The Pedagogy of God is Severe
Inserting a delay between the delivery of the gift of life and the gift of paradise is harsh but effective medicine. Therefore, God prescribes it. The medicine works. The medicine reduces the likelihood of us fumbling the gift of paradise to near zero. We keep the gift of paradise of our own free will without the need to turn paradise into a prison, God into our warden and us into prisoners. God wants more for us than to be his pets locked in a gilded cage for our own protection. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. God respects our freedom to keep the gift of paradise or to let it slip through our fingers. The decision is ours. Paternalism is not the policy of God.
Letting us stew for a lifetime in the valley of tears generates all of the complaints about God's rescue plan. The harshness of the valley of tears keeps the complaint department of paradise busy. More than a few have cursed their bitter experience in the valley of tears and waved their fists against God. Put the blame for our dire predicament, however, on the proper culprit. God did not put us in the valley of tears. The serpent did. God started humanity in paradise. At the most, God can be blamed for not extricating us from the valley of tears as quickly as we would like. God's rescue of us is too slow. 'What took you so long?' is our only legitimate complaint against God. Yet, even this complaint is unwarranted. A life is but an infinitesimally thin slice of time compared to the thickness of eternity. Moreover, it gets thinner and thinner with the passage of time. In other words, it won’t be long now.
The pedagogy of God is severe. Our passage through the valley of tears is not for sissies.
Yet, in his mercy, God took steps to mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears. Mitigation of the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears is also a policy of God.
God lets us put our fingers into the flame. Why? The testimony of the serpent is that a life lived in the flame is superior to a life lived with God and his holy family in paradise . God wants to drain from the testimony of the serpent its power to deceive. Is there any better way to defang the lie than this? It is harsh but effective medicine.
We can look at Christianity through the lens of sin or through the lens of suffering. Both perspectives are possible. Both perspectives are legitimate. Most, however, look at Christianity through the lens of sin. Looking at Christianity through the lens of sin is the conventional and traditional approach. Yet, there is an alternative. The lens of suffering gives us a better understanding of Christianity. Viewing Christianity through the lens of suffering provides better explanations than the lens of sin.