Varieties of Theodicy:

There is a perennial question in philosophy:
Why is there so much suffering in the world, if God is both loving & omnipotent? And since it seems to reveal an apparent contradiction, we have tried over the years to answer it in a number of ways. Usually any satisfactory answer will involve several types of argument.

1. Free will & soul building
      - much of our suffering is our own fault.
      - the struggle against temptation teaches character.
      - enduring suffering builds strength and virtue.
      - we forget that our time is not the same as eternity.

2. Theological arguments
      - difficult times serve a greater purpose in God's plan of history.
      - overcoming temptation refines and purifies our motives.
      - we are fighting battles of a greater war in Heaven.
      - the whole situation is beyond our understanding.

3. Philosophical arguments
      - in a scale of values, we accept the lesser to avoid the greater.
      - good and evil are not about merely feeling pleasure or pain.
      - reincarnation teaches us by both knowledge and karma.
      - humanity still has some warped and rough edges to smooth.

4. Physical arguments
      - matter is chaotic and recalcitrant, resisting easy shaping.
      - the cosmos has deep and complex algorithms of physical laws.
      - life evolves by aiming to adapt to its current conditions.
      - domesticating apes always needs rewards and punishments.

5. Romans 8:28
      - we must believe that it will all work out right for the elect.
      - we are led through trials to grow our faith and trust.

6. Job's trials
      - evil ever seeks ways to influence or attack us.
      - our worst times are challenges and testing from Satan.

Why did God allow us to Fall?
(a short version)
     God gave us free will, and wanted us to have faith and trust in Him. He wants to create a being of both matter and spirit to join Him in Heaven. Lucifer did not believe that God could evolve a mere animal to perfection, and transform it into the nature and likeness of Divinity. He doubted that God could create a human being worthy of Heaven. This was the failure, and fall, of the darkened Angels. We were given the chance to prove Satan wrong, but even if we would fail, God could fix it, by giving a part of Himself to pay the penalty of our falling short of the long-term expectation.

     The "Fall" is a necessary part of a continuing creation, in which we humans participate by growing into what we are meant to be, using our free will and self-discipline to choose to be more human than animal. Since it is inevitable that the ancestors of the elect would fall short, Christ is needed to forgive our shortcomings. He poses for us the example that we may grow into, so that we should become ever more nearly alike unto God. Thus we are saved by grace through faith, trusting God to fulfill his design and the ultimate aim of creation.

Necessary steps: What they teach us
1. Humanity, intelligence & tribalism,
    tools, language & adaptations.
2. Noah, barbarian civilization,
    towns, agriculture, culture & power.
3. Zarathustra, speaking of cosmic faith,
    choosing truth over deception.
4. Moses, sacred law & obedience,
    defining justice & goodness.
5. Christ, God's model of mercy & love,
    depending on faith & trust.
6. Monks, transforming selfishness,
    prayer, scholarship & service.
7. Enlightenment, reaching all Humanity,
    faith & reason, science & technology.
8. Frontiers, imagining God's Kingdom,
    building eutopia, enabling shalom.

This answers the problem, not only of the Fall of humanity, but of the angels in Heaven as well. And it speaks to the original intent and final aim of creating us all in the first place. We are meant to become a new kind of celestial creature, building a heavenly civilization full of the cities of God. Toward this aim, we strive to be all that we can be, imagining an ever more perfect way to live.

There was also a parallel development in the East, as philosophical monotheism emerged in the Upanishad schools of Hinduism, followed by its later anti-mythological strain in Buddhism. The Buddha taught also of compassion and mercy, as a corollary of the quest for enlightenment, without stressing the need for faith in a deity. Their further development independently invented many similar social forms, like monasticism, scholasticism and nonviolence. Buddhism and Christianity are both parallel and complementary. They each recognize that monotheism and atheism are the flip sides of the same coin, from a philosophical perspective.

It is entirely likely that all faiths that value coexistence may someday share the heavens in peace, providing that they all allow the others their own political and philosophical agendas, without trying to establish their own as dominant.