To Theists: Why aren't we God's equals?

I keep hearing theists state that god allows sin or evil because he wants beings who can freely choose to love and worship him, rather than robots who are compelled to do so.

But the concept of hell (for those theists who believe in it) poses a bit of a problem for this. Anti-theists claim that hell is a form of coercion, that our choice to worship or abandon god isn't free.

The main theist counter-argument to that that I've seen is that hell isn't a punishment, but a legitimate choice, and that if it entails misery or non-existence, that's not because of any vindictiveness on God's part, but is simply a consequence of the choice to separate from him.

Thing is, the end result is the same- choosing god is preferable to the alternative; we have incentives to choose God that appeal to our desire for happiness and existence, not our opinion of God and whether or not he's worthy of worship.

Wouldn't such love and adulation be more convincing and more genuine coming from beings who are God's equals in power and intelligence and creativity, or at least as near to that as it is possible for god to have made them? Beings who don't need god, and who are capable of legitimately abandoning him without sacrificing their own happiness or existence?

So why did God make us his inferiors rather than his equals? And doesn't the whole inequality thing count as a stroke against God being a likeable fellow, anyway?