To those who pose such questions as those at the start of this
thread, may I suggest that if your motive is really to understand
and not attempt to discredit Christianity, to do some reading on
your own first.
The questions may only consist of a few sentences, but the answers
are invariably longer, because hidden behind the few words of those
questions are a lot of hidden assumptions and premises which need
to be deconstructed, clarified or analysed before any sensible
answer can occur.
A quick read of less than 200 pages would be Theology for Beginners
by Frank Sheed, which was written with the average lay person in
mind.
For a more detailed exposition and which deal with the usual
questions of free will/predestination, suffering, what is God doing
outside time etc, Theology and Sanity by the same author is highly
recommended.
It is quite obvious, after looking at so many different threads,
that the answers here will at best be partial due to constraints of
time and space. Some effort is required if you really want some
solid answers.
If buying a laptop is a process requiring market research, why
should anyone think that looking for answers to the ultimate
questions of Life be just a matter of posting a few questions on a
bulletin board? 
regards,
obiterdicta
