Plantinga on Suffering

Plantinga, A. (1967). God and other minds: A study of the rational justification of belief in God. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

Alvin Plantinga has written many works about the problem of evil. One issue that arises is the fact that people undergo extensive and severe cases of suffering (Holocaust, 9/11, etc) and that an all-good and all-powerful God would not want or allow these things to happen. However, Plantinga argues that God removes every case of suffering that has value for which there could be another more severe case of suffering that does not have value. In other words, God would not allow something to happen (such as a severe case of suffering) that does not have more value than something much worse that has less value.
Take this analogy for example: Imagine that there is a patient who has a terminal illness that causes her severe pain. If she goes to see a doctor and discovers that she needs a series of painful shots to cure the disease, no one would argue that the shots would not hurt. However, the shots would prevent further suffering for the patient and would ultimately save her life. From our perspective, we are the patient and God is the doctor, but we do not see the future suffering that is prevented through the pain endured from the shots. All we can see is the pain through the cure. This concept requires faith that God would not allow us to undergo a case of suffering for which there is not value, more value than a possibly more severe case of suffering that was avoided.