liberty as you say an issue of transcendent importance? If it is transcendent as you say then it is beyond us!
How can man be truly free if he is dead in trespasses and sins?
What is the difference between the freedom we have before salvation and the freedom Christ offers after salvation. The scripture states If the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed!

What was the character of free will before Christ? Was man not free to decide to believe the law as instituted by Moses and the prophets? The book of Hebrews states that many of the Israelites perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Because they did not mix the message with faith it had not effect >Douay-Rheims Bible
For unto us also it hath been declared, in like manner as unto them. But the word of hearing did not profit them, not being mixed with faith of those things they heard. Hebrews 4:2

Yes, God has given man free choice to choose how man wants to, but if he is born again and dissobeys God's commandments, God will chasten him. God does not chasten the wicked. David said he was jealous of the wicked because they were not plagued like other men, but he wasen't jealous of them anymore when he went into the sanctuary of God and saw their end (Ps 73). In Heb 12:6, For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgest every son whom he receiveth. The only thing that God does not give man a choose in is his eternal destination, because God does the choosing. We love him because he first loved us. God choose us in him before he formed the world (Eph 1), and gave us to his Son to die for (John 6:37-40).