God is Evil - Now What?

[sojourner]

Thousands of people has claimed that their god is evil or someone else's god is evil.
If this is case, then what do you plan to do about it?
If the threat is real, then do you:
1. Have a plan to destroy him\them?
2. Survive him\them?
3. Exploit or appease him\them?
4. Flee from him\them?
5. Does your plan includes only yourself, your family, or the world?
6. Would you battle these evil beings spiritually, physically, or both?
7. Would you sacrifice others to achieve your conquest?
Note: These questions do not apply to those who consider themselves evil gods or enjoy the prosperous fruits of being under such gods.

Allow me to setup the scenario: Suppose that this\these god(s) is\are evil and that he\she\they are still in control? And when I say "god", you can take your pick from any or all of the following:
1. The spiritual world: God of the Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, angels, demons, etc.
2. The physical world (Earth): kings, dictators, tyrants, czars, government, mobs, etc.
3. The extra-terrestial worlds: Aliens, engineers, predators, etc.

Hollywood movies has given us many ideas on how to deal with evil gods in these three world scenarios. Here are three examples:

1. SPIRITUAL: Constantine (2005)
"John Constantine: [voiceover] I guess there's a plan for all of us. I had to die - twice - just to figure that out. Like the book says, He works His work in mysterious ways.

Some people like it. Some people don't. "

2. PHYSICAL: 300 (2006)
"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight we dine in Hell!" -- Spartan King Leonidas
"Xerxes: There will be no glory in your sacrifice. I will erase even the memory of Sparta from the histories! Every piece of Greek parchment shall be burned. Every Greek historian, and every scribe shall have their eyes pulled out, and their tongues cut from their mouths. Why, uttering the very name of Sparta, or Leonidas, will be punishable by death! The world will never know you existed at all!
King Leonidas: The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed."

3. Extra-Terrestial: Predators:
A. "We're gonna need a new plan." - Royce

B. "Royce: How do we kill them?
Noland: However you can.
Isabelle: They must have a weakness.
Noland: Not many. "

C. "Edwin: Excuse me. Just what the hell is going on here?
Royce: We're being hunted. The cages. The soldier. All of us. All brought here for the same purpose. This planet is a game preserve. And we're the game. In case you didn't

notice, we just got flushed out. They sent the dogs in, just like you if you were stalking boar or shooting quail. They split us apart and they watched. Testing us.
Isabelle: How do you know this?
Royce: Because, that's what I would do."

D. "Royce: [to Noland who is wearing a Predator mask] What the <bleep> are you?
Noland: [Removes mask] I'm alive. You talk too loud. Smelled you since you got here. If I can smell you, if I can hear you, they can, too. Storm coming soon. This way.
Isabelle: Wait. Who are you?
Noland: [in sing-song voice] Noland, run away, live to fight another day.
Noland: I'm the one that got away. The one you don't <bleep> with. "

Here are other movies with interesting ways of dealing with their enemies who were at first powerful than they were:
1. Clash of the Titans, Poltergeist, Insidious, It, Them, They, Others, Cabin in the Woods, The Exorcist, Gothika, Devil's Advocate, Noah's Ark, Ten Commandments, etc.
2. Stalingrad (1993), United 93, Enemy at the Gate, Gladiator, Spartacus, The Hunger Games, Glory, Zombieland, Selma, World War Z, Ronin 47, etc.
3. Oblivion, Prometheus, Battlefield Earth, The Mist, Star Trek: The Undiscovered World, Battleship, etc.

Share your plans and thoughts. If you get the chance, use your favorite book or movie to quote your favorite strategy. Or use your own life experience from being a prisoner of war, slave, hostile work environment, whistle blower, refugee, etc. Was\Is your evil god an inside job, external, or both like Pearl Harbour, JFK, Sept. 11, etc.

Shabbath Shalom.
OneThatGotAway

Jesus: "Do not return evil for evil."
"Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you."

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Jesus: "Do not return evil for evil."
"Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you."

Isn't that predicated on the idea there's a good god who will make things right, so you don't have to?

 

[sojourner]

Isn't that predicated on the idea there's a good god who will make things right, so you don't have to?

