God?

Why would he (or she or it depending on what you believe) want you to suffer in life?

Seems there's a mixed bag when it come to religion. On the one hand, it is suggested that God wants you to be happy. On the other, there's a line of thought that suggests that present suffering is meant to enhance future glory (i.e. happiness).

The first case would obviously discredit that it's God's plan for you to suffer.

The second one is interesting because if it were true that God wanted you to suffer to be happy in an afterlife, then that would mean we all were predestined to suffer (not just some, as you suggested in your post). But there are very happy, good, and religious people who know success and happiness. Are they missing the boat?

On the other hand, you might interpret the suffer now, be happy later thing to mean that your present suffering exists merely to contrast what it feels like to be happy. For without that suffering, you wouldn't know what it was to BE happy. Happiness, then, would only exist because suffering exists.

Despite where you might fall on this belief scale, I think that the thing to glean from this is that no matter what you believe, suffering is only meant to be TEMPORARY, if it is even intended at all.

Sorry for getting philosophical on you, but I wanted to bring that up to have you think about what you're saying and perhaps suggest there might be an even more powerful belief lurking behind it. Usually when a belief doesn't stand up to scrutiny like this it's because we are using it to mask an unconscious belief that is actually driving us. One that we may not even be aware of...unless we choose to examine it.