How do we know that god isn't perfectly evil?

[Zen Badger]

Hypothetically speaking.

Since god is the supreme arbitrator of everything only his opinion on the matter counts.

So therefore since he thinks everything he does is good it is(our opinion doesn't get a look in)

In other words, it's his sandpit and they're his rules.

And since he's the biggest bully around you'd better agree with him, or else.

[Paul the Human]

How do we know that god isn't perfectly evil?

I hate questions like this, because they presuppose that there actually is a god. I understand that it is supposed to be hypothetical, but... since there is no god... I don't quite understand the point of asking about 'him'.

[Edwardo Piet]

There's no harm in playing Devil's advocate though is there?

[Captain Scarlet]

How do we know that god isn't perfectly evil?

I hate questions like this, because they presuppose that there actually is a god. I understand that it is supposed to be hypothetical, but... since there is no god... I don't quite understand the point of asking about 'him'.

I understand you're reaction. If you are a 'weak' athiest you take the view that there I'd no case to answer,and that god talk is meaningless . I am sympathetic to this view but ultimately I am in the 'strong' atheism camp, which states that there is no god and as such carries a burden of proof as a theistic god is defined and we can disprove it/him/ whatever. The 'weak' and 'strong' flavours do not imply the force of the arguments both are powerful and consistent but have different approaches to argumentation. All this means I playback theistic terms to theists because we both know what we are talking about. But none of my arguments presuppose god is real, in much the same way as I feel confident in using the noun unicorn in a sentence without having a beleif in unicorns.

[Paul the Human]

I know all that. In fact, I wouldn't call myself a 'weak atheist'... I simply call myself an atheist. When someone claims that a god exists, I do not believe that claim... and I am pretty strongly convinced that I am correct. I don't believe anyone can know with 100% certainty, but I am 99% certain that there is no god of any kind.

I was only looking at the question from that perspective, I suppose. I guess these kinds of questions are okay if your goal is to stimulate debate with theists, as they require them to explain and justify their beliefs. I've just been an atheist for too long and don't feel compelled to prove them wrong (or prove myself right) like I used to. Don't mind me. Carry on!

[fr0d0]

*Hands Paul back his Spine and Lilly Liver*

[Entropist]

How do we know god is all good and not all evil?

Well, that's certainly what the gnostics thought...

[KichigaiNeko]

@

Latinized form of the Greek δημιουργός, dēmiourgos, literally "public worker",

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge

Right ...then god must be evil if he is a "public worker" explains alot though don't you think??

[FadingW]

I guess that's one possible answer to the problem of evil: that evil exists because God is evil.

Funny how God's reputation might be better if He didn't exist, than if He did exist.

[Edwardo Piet]

Well thankfully he almost certainly doesn't exist.