I have a problem with the 3rd assumption. It presupposes a deity that is narcissistic, selfish, and absolutely unworthy of our worship. Can you imagine such a condition made by the parent of a child? If and when I have children, I certainly will not do it just because I want my children to worship me or love me. They can hate me if they want. Wouldn't make a difference whether I'd allow them to exist or not. And if they turn out to hate me, I wouldn't throw them into a dungeon either.
But anyway, my answer would be god chose naturalistic means to create the universe for it to be interesting. I have come back to the following analogy many times in the past.
I have plenty of nephews and nieces, and right now the oldest one is in 5th grade while the youngest is still crawling. Every year during easter, their parents would hide eggs everywhere in the yard and they'd hunt for the eggs. The hunt for the easter eggs always brightens their day.
Religious people are like the parents that insist on simply hand the kids the easter eggs. What's the fun in that for the kids, to be handed the eggs rather than go around looking for them.
Mel, look up at the sky. The universe is a big ass mother fucking place. Just here on earth, we've discovered more wonders than any one person can imagine, and we continue to make new discoveries. And some of those discoveries are how the past came to be.
Are you a parent? I certainly hope that you will not simply spoon feed your children everything they need in life. This will undoubtedly assure a dead end in their purpose in life.
A creator that poofed everything into existence by magic and then throw the created that are "rebellious" into the pit of eternal damnation is a narcissistic creator and thus does not deserve to be worshiped or loved.
Added by edit.
Now, let's take a look at the religious version of the universe.
God poofed everything into existence 6k years ago. God also poofed an infinitely big ass universe into existence at the same time. The rapture happens on 2012. 7 years later, the world ends and all of humanity are wiped out. The big ass mother fucking universe continues to exist.
So, according to the religious doctrine, why did god create a big ass mother fucking universe? Wouldn't a sun and an earth sufficient if he just wanted to be worshiped?
Edited by Taz, : No reason given.