'The terrible thing is that a perfectly good God is in this matter hardly less formidable than a Cosmic Sadist. The more we belive that God hurts only to heal, the less we can believe that there is any use begging for tenderness. A cruel man might be bribed - might grow tired of his vikle sport - might have a temporary fit of mercy, as alcoholics have fits of sobriety. But suppose that what you are up against is a surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to that point would have been useless. But is it credible that such extremities of torture should be necessary for us? Well, take your choice. The tortures occur. If they are unnecessary, then there is no God or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary. But no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren't.'
CS Lewis, A Grief Observed, p.38.
