In contrast to most contemporary books on the problem of pain-which typically focus on the free will argument and other stale, hopelessly inadequate doctrines-Why God Allows Us to Suffer begins with the premise that the primary purpose of our existence is to know and experience love. It then examines the prerequisites of love in order to explain why God constructed the material universe in the manner he did, and why he acquiesced to the introduction of pain and suffering into the universe when his creatures chose to pursue selfish ends at the expense of love.