(June 5, 2022 at 6:01 pm)Klorophyll Wrote: The theists you're referring to are just rehearsing the articles of their faith, which they believe come from God verbatim. Therefore, they're reporting to you what they think God said about Himself.
Well, what one thinks is indeed a judgement, so this is a distinction without a difference.
(June 5, 2022 at 6:01 pm)Klorophyll Wrote: And I think omnipotent demons have better ways to get what they want than disguise themselves as benevolent deities. Being compelled to hide your identity/powers/nature is a hallmark of weakness, even between people.
Who said the hypothetical demon you may be worshipping is omnipotent? I sure didn't. I pointed out that you, by your own logic, have no way of knowing that you're not worshipping a demon -- not because that hypothetical demon is omniscient, but because you've already admitted that you don't have all the facts at your command.
You can't really argue "we don't know, because we believe he's omniscient", and then claim to know whether what you're worshipping is omniscient or not.
Put shortly, if you can't know the panoply of your god's decisionin', you can't know if he is actually a god or not. So just believe what you believe.
Remember: you cannot know what goes into your god's decisions, according to your own argument. It follows that you cannot know if he knows everything, or simply knows more than you ... or simply doesn't exist.