What is redemption? How is redemptive suffering not an unjust whipping boy?

AetheriusLamia said:

St. John Paul II teaches that through our suffering we can share in Jesus' redemptive suffering and thereby help others achieve salvation.

J. Sollier defines redemption as either 1) paying a ransom price for sin or 2) atonement for an offense.

Together this raises two questions:

1. How is redemptive suffering not an unjust whipping boy (punishing one person for another man's sin)?
2. How are we to understand redemption?

Regarding #1, my impression is that an all-powerful being who knows everything is refusing to provide more assistance until he's made someone suffer: This being does not appear to be a loving Father as Jesus declares, but rather vindictive and capricious as Mohammed declares.

Regarding #2, both of Sollier's definitions contradict the faith:

1. Viewing redemption as "paying a ransom price for sin" implies Satan is a powerful King of Hell who owns sinful souls and is able to withstand God such that God has no choice but to give him tribute (namely, suffering) in exchange for our souls. Yet the Church teaches that Satan is merely a fallen angel who cannot withstand God.

2. Viewing redemption as "atonement for an offense" appears to imply that God was somehow harmed or offended by our sin in a way similar to how we can damage a human's property or social standing. Yet the Church teaches that God is both perfect and impassible: God cannot be offended or harmed.

So I am left bewildered by this apparently incoherent and contradictory teaching of "redemption" and "redemptive suffering". Would you please clarify these matters?

Edit: Here are answers I arrived at.

Click to expand...