Is God Evil?

[Farnhamia]

No, we aren't. For however many tens of thousands of years we cooperated, explored, fed each other and lived through the ice as it came and went. Could such "incompetent, irrational, genocidal, discriminating, malevolent, lying, idiotic life forms" do that?

When was this?

Over the last "40,000 years." It was really longer than that, more like 100,000. I'd have to look it up.

[Bleckonia]

I'm atheist, but if God exists and created humans, why did he make us incompetent, irrational, genocidal, discriminating, malevolent, lying, idiotic life forms? That's part of the reason of why I don't believe in God or intelligent design.

That's the point, He didn't.

We became that way after the Fall of Man.

Grr... whenever I see that, I always think of what an awesome videogame that could make.

But why did God allow the "Fall of Man" occur?

[Samuraikoku]

No, we aren't. For however many tens of thousands of years we cooperated, explored, fed each other and lived through the ice as it came and went. Could such "incompetent, irrational, genocidal, discriminating, malevolent, lying, idiotic life forms" do that?

When was this?

You know, when we migrated throughout the Earth. We weren't originally born in the places we're in now.

[Bleckonia]

Oh, here we go with the atheists. I think both theism and atheism are both unprovable.

You are right. It is just a matter of what you think. However, theists cannot prove that the Buddha isn't god, that Zeus or Apollo isn't god, or that their god is really the true god. I personally am an atheist.

[Keronians]

When was this?

Over the last "40,000 years." It was really longer than that, more like 100,000. I'd have to look it up.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens: 40,000.

Humanity: 150,000.

IIRC.

[Keronians]

That's the point, He didn't.

We became that way after the Fall of Man.

Grr... whenever I see that, I always think of what an awesome videogame that could make.

But why did God allow the "Fall of Man" occur?

He didn't.

He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Eve was persuaded, and Adam was as well, and the Fall occurred.

[Farnhamia]

Over the last "40,000 years." It was really longer than that, more like 100,000. I'd have to look it up.

Homo Sapiens Sapiens: 40,000.

Humanity: 150,000.

IIRC.

Wiki sayeth: Anatomically modern humans in Africa, 200,000 ya, behavioral modernity 50,000 ya. What's a few tens of thousands of years, eh?

[Cenetra]

No, it mustn't. Morality is simple; If it harms someone who wasn't harming you, it is wrong. For example, murder and rape are wrong. The reason is because it violates people who weren't harming the attacker.

Those are basics which are fairly obvious (although it can be argued that almost any action is harmful). However, religions and many other organizations try to tack all sorts of other junk on top of that, and all think their exact version is truth and everything else is evil.

[Cenetra]

He didn't.

He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Eve was persuaded, and Adam was as well, and the Fall occurred.

1. An omniscient God would know this would happen

2. An omniscient and omnipotent God would have prevented it.

3. Adam and Eve didn't know what sin was, so how were they supposed to know it was wrong to eat the fruit? They could hardly be blamed.

Face it, if we suppose the story of Original Sin is true, he is similar to a parent who:

Has a pair of two-year-olds.
Puts an open cookie jar right in the middle of their playpen.
Tells them not to eat the cookies (they don't understand why they shouldn't).
Knows he has an obnoxious brother who has the keys to his house and would find it hilarious to trick the kids into eating the cookies.
Leaves the kids alone anyway.
Discovers that the cookies are gone.
Punishes his children by abandoning them in a dumpster.

EDIT: oops. double post.

[Marsadus]