No.

 

[Levite]

Personally, I find the idea of an "evil god" ludicrous. There is only the One God, and He is not evil. Speculating anything else is just storytelling: amusing stories, maybe, but not to be taken seriously as philosophical/theological hypotheses.

I can translate that into Paleo-Hebrew, if you prefer.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Personally, I find the idea of an "evil god" ludicrous. There is only the One God, and He is not evil.

How is the idea of an evil god any more ludicrous than the idea of a god, period?

Speculating anything else is just storytelling: amusing stories, maybe, but not to be taken seriously as philosophical/theological hypotheses.

How is this any different from religion in general?

 

[Levite]

How is the idea of an evil god any more ludicrous than the idea of a god, period?
How is this any different from religion in general?

I am presuming that speculation about the nature of God would be a matter for theists, rather than for atheists. Why would one speculate about the nature of a being or beings in which one does not believe?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I am presuming that speculation about the nature of God would be a matter for theists, rather than for atheists. Why would one speculate about the nature of a being or beings in which one does not believe?

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

Speculation is generally about what one does not believe. That's kinda the point.

 

[Levite]

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

Speculation is generally about what one does not believe. That's kinda the point.

I am aware it is possible to speculate about what one does not believe.

I suppose I simply fail to see why atheists would bother speculating about the nature of the God they don't believe in. I don't believe in wood nymphs, and cannot imagine spending any time wondering whether they might be more sensitive or more emotionally closed off. I also don't believe that the Earth is flat, and thus I cannot imagine spending any time wondering whether one would fall forever or not if one sailed off the edge of the world. Since atheists seem commonly to lump theism in with mythological or erroneous beliefs of this sort, it seems far more likely to me that most of them would spend as much time contemplating the ethical or moral nature of God as I do speculating about wood nymphs' feelings or what lies over the edge of the world.

 

[Parsimony]

I am presuming that speculation about the nature of God would be a matter for theists, rather than for atheists. Why would one speculate about the nature of a being or beings in which one does not believe?

I've spent a whole lot of time speculating about things that I did not believe were real, such as how a movie monster might function if it was real. Then again, I'm a nerd, so you've got to expect that kind of thing from me.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I am aware it is possible to speculate about what one does not believe.

I suppose I simply fail to see why atheists would bother speculating about the nature of the God they don't believe in. I don't believe in wood nymphs, and cannot imagine spending any time wondering whether they might be more sensitive or more emotionally closed off. I also don't believe that the Earth is flat, and thus I cannot imagine spending any time wondering whether one would fall forever or not if one sailed off the edge of the world. Since atheists seem commonly to lump theism in with mythological or erroneous beliefs of this sort, it seems far more likely to me that most of them would spend as much time contemplating the ethical or moral nature of God as I do speculating about wood nymphs' feelings or what lies over the edge of the world.

I addressed this earlier. If someone tells me that they believe in God, and that they believe God is perfect, then this implies that when they say "God commands X" or "God did Y", they think X and Y are good. Asking about God's morality is really just a way to explore the believer's morality. The actual existence or non-existence of God is irrelevant; all that matters is the believer's sincerity.

... and, hypothetically, if someone came along who believed in wood nymphs and agreed with everything that some group of wood nymphs did, then the purported deeds of those wood nymphs would serve just as well. I just don't see many people around here who believe in wood nymphs... especially not infallible ones.

 

[JustWondering]

Thousands of people has claimed that their god is evil or someone else's god is evil.
If this is case, then what do you plan to do about it?
If the threat is real, then do you:
1. Have a plan to destroy him\them?
2. Survive him\them?
3. Exploit or appease him\them?
4. Flee from him\them?
5. Does your plan includes only yourself, your family, or the world?
6. Would you battle these evil beings spiritually, physically, or both?
7. Would you sacrifice others to achieve your conquest?
Note: These questions do not apply to those who consider themselves evil gods or enjoy the prosperous fruits of being under such gods.

