Suffering and God

It's hard for someone who believes in a Western type of god, active in history and filled with love, actually exists, for sure.

There are other gods people have thought up. A King Log kind of god would allow suffering, not being motivated to do anything about it.

Or maybe suffering is just necessary for there to be good. Without it we would take all the good that happens for granted and not give god proper thanks when he give us a little relief now and then. That one really is a bit much when you think about it, and it is good Voltaire took Leibniz to task for it (every would-be theologian who wants to use that argument should read and think about Candide).

The deist would tell us God made the world so perfect he doesn't need to do anything more and just go away, hence he "rested" when creation was done and had been resting ever since. Thing is, though this fits the premise that everything that God does is perfect, it doesn't fit with the data very well.