When considering the Bible's description of how humanity came about and what traits and characteristics this "omnipotent" and all-knowing being gave us, supposedly, the question comes up, "Is it, in the context of the Bible, humanities fault for original sin, or can and should this be contributed to an error in judgement made by the creator?" This was a question me (atheist) and a close friend(theist) came across while looking at and debating certain parts of the Bible. Him, being a very strong believer, wouldn't accept my argument in even the slightest capacity. So, with every atheist, theist, agnostic, pragmatic,ect.. On this site as my witnesses. I am going to present that very same argument. I will start off by noting that all information and statements presented in this are from a point of view that presupposes the existence of a divine, supreme God. First, you have to ask, why exactly would God have created us. The Bible, being the vague, superstitious piece of "literature" that it is, never gives us a true strait answer. Therefore, it is safe to assume that either we had no purpose, God just wanted some playthings, or God just wanted to demonstrate his ability's (to whom is another matter to be discussed). Now, with the problem of purpose shelved, not solved, let's begin delving into the main problem. The Bible says that God created us in his image, while also giving us free will. First of all, God giving us free will would raise a question. If God wanted to create something that would worship and love him unconditionally, why give the creation something that would allow it the ability to go against him? Did he simply want us to have to come to him for forgiveness so he would feel importaint.? Did he have such a bad ego problem that he wanted us to have to bow down to and allow him to have a sense of dominance over us, lest he cast us into hell? Now, we reach another problem-Hell. If this omnipotent, benevolent God created us with free will and knew that we were going to use it to go against him, why did he doom all those who did so to damnation? It makes no sense that a benevolent being would willingly give his creations the ability to go against him only to either have them burn in hell or come begging and pleading for forgiveness. Unless of course, he's not benevolent and actually enjoys seeing his creations either suffering or groviling at his feet. A similar problem is the problem of nuclear weponry. When (and if) the nuclear holocost happens, will the survivers blame the countries that pressed the button, J. Robert Oppenheimer, or both? However, one distinct difference remains. I don't think J. Robert Oppenheimer will be around to make the survivers of the nuclear weapons grovil at his feet or else die by more nukes, nor do I think he would do that even if he could. Then, we have one last option to consider: could this supposedly omnipotent, all knowing, benevolent being have made an error in judgement that forever changed the fate of humanity. Could it be that, much like the mad scientists in the sci-fi movies mixing random chemicals together, "God" had absoululy no idea what he was doing? Once again, please note that I am an atheist and that this is all from a point of view that presupposes the existence of God. All opinions and viewpoints are welcome, just don't chew my head off. Update: for the purpose of aiding those whom may not be able to understand this in the format it's in, I am going to include two basic possible summary's of my argument. 1. If God exists, then he is perfect.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. A perfect being can have no needs or wants.
4. If any being created the universe, then he must have had some need or want.
5. Therefore, it is impossible for a perfect being to be the creator of the universe (from 3 and 4).
6. Hence, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5).
Or:
1. If God exists, then he is perfect.
2. If God exists, then he is the creator of the universe.
3. If a being is perfect, then whatever he creates must be perfect.
4. But the universe is not perfect.
5. Therefore, it is impossible for a perfect being to be the creator of the universe (from 3 and 4).
6. Hence, it is impossible for God to exist (from 1, 2, and 5).
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