Theo I posted this for Zimzam a while ago....
The point under debate was that if God made a universe with apparent age he was a deciever (in the sense used by Descartes in his mediations) and therefore not the perfectly good God of christian theology...
Assuming God exists....
1)Either the biblical account of creation ex nihilo X,000 (where X is of the close order of 10) years ago is a)correct or b)it isn`t....
2)Either the biblical God is a) infinitely (or perfectly) good or b) isn`t...
2)a)Precludes 1)a) in that an infinitely (or perfectly) good God would be morally prohibited from an act that would lead to a deception....
2)a)Can be taken to not prohibit 1)b) in that a God that created a universe a time of the close order of 10,000,000,000 years ago which contains evidence of that age has not commited an act of deception....(i)
However it could also be argued that such an infinitely good God would remove from circulation any accounts of creation that were false thus prohibiting 1)b)....(ii)
2)b)Prohibits no courses of action but relies on God not being of perfect moral character which itself contradicts popular christian belief....(iii)
Thus either (i) or (ii) is right:
If (i) God is the perfectly good creator of a 10,000,000,000 year old universe.
Or (ii) is right In which case as the biblical account is still around means God must be as described in 2)b) which gives case (iii)
(iii) God is described by 2)b) a less than perfect (morally) deity who can willfully of by lack of forethought decieve contrary to popular christian belief.....
™ Version 4.2
