okay, i skipped reading a few replies, so if im repeating anything anyone's already said, ignore me.
WARNING: THIS IS ALL MY OWN OPINION
I'm Protestant Christian, so I believe that God created us and the world and everything; that Adam and Eve stuffed it up for everyone by disobeying God's command; that everyone is born in sin, and its a human thing to sin; that Jesus Christ was sent to die for our sins and now our punishment has been taken away, cos he already took it. (there's a verse in the bible explaining how Adam brought death for everyone, and how Christ gave everyone life again)
Now, some of the stuff that has been said:
God lets all the bad stuff-wars and all that- happen cos if He didn't, we wouldn't know anything. We'd still be in the garden of Eden, happily living as puppets who didn't know anything. Bad stuff makes us feel bad, but bad stuff also teaches us how to live.
all the love stuff- love your god with all your heart and mind and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself- they're basically what living as a christian is based around.
Since we're human, we can't be perfect christians, but it doesn't matter, cos every time we sin, Christ has paid our penalty in full.
And God does know who'll choose to believe in him (and therefore receive eternal life) and who won't, but he can't interfere in the process cos then that would be manipulation, and God won't allow that. He gives us free will to choose to live, or to be tortured in hell.
Also, about the creation: God created everything. As the Creator, He didn't have to create things so that we understood them. But He did; He made things by rules, and He gave us the understanding to see those rules. We should be grateful He bothered, really.
God is God. This means that He can do everything and anything. He also has infinite wisdom, though, which is why He doesn't do everyhting and anything- some of that's bad.
That's what I think, anyway. Now I'll probably get people saying that I'm wrong and why.