/The human race has been told, Eric, that suffering is good. Some teachers have even said that I require you to suffer, or that suffering helps you "pay for your sins," or that you can "offer it up" for the "poor souls in purgatory," mean-ing that I will release your ancestors from their torment sooner if you are in torment longer.

This last teaching is particularly sad. It paints a picture of me as some insane, insidious, insatiable God who would en-courage your anguish as a bribe to grant an "early parole" to your loved ones; who would say, "You can end their suf-fering by beginning yours—but someone is going to have to suffer here."/

God, from Neale Donald Walsch