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human
CMV: If the Christian God exists, it's more probable he's evil

I do not claim to be an expert on philosophy nor Christianity, but I've grown up with Christians in my whole family and always been critical since a child. My basic refusal to believe in Christianity started by simple methods of critical thinking, like "who created God?". Although this possibly the worst argument against an omnipotent being, it was the start of my skepticism. This post isn't more so focused on the argument of God's existence, but rather the potential of it.

God is often portrayed as an omnibenevolent being in Christianity, having personal relationships with every human being. First and foremost, we need to understand that there is suffering happening right now, for all animals (including humans). To me this points to God not being omnibenevolent, although I'll go over some potential explanations. And after that, I'll explain why I think it's more plausible that God is either evil, or not an omnipotential being (which would contradict Christianity as a whole).

"Suffering in this world happens because God gave us free will". I find plenty of things wrong with this argument. First of all, while we might have a so called "free will", we cannot choose what our desires are freely. I can choose to listen to progressive metal, as my brain likes the sound of the genre. I can also choose to not listen to it and rather listen to music I dislike, which seems like it proves free will. However, the reason I listen to something else is in that case is because I desire to disprove the argument. I still won't do something without a desire behind it. And we cannot choose our desires freely. If suffering truly is a consequence of free will, how come we can't choose what we want? Are we even truly free then? To me, that either points to the evolutionary theory or that God didn't give us total free will. And by that standard, suffering shouldn't be a necessity. If we're not free anyway, why should suffering still be a consequence?

"In order for us to feel pleasure and happiness, we need suffering to compare". This is completely true in our world today I'd say. We cannot feel safe without the knowledge of danger, and we cannot feel satisfaction without the knowledge of dissatisfaction. A world without pain is also a world without pleasures, a totally neutral world (I'd argue that would be a better world for us, but that is besides the point). To me, this argument falls flat when we describe God as an omnibenevolent being. What is stopping him from creating a reality in which suffering is not needed for us to feel pleasure? A truly omnibenevolent being would have no issue with this.

"God has a different goal, unknown to us". This I find the most compelling argument, and hard to argue. This might very well be the case, but how can we even rationalize this? What goal could an omnibenevolent being have, which is not to create pleasure? Moreso, why would his goal include suffering as the means? Wouldn't an omnibenevolent being's goal be to minimize suffering as he loves us all equally? I don't see a way where our suffering is a necessity for any goal which is benevolent.

The last point I'll make is a reason that points to God not being omnibenevolent, or in fact evil. If the case is that the believers of God will go to Heaven, and non-believers will go to Hell, why is he hiding from most of us? I have been around Christianity my whole life, gone to sunday-school, been in COUNTLESS social events with Christianity ingrained. I've tried to pray, tried to feel his presence during ceremonies, I feel as if he won't respond to me. My whole life has been extremely tough due to emetophobia, and I don't see how that suffering is justifiable for any goal. If he is so omnibenevolent and want us to be with him in Heaven, why is he hiding? I've seen people make the claim that Hell isn't endless torture and suffering, but rather a place separate for his non-believers to not be with him. What about those that want to be with him, but can't get any response?

There are probably many flaws in my argument, so please point them out if you notice! Thanks for reading!
gpt
If the Christian God exists, then he is the arbiter of what is good and what is evil. Your personal feelings on the matter are irrelevant, because while you feel he might be evil, he's the objective source of morality, and therefore above such judgements.