If There Is A Creator....

[Atheist]

Why should we believe that he is a good and kind person? Obviously we can't simply rely on his own word, since a wicked creator could lie. I see no evidence that he is good and kind. Are we simply victims of our own hope and wishes?

[andy-hughes]

Atheist - // Are we simply victims of our own hope and wishes? //

People who believe in God must be exactly that.

How else, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, can anyone believe him to be kind, loving and just.

[Buenchico]

Supplementary questions:

1. If there was a 'creator', what reason is there to suppose that he/she/it still exists? (The ability to create something doesn't necessarily imply immortality) ;

2. If there is/was a 'creator', what reason is there to suppose that he/she/it either wants to be a 'moral arbiter' over that creation or, indeed, actually has the ability to do so? (A scientist might create life in a test tube. That doesn't make him/her a moral arbiter over what happens to that life form thereafter. He/she could simply walk away from their creation and forget about it altogether).

[archibaldy]

Good and kind, why not? The big fella created heaven and earth, laid on all sorts of bountiful things to enjoy, and you've enjoyed some of them for sure. Cheer up!

[johnk]

And superstition. If there is a god in the image of the way we're led to believe (s)he's asleep.

[Atheist]

Thanks Archie. I'm cheerful enough.

[naomi24]

God wasn't nice and he wasn't kind. He was jealous, cruel, and vindictive, He didn't pretend to be otherwise. Why anyone claims to love him is a mystery to me. I don't even like him!

[douglas9401]

Just dropped by to say 'see previous answers, ad nauseam'.

Cheerio.

[naomi24]

^That'll be a lot of searching for those who weren't around before.

[sandyRoe]

In Ovid's Metamorphosis a god in the guise of a traveller is offered shelter by an old couple.
He rewards them for their hospitality by turning them both into trees.
That's hardly the action of a white-bearded, benevolent, old codger.

[Khandro]

God Is Both Incomprehensible and Knowable at the Same Time:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8–9)

[Atheist]

Khandro; How do you know that "God Is Both Incomprehensible and Knowable at the Same Time"?
And do you believe the Isa quote?
How do you know what to believe, other than by your own judgment about its plausibility?

[naomi24]

Khandro, going on his track record his ways are most definitely not higher than mine! He’s conning you.

[youngmafbog]

An interesting thought Atheist, but believers will of course only believe what they are told

Religion of course relies on people being unquestioning and provides fear (The devil etc) for those that may have doubt.

[sandyRoe]

Spit roasted for eternity. It doesn't bear thinking about.

[rowanwitch]

There is a creator.... It's name is mankind and the gods it has created are many and reflect the society at the time. You want to control the behaviour of a population, or you want to explain a terrifying natural event.... Must be a god... Want to impose rules on things like safe foods in a bit climate.... Say god said you must not .... Want to avoid birth defects in a small population, God said you can't lie with your close relatives and so it went on until the idea of god was embedded within society. Disagree, we have a crime for that.... We will call it heresy, or blasphemy....

[douglas9401]

It's all about jumping at shadows really, innit?

[fiveleaves]

God chooses the very best attributes for His character. Anything less than perfect even by the very smallest margin can't be God.
Remember God is eternal. If he was evil, he would in affect choose a negative attribute for eternity. That would be nonsense

[Peter Pedant]

He rewards them for their hospitality by turning them both into trees.

I was told by my Latin master 1966 that if it wasnt into another animal it wasnt metamorphosis
( you will already read this post alot)

[Peter Pedant]

Anything less than perfect even by the very smallest margin can't be God.
so yes God is perfect and also immutable - any change cant to up ( wasnt a god anyway) or down ( what he left is better so the lower one cant be god

I dont think God can be knowable as the person that knows him is greater than god ( against hypothesis of perfection)

as me auld Dean of Chapel Anthony Phillips said, it gets quite boring talking about God and you come to the conclusion that the God is the same for Jews Christians and Islam

[Atheist]

fiveleaves; If God is eternal, then he is out of time and surely cannot make choices about what he wants to be - I mean, when would he have made a choice if not in an earlier time?
How do you know that "Anything less than perfect even by the very smallest margin can't be God"? It doesn't really make sense to claim that you know bcause God told you, because he might have lied, or told me something different. I think that your view comes from within yourself, using the evolved intellect and value system that you were born with.
I don't fully understand your post, so please forgive me if I don't fully address your points.