The toad


For the past week I've been observing a cute toad living in a hole it probably dug in the dirt of a small steep embankment. It sits in the entrance and all I see is its cute mouth and chin and face with it's bulgy toad eyes. So cute.

But then it started raining and I haven't seen it since.

Seems the life of a toad is horrible. The rain washes away their homes, the dogs and I step on them, and the dogs chew on them (but I don't chew on them). So sad that such a tiny vulnerable creature is treated so badly in life; getting bounced around all the time and crushed by rolling rocks and falling branches.

Whoever designed them (and the world they inhabit) did a terrible job. Another mark against intelligent design; why would a good God cause such misery?

Does God have some glorious plan in all this? Did he create suffering so he could redeem those who suffer? Then why not merely create the world having no suffering in the first place?

And what about the toad? If he/she doesn't get to enjoy eternity in the new heavens and new earth, why create him/her with a conscious experience and able to suffer? if death and annihilation is the final goal?