In the case that the MGB God does exist, and the Bible is true:
There is evidence that this universe and the persons who live or have lived on it are only a part of God’s creation. We don’t know how big or small of a part that might be. It may be that “the heavens” dwarf the earth, just as the total physical universe dwarfs the earth. You will probably agree without hesitation that the earth is just a tiny speck in the vastness of the universe.
Consider – Ephesians 3:10
“10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms…”
Suppose that God has decreed to create free creatures, “as many as the grains of sand”, who exist timelessly in a space other than the physical universe, a heavenly realm, and He wants to fully describe Himself to them, so that they can enjoy the richest possible relationship with Him. These would include what we call angels, but not limited to angels. There is no limit to the types and numbers of persons that He might create.
The most important definitional characteristic that God might seek to showcase to them is His love. He would want them to see for themselves the magnitude of His love. Just how much does He love?
He would also want them to know His goodness, and His wisdom, etc. but how would He describe all these things to them (His goodness and His love, and His wisdom) in the context of a world where nothing contrary to His goodness and His love exist?
We might suppose that He would create a physical universe, a stage if you will, that would serve as a context within which a full description of goodness (and evil) could be demonstrated. At His command “Let there be light”, He might create a physical universe that contains a speck of a planet made of dirt, and lesser physical persons made of dirt also, but animated with an immortal soul, consciousness, intelligence, rationality, and free agency.
A temporary physical place, populated with temporarily physical persons. Of the infinite possible persons He could have created, He created one set of two persons and put them into a perfectly good context, knowing from the start that they would make a bad choice.
Ironically, the bad choice involves gaining the knowledge of good and evil. The very purpose of their temporary physical existence.
He knew from the start that He would use the resulting broken context as His own backdrop of revelation by temporarily entering into this temporary physical world as a man made of dirt, and make the ultimate sacrifice possible within this physical context. Thus every living person in heaven and on earth can witness for themselves just how deep and how wide is God’s love for those who choose to believe in Him.
Adam’s “defect” is imputed to every human born, so that we are all in the same boat of rebellion, and so that God can have mercy on any who ask for it.
God’s demonstration of Himself through the
life and death of Jesus Christ as a temporary man, made of dust, serves as an eternal demonstration of peerless goodness. His death at the hands of persons that He created stands as an eternal cautionary description of just how bad evil can get.
That might be one reason that God would allow for pain and suffering.
Jus teasing.
