the classic cliche doubt against God - 'why does He let people suffer' is quite vicious, actually.

the answer should be obvious - and it's clearly stated in numerous places that "the elect" who prove themselves to be righteous are getting protection, and a reward.

several different books and even in other texts outside of christianity and judaism make similar allusions.

the reason why we suffer here is because we are being tested.

do you want to live in a place where this kind of evil is not in control? then you have to live through it and not be turned by it.

only the immune can be sure to not spread it.

keeping errors from creeping into the code is a very very heavy labor.

i'd rather not see the sickness i see in the world around me get one inch further into the rest of the universe than it already has, tyvm. it's worth it just on that basis alone.

and if this is all a story i am telling myself, and when the light goes out, there is nobody home anymore, that's good too. but i just now don't anymore believe that version of the story, of the absence of spirit. because it's not useful.

if goodness cannot be conserved, then it's worthless trying to conserve it. but if it was worthless to conserve it, why is it that everything clearly depends on and rides on the shoulders of those who conserve goodness?

i had a kind of epiphany back in 2015 in budapest about this, that what we call "God" is the sum of all the goodness, and that what is good lasts forever.