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If everyone will experience eternal bliss and direct fellowship with God, then all of a sudden all that suffering no longer has any meaning.
Why would damning your neighbor bring meaning to your suffering? Do you think you would look down from heaven and think, "thank god there are people suffering pointlessly in hell so my brief suffering while on earth had meaning? Or alternatively look down and think, I'm glad there are people who suffered pointlessly only to be blipped out of existence just so I could feel better about my suffering?
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In that scenario, God creates a flawed universe, puts people in it to suffer for their entire lives, and then takes it all away and makes everyone blissfull for eternity.
That certainly seems better than god creates a flawed universe and puts (i dunno let's call it 15%, the way is narrow after all, or hell let's call it 50% I don't care) that number in heaven and the rest in hell. Why does that make more sense?
And there are about a million ways to give purpose to suffering and still have universal salvation. You could have people go through a purgatory of sorts based on their behavior on earth as one of eleventy examples. The ways to make sense of this are myriad as long as you are willing to slide away from Christian dogma. And I don't see why sliding away from dogma about eternal suffering is much different than toward something else.
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So what is the function of suffering in that instance? Is it just for grins?
Does the level of suffering people experience actually correlate with their behavior? You've imagined a scenario with a very flawed universe where some people suffer greatly, some suffer far less, and all are judged based on belief rather than their response to suffering. In what way is suffering a meaningful crucible?
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Is it so we appreciate Paradise more? Couldn't He just create us with that appreciation? The suffering is completely superfluous in that set up. And what kind of God makes people needlessly suffer?
Well that's just the point, could he just separate us into worthy and unworthy of eternal suffering or non-existence right of the bat. Suffering is in no way a necessary crucible for an omniscient god.
And in your own scenario, anyone who isn't saved does needlessly suffer. They were better off not created.
There are lots of ways a god could make some sense or purpose of suffering. The hardest ones to make sense of are where there is a place of maximal good and maximal bad. That's a problem with Christianity and Islam. The took their carrots and sticks to the extreme.
But to your broad point, I don't see any way in which god is not the author of needless suffering. The earth has been the host to a hard cruel existence for 4 billion years. Was that necessary? Is animal suffering not suffering? Is it not cruel? What about the protohumans who are our ancestors? There is no plausible scenario in any religion where god is not the author of suffering that could logically be very easily avoided if god is omniscient and omnipotent.
There is a great weakness of Christianity and it's evident in your thinking here. You previously had noted christianity is unusual to an extent in asking it's adherents to suffer in this life and take up their cross. But that suffering is fundamentally selfish in that there is this notion of a perfect reward for deeds done. Christianity is all about the destination.
For some religions, like Judaism ironically enough, it's about the journey. And since we've been quoting Sanderson on this board lately, "Journey before destination" rings rather true for many of us. Your christian upbringing has made you hyperfocused on the destination over the journey.
I would say that universal salvation is one of the very few ways to justify suffering on god's part. To give us lessons by suffering that we take with us to the bliss beyond. To give us a journey before our destination.
Granted this doesn't answer for seemingly pointless suffering that we see to exist, but I find it a far better answer than you have to suffer to prove to god that I'm better than you.
