I don't know about evidence of the non existence of God, but wouldn't you think Auschwitz was a pretty convincing argument of the non existence of a God of Love?

I think maybe it was along those lines Frost was thinking - and i imagine that's a pretty common thought.

i have heard theories about being in a state of grace because of suffering. However when I think of the early days of Denise's disease, when she suffered terribly, I could see nothing ennobling in suffering.

You have to remember that the people who thought up these theories and thoughts were living in days before famine relief, modern medicine, even modern armaments with which to defend themselves from cruel enemies.

It was people like this who wrote the Book of Job, where Job asks God what have I done to offend thee? they had to make sense of the suffering life confronted them with.

The truth is that then as now, it made and makes no sense.

And the corollary of this is that we should try and be nice to each other - whatever the provocation.