The unlearned lessons of the Book of Job

1.  God never promised us a rose garden. 

2.  Just because you see the innocent suffer does not mean that God does not exist; He never promised us a rose garden or heaven on earth.  

3.  If you believe in the morally perfect Abrahamic God who rewards good and punishes evil in this life or the next, you would have to assume that this is indeed what He does and cease to use the suffering of the innocent as an excuse to disobey His laws.  

4.  Why does God allow the innocent to suffer?

Below are a few suggestions:

i)  To test people for their fitness to enter the better place. Obviously, those who use the suffering of innocents to disobey God will not be going to the better place.  

ii)  To teach the innocent a lesson that they need to learn for their own good.

iii) To test the soundness of those in receipt of a religious education to win arguments against atheists who predictably use the suffering of innocents as an excuse to disobey God's laws.