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Rev

4

"If you think about God as an omnipotent being, then, if he was truly evil, he would optimize for the maximum suffering, without any happiness or peace for anyone." I don't think this is obvious. Isn't suffering increased by the contrast to others' wellbeing? What power would Hell have if those imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?
– MisterMiyagi
Commented Jul 2 at 12:25
3

"Also, if God is a perfect being in himself, meaning he is self-sufficient, he doesn't need anything, so he wouldn't benefit from torturing anyone." Wouldn't this apply to everything God creates or does? He wouldn't benefit from making people just, or good, or excluding them from Heaven, or guiding them in their life, or ...
– MisterMiyagi
Commented Jul 2 at 12:28
2

This answer seems to be assuming that the OP is saying "what if the universe was created by the Abrahamic God, but God is evil and trolling us". I'm pretty sure the OP is simply saying "what if the universe was created by an evil deity to troll us", with no claims that this hypothetical deity shares any qualities with the Abrahamic God other than having created the universe.
– Idran
Commented Jul 2 at 14:33
4

"But where would such a moral code come from?" This essentially paraphrases the question of "how can an atheist have morals?" which is a well-studied question and the foundation of the field of Ethics - the study of what is good and right, derived from first principles without reference to a higher power. This is Philosophy.SE, so from a philisophical viewpoint rather than a religious one, we can assume that a moral code can exist without a God (or else we must conclude that the study of ethics is futile and redundant), and that we can use ethical philosophy to determine what it is.
– anaximander
Commented Jul 2 at 15:00
3

I'm not sure it does require omnipotence? Say, for example, a hypothetical deity that can create but can't destroy its creations, or a hypothetical deity that can only interact with its creations after their death. Or any other number of restrictions. After all, there are plenty of creator deities that are clearly not omnipotent in their own mythos.
– Idran
Commented Jul 3 at 13:18

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