What they can't seem to grasp is that in order for a Being to be perfect (if the word is to have any meaning at all), that Being must have the maximum possible measure of all attributes. It isn't enough for God to be perfectly merciful and just, he must also be perfectly murderous and capricious.
Tied up with the idea of perfection is the notion of completeness. If God lacks anything, then God by definition cannot be perfect. Thus, God must know what if feels like for God to commit a thoroughly evil act. Moreover, God must have the experience of the act. If not, then God is not complete and so, not perfect. On the other hand, if God commits an evil act, then God cannot be perfectly good.
['Oh, dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. - Douglas Adams]
Boru
Tied up with the idea of perfection is the notion of completeness. If God lacks anything, then God by definition cannot be perfect. Thus, God must know what if feels like for God to commit a thoroughly evil act. Moreover, God must have the experience of the act. If not, then God is not complete and so, not perfect. On the other hand, if God commits an evil act, then God cannot be perfectly good.
['Oh, dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. - Douglas Adams]
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