Allow me to setup the scenario: Suppose that this\these god(s) is\are evil and that he\she\they are still in control? And when I say "god", you can take your pick from any or all of the following:
1. The spiritual world: God of the Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, angels, demons, etc.
2. The physical world (Earth): kings, dictators, tyrants, czars, government, mobs, etc.
3. The extra-terrestial worlds: Aliens, engineers, predators, etc.

Hollywood movies has given us many ideas on how to deal with evil gods in these three world scenarios. Here are three examples:

1. SPIRITUAL: Constantine (2005)
"John Constantine: [voiceover] I guess there's a plan for all of us. I had to die - twice - just to figure that out. Like the book says, He works His work in mysterious ways.

Some people like it. Some people don't. "

2. PHYSICAL: 300 (2006)
"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight we dine in Hell!" -- Spartan King Leonidas
"Xerxes: There will be no glory in your sacrifice. I will erase even the memory of Sparta from the histories! Every piece of Greek parchment shall be burned. Every Greek historian, and every scribe shall have their eyes pulled out, and their tongues cut from their mouths. Why, uttering the very name of Sparta, or Leonidas, will be punishable by death! The world will never know you existed at all!
King Leonidas: The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed."

3. Extra-Terrestial: Predators:
A. "We're gonna need a new plan." - Royce

B. "Royce: How do we kill them?
Noland: However you can.
Isabelle: They must have a weakness.
Noland: Not many. "

C. "Edwin: Excuse me. Just what the hell is going on here?
Royce: We're being hunted. The cages. The soldier. All of us. All brought here for the same purpose. This planet is a game preserve. And we're the game. In case you didn't

notice, we just got flushed out. They sent the dogs in, just like you if you were stalking boar or shooting quail. They split us apart and they watched. Testing us.
Isabelle: How do you know this?
Royce: Because, that's what I would do."

D. "Royce: [to Noland who is wearing a Predator mask] What the <bleep> are you?
Noland: [Removes mask] I'm alive. You talk too loud. Smelled you since you got here. If I can smell you, if I can hear you, they can, too. Storm coming soon. This way.
Isabelle: Wait. Who are you?
Noland: [in sing-song voice] Noland, run away, live to fight another day.
Noland: I'm the one that got away. The one you don't <bleep> with. "

Here are other movies with interesting ways of dealing with their enemies who were at first powerful than they were:
1. Clash of the Titans, Poltergeist, Insidious, It, Them, They, Others, Cabin in the Woods, The Exorcist, Gothika, Devil's Advocate, Noah's Ark, Ten Commandments, etc.
2. Stalingrad (1993), United 93, Enemy at the Gate, Gladiator, Spartacus, The Hunger Games, Glory, Zombieland, Selma, World War Z, Ronin 47, etc.
3. Oblivion, Prometheus, Battlefield Earth, The Mist, Star Trek: The Undiscovered World, Battleship, etc.

Share your plans and thoughts. If you get the chance, use your favorite book or movie to quote your favorite strategy. Or use your own life experience from being a prisoner of war, slave, hostile work environment, whistle blower, refugee, etc. Was\Is your evil god an inside job, external, or both like Pearl Harbour, JFK, Sept. 11, etc.

Shabbath Shalom.
OneThatGotAway

From my observations, if a god exists it is apathetic concerning humanity.

 

[sojourner]

How is the idea of an evil god any more ludicrous than the idea of a god, period?

Because it's more ludicrous to think that existence, itself, is evil, rather than good. Most sane people think that it's good to be alive, as opposed to being in oblivion.

How is this any different from religion in general?

God has long been established as the ideal of good, as the source and Being of life and love, through writings, through millennia of Tradition, through millennia of theological continuity. So much so that it is the ground of theological hypothesis for most of the world's religious. "God/good" is the benchmark from which most theological and philosophical hypotheses develop. All atheism really does (as opposed to theism) is to shift the concepts of ontology and cosmology from a personification (God) to science. But that approach loses some dimension of meaning and understanding of who we are in the universe.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

Because it's more ludicrous to think that existence, itself, is evil, rather than good. Most sane people think that it's good to be alive, as opposed to being in oblivion.

