Jaitea said:

I posted this question in the atheist thread also, If God created us perfect and loves us all and has a paradise awaiting for us, why bother sending us to earth where we could be tainted by sin, why not create us and then be with Him?

J

Well, tradition has it that God did that with the angels and some of them, led by Lucifer, rebelled against him. The main reason though is so that we can grow to love him on earth, and if we love him, then we will get to worship him in heaven. If we don't love him, he won't force us, so we "go to" hell. If we were already in heaven then the point of free will would largely be lost because we would not be able to choose not to worship him if we didn't want to...it's complicated and is something I have yet to wrap my head around.