Theodicy and kicking the can

[Neo-Scholastic]

Your current notion of love revolves around comparing it to other states…That isn't to say that it cannot exist without those other negatives.

Not exactly. The potential for moral evil is necessarily present when the potential for voluntary love is present. But the actualization of moral evil is not necessary.

Are you saying that God is incapable of creating creatures capable of knowing love without also knowing suffering/evil?

No, what I am saying is that God cannot create creatures capable of actualizing good, without the potential for doing evil.

…why can't God just create us with that level of development?

Because it is not necessary to do so because creation is an on-going process. Children’s’ fields of moral action are comparatively smaller than those of mature adults. Each stage of development corresponds with different levels of potential for both moral good and moral evil.

If heaven is a state achieved due to moral development, and people "always" do the right thing, then it seems you've ended up with a place where everyone has voluntarily taken the love potion.

Not at all. They have habituated themselves to good and cultivated righteous character.