Why would God put us here to be tested?

Judaism

“The Lord tests the righteous… Rabbi Yonatan said: A potter does not test flimsy jugs, as he would not be able to knock on them even once without breaking them. What does he test? Sturdy jugs, as even if he knocks on them several times, they do not break.”

Bereshit Rabbah 32:3 · The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022, CC BY)

The Hebrew Bible says plainly that “God did prove Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). The Israelites’ forty years in the wilderness were, Moses says, “to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart”. The rabbis asked the obvious question: does God not already know? Their answer was a picture from the workshop.

Rabbi Yonatan said a potter does not test flimsy jugs, which would break at the first knock. He taps the strong ones, which only ring. A flax-maker beats good flax because it gets better the more it is worked. So, the midrash says, God tests the righteous, not to find out what is in them, but to bring it out. The book of Job, read at length on our page about suffering, shows how hard such a test can be.

Christianity

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2–4 · World English Bible (British Edition), public domain

The letter of James begins with a surprising instruction: be glad when trials come, because they produce endurance. Paul says the same: suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope (Romans 5:3–4). He adds that God will not let anyone be tested beyond what they can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).

In the second century, Irenaeus taught that humans were made young and unfinished, and must grow into God’s likeness, as a child grows up. The modern philosopher John Hick built on this in his “soul-making” view. He borrowed the phrase from the poet John Keats, who wrote to his brother in 1819: “Call the world if you please ‘The vale of Soul-making.’” Keats was not a conventional Christian, but theologians have used his picture ever since.

Islam

“Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction? Lo! We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knoweth those who are sincere, and knoweth those who feign.”

Qur’an 29:2–3 · Pickthall (1930)

The Qur’an expects tests: “Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction?” (29:2, Pickthall). It also says the test is not only hardship. God has raised some people above others in what they have, “He it is Who hath placed you as viceroys of the earth and hath exalted some of you in rank above others, that He may try you by (the test of) that which He hath given you. Lo! Thy Lord is swift in prosecution, and Lo! He verily is Forgiving, Merciful.” (6:165, Pickthall). Wealth, health and talent are tests too, of whether we share and give thanks.

A well-known hadith turns this into a promise. The believer, the Prophet Muhammad said, is in a remarkable position, because every situation is good for them. When something good happens they give thanks, and that is good for them. When hardship comes they are patient, and that is good for them too (Muslim 2999). Thanks and patience are the two answers to every test.

Without religion

The sceptic’s reply is strong. First, an all-knowing God already knows the result, so why set the test? Second, the tests are wildly unequal: some people face a hill, others are born at the foot of a cliff. Third, much suffering crushes rather than builds: a baby who dies of disease is not learning anything. Humanists say we should build character by choice, through challenge and kindness, without calling disasters lessons.

Believers answer each point. The Qur’an says the test is to “make plain” who people are, to themselves and to others, not to inform God. Each person, the traditions say, is judged by what they were given, not by what others had. And no tradition claims every pain is a lesson. Some suffering, they say, can only be met with mercy now and justice later.

Sikhi

Sikh history is full of trials met with chardi kala, “rising spirits”, a positive and fearless state of mind even in the worst times. Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, was tortured and killed in 1606, and Sikhs remember him accepting God’s will as sweet. Sikhs are taught to see hardship and comfort alike as part of hukam, God’s order, and to meet both with the same remembrance of God.

Hindu traditions

Hindu stories are full of tests. The boy Prahlad keeps trusting God while his own father tries to kill him. King Harishchandra loses his kingdom, his family and his freedom rather than break his word. Many Hindus see life across many births as a long school for the soul, in which karma sets the lessons and devotion and wisdom help the soul to pass them.

Beyond the Abrahamic faiths

The Buddha’s own story begins when a sheltered prince sees old age, sickness and death for the first time. Buddhism does not call suffering a test set by God. But it makes it the starting point of wisdom: the first noble truth is that life involves dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, and the path is learning not to be ruled by it.