Closer to the point i guess
Why would God make salvation a free gift. The fact that the bible does say it can't be disputed, so false religions agree to it's existence but water down it's meaning as much as possible. The truth of the free gift is trimmed down to the point where the "free" bit is described as no more then God freely making it possible to try and get into heaven. This is the way the free gift is seen among dead religion:- God has opened the way for free and we are allowed to see if we can earn our way in.