Some believe that the suffering endured by so many in this world was the intention of the creator when he designed it.

Such a belief makes it difficult to also believe that Eternal Love can be considered a good father who cares for everyone.

Might it be that the primary purpose in this stage of his creation is to multiply sentient beings? Is our current environment the best that could have been created to achieve that purpose?

Consider the designer of a car. The primary purpose of a car is to transport one or more people from A to B (don’t believe what the adverts say!). The designer has to include components that will cause the car to move and to accommodate the passengers. The designer intends that the passengers will get to their destination safely, but not all do so.

If we consider Eternal Love as the designer of this world with the intention of increasing the sentient beings that can then be resurrected onto the New Earth, we must agree that the design has been very successful.

Anything constructed in a physical environment is a compromise. Designers are always making trade-offs between what they would like and what is possible. Some car designers want their car to go very fast. They build powerful engines and would like the chassis to be as light as possible, but they have to consider the safety of the passengers and these safety features slow the car down. They compromise.

When this world was formed, the design constraints had to be taken into account. Eternal Love has had to compromise. The natural world is wonderful, but earthquakes and volcanoes are a necessary part of the design. The water cycle brings life to many, but floods cannot be avoided.

To ensure population increase, it was necessary to give each creature the desire to procreate, protect and prosper. These desires are essential. Procreation attempts to increase the population of the species. The desire to protect oneself, one’s family and community attempts to ensure that each member of the species survives and lives long enough to produce and raise more offspring. And the desire to prosper attempts to ensure that life is lived in the best possible environment. These desires are innate in all creatures.

It was also necessary to give humans unconstrained agency. Humans needed the ability to assess situations and determine a course of action without reference to external guidance. The ultimate aim is for everyone to understand and demonstrate agape love. Because such love cannot be demanded, coerced or threatened into being, Eternal Love had to allow humans autonomy and agency within the boundaries of their environment. 

Giving humans agency and these desires was not without risk. From the beginning it was known that if they were not constrained, they would cause suffering. With unconstrained agency these desires have been exploited and abused to hugely destructive ends. Eternal Love hoped that humans would always listen to guidance and avoid such consequences. We all know this has not happened.

Eternal Love did not intentionally design the world to include suffering. This is the best world that could have been created. This world has ensured a very large number of humans (and other animals) have been, and continue to be, born each with a unique character.

This stage of the plan has been very successful. In the next stage everyone, and every creature, will be resurrected into a new environment with new bodies that have different desires. This will be equally successful and will eventually achieve an abundant life for everyone.