God has long been established as the ideal of good, as the source and Being of life and love, through writings, through millennia of Tradition, through millennia of theological continuity. So much so that it is the ground of theological hypothesis for most of the world's religious. "God/good" is the benchmark from which most theological and philosophical hypotheses develop. All atheism really does (as opposed to theism) is to shift the concepts of ontology and cosmology from a personification (God) to science. But that approach loses some dimension of meaning and understanding of who we are in the universe.

But, theoretically, could God actually still be an evil entity that is convincing the world that it is good? Isn't that precisely what an evil entity would do? It's perfectly possible to build a religious paradigm which paints God as a malevolent dictator, and values human will and ingenuity over deference to God as it would be an expression of our capability, independence and determination to resist God's malign influence?

Just spit-balling, really.

 

[sojourner]

I addressed this earlier. If someone tells me that they believe in God, and that they believe God is perfect, then this implies that when they say "God commands X" or "God did Y", they think X and Y are good. Asking about God's morality is really just a way to explore the believer's morality. The actual existence or non-existence of God is irrelevant; all that matters is the believer's sincerity.

IOW: you're not really "entertaining the thought" of "What if God is evil?" You're only entertaining the thought of "the results of poor exegesis."

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Because it's more ludicrous to think that existence, itself, is evil, rather than good. Most sane people think that it's good to be alive, as opposed to being in oblivion.

Sounds like you have a few leaps in your reasoning there. You jumped straight from "God" to "existence"; while many monotheists might consider God the source of existence, I can't think of any who believe that God is nothing but existence.

God has long been established as the ideal of good, as the source and Being of life and love, through writings, through millennia of Tradition, through millennia of theological continuity. So much so that it is the ground of theological hypothesis for most of the world's religious. "God/good" is the benchmark from which most theological and philosophical hypotheses develop.

Yes: God is an anthropomorphism of the believer's values. We can disagree on values, so one person can judge another's God - and by extension, the believer's values - to be good, evil, or somewhere in between.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

IOW: you're not really "entertaining the thought" of "What if God is evil?" You're only entertaining the thought of "the results of poor exegesis."

Not really. I'm considering the possibility that a malign, supernatural agency could well be responsible for the creation of life in order to serve some nefarious purpose, and therefore any supposed "good" indicated to be a result of that God, or that anyone attributes to that God, is a deliberate attempt to mislead. It makes perfect sense that an evil entity such as that WOULD convince people that it is good, and establishing itself as, as you put it, "the ideal of good" is precisely the best way to mask its true intentions.

Just saying.

 

[sojourner]

From my observations, if a god exists it is apathetic concerning humanity.

"From [your] observations" is the operative term here. "Your observations" are based in a superficial and incomplete understanding of theology.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

IOW: you're not really "entertaining the thought" of "What if God is evil?" You're only entertaining the thought of "the results of poor exegesis."

If you don't understand what I wrote, you're free to re-read it.

I'm not making any claims about a person's exegesis. I don't approach this discussion with the assumption that an interpretation of a religion's scriptures that casts its god(s) in a bad light is necessarily wrong.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

"From [your] observations" is the operative term here. "Your observations" are based in a superficial and incomplete understanding of theology.

Aren't all observations with relation to theology superficial and incomplete? I mean, the very concept of God has long been said to be beyond mortal comprehension.

 

[sojourner]

Sounds like you have a few leaps in your reasoning there. You jumped straight from "God" to "existence"; while many monotheists might consider God the source of existence, I can't think of any who believe that God is nothing but existence.

Sounds like your understanding of theological constructs is incomplete. There are several valid theological constructs in which God is conceived as "existence." The fact that you "can't think..." isn't a reflection of my reasoning, but your ignorance with regard to the scope of theological thought.

Yes: God is an anthropomorphism of the believer's values. We can disagree on values, so one person can judge another's God - and by extension, the believer's values - to be good, evil, or somewhere in between.

Sure, one can make value judgments about "another's God" in a polytheistic, or even henotheistic setting, because then one is drawing comparisons. But that's not the setting the OP was dealing with. The OP only spoke of "God," and "God" is within a monotheistic milieu, and not available for comparison with anything else. The alternative to believing that "God is good," is to simply not believe in God.