Is God Evil? Well, that depends on what your definition of "good" and "evil" are. You must first have an idea of good and evil, therefore there must be an inherent knowledge of that good and evil. There must be an "absolute truth" prevalent in every human being. For there to be something good versus something evil, there must be an absolute somewhere in the equation. But, who establishes the absolute? No human being can establish any absolute law. For we do not establish the law of gravity, relativity, or the laws of thermodynamics. They are simply true because they are fact. Our universe is a universe of absolutes. The absolute truth, and scientific fact, is that if you sit a hot cup of coffee on the countertop and leave it alone at room temperature it will cool down. It will not stay hot forever. Nor will it randomly turn over and spill on the floor. This is because our universe is governed by a set of natural laws. If this set of natural laws dictate the can's and cannot's of the natural world, then subsequently, we must assume that there must be moral laws that dicate the can's and cannot's, the do's and do not's, the right's and wrong's, of the moral/spiritual world. If that is the case, then there must be a definitive set of right and wrong. But, who dictates the right's and wrong's of our moral selves? Well, we do, in a sense. We decide what we will do, but just because we decide what we will do does not make that right or wrong, it just means that we exercised our free will. One argument is that if God is good then why is there such suffering in the world, and/or if God is good then why do bad things happen to good people? You are asking the wrong questions. Firstly, the question should be if God is good then why is there such evil in the world, but, if God is evil then why is there such good in the world? Witness the birth of a newborn baby, read your favorite poem, listen to the song that you and your spouse danced to at your wedding, look at your children. Those are truly good things, things that cause good emotions to flow up inside of you. Given, there is just as much good as there is bad in the world, but that does not mean that God wishes these things to happen. He allows them to happen for a time. For instance, on the walls of one the housing cells in a Nazi concentration camp one of the prisoners scrawled on the wall, "I believe in the sun even when it doesn't shine, I believe in love even when it isn't shown, I believe in God even when He doesn't not speak." That man, or woman, must have found some shred of good in her soul in the face of such evil. Anyone who would say otherwise is refusing to see the obvious. Is God evil? No. But, there is evil in the world, just because God allows evil to happen for a time does not mean that he endorses it and it certainly does not mean he is powerless. Just like a parent, sometimes you will allow your child to fall off of their bike, but you'll be there to help heal their wounds. You're children will undoubtedly have fights and cause "evil" to each other (speaking from my own sibling experiences ) but, you will love them both, unconditionally. God allows evil to happen because evil is the reality of our broken world, and it effects the "good person" and the "bad person" alike. Unfortunately, the truth is there are no "good" people. For we all have the capacity to do evil. Not doing it is no exception. We can, and we all have at some point. As "meaningless" as lying may be in this world, it is still wrong. Regardless, evil is the reality of imperfect people. The harshest evil is not the physical evil we experience though, it is the spiritual anguish that we (sometimes unknowingly) go through on a daily basis. We indulge in things that numb us to the pain that we perceive through our physical senses, unwittingly destroying the only hope for changing the physical evils in this world. I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, as the Son of God, to offer a solution to evil. Through salvation in Him, which offers complete liberty and true freedom, we are able to live a life that is full of the Spirit of God, enabling us to being true world-changers. Is God evil? Certainly not. Why would God allow such darkness in this world to go on? So that the Light of His Children should shine ever brighter. God is not evil. God is love (1 John 4..

(*Note: Is there such a thing as absolute truth? If your answer is "no", then is that absolutely true? Is it absolutely true that there is no absolute truth? If that is the case then there must be absolute truth in order for there to no be absolute truth. I recommend the book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", by Frank Turek...for those who are comfortable with stepping out of their comfort zones in regards to the question of Faith. I also recommend the website www.gotquestions.org, it has a good Q&A format, even if you disagree with the "A" part, we all ask "Q's". It also includes recommended resources outside of the Bible and the website. I enjoyed this question and hope that it causes more searching and questions. I hope that I did my part in this "online community" to, if not answer questions, to spark more questions. Good luck to everyone who is looking for the answer...luckily, I already found Him, and His name is Jesus.)

[Farnhamia]

Is God Evil?

Well, that depends on what your definition of "good" and "evil" are. You must first have an idea of good and evil, therefore there must be an inherent knowledge of that good and evil. There must be an "absolute truth" prevalent in every human being. For there to be something good versus something evil, there must be an absolute somewhere in the equation. But, who establishes the absolute? No human being can establish any absolute law. For we do not establish the law of gravity, relativity, or the laws of thermodynamics. They are simply true because they are fact. Our universe is a universe of absolutes. The absolute truth, and scientific fact, is that if you sit a hot cup of coffee on the countertop and leave it alone at room temperature it will cool down. It will not stay hot forever. Nor will it randomly turn over and spill on the floor. This is because our universe is governed by a set of natural laws. If this set of natural laws dictate the can's and cannot's of the natural world, then subsequently, we must assume that there must be moral laws that dicate the can's and cannot's, the do's and do not's, the right's and wrong's, of the moral/spiritual world. If that is the case, then there must be a definitive set of right and wrong. But, who dictates the right's and wrong's of our moral selves? Well, we do, in a sense. We decide what we will do, but just because we decide what we will do does not make that right or wrong, it just means that we exercised our free will. One argument is that if God is good then why is there such suffering in the world, and/or if God is good then why do bad things happen to good people? You are asking the wrong questions. Firstly, the question should be if God is good then why is there such evil in the world, but, if God is evil then why is there such good in the world? Witness the birth of a newborn baby, read your favorite poem, listen to the song that you and your spouse danced to at your wedding, look at your children. Those are truly good things, things that cause good emotions to flow up inside of you. Given, there is just as much good as there is bad in the world, but that does not mean that God wishes these things to happen. He allows them to happen for a time. For instance, on the walls of one the housing cells in a Nazi concentration camp one of the prisoners scrawled on the wall, "I believe in the sun even when it doesn't shine, I believe in love even when it isn't shown, I believe in God even when He doesn't not speak." That man, or woman, must have found some shred of good in her soul in the face of such evil. Anyone who would say otherwise is refusing to see the obvious. Is God evil? No. But, there is evil in the world, just because God allows evil to happen for a time does not mean that he endorses it and it certainly does not mean he is powerless. Just like a parent, sometimes you will allow your child to fall off of their bike, but you'll be there to help heal their wounds. You're children will undoubtedly have fights and cause "evil" to each other (speaking from my own sibling experiences ) but, you will love them both, unconditionally. God allows evil to happen because evil is the reality of our broken world, and it effects the "good person" and the "bad person" alike. Unfortunately, the truth is there are no "good" people. For we all have the capacity to do evil. Not doing it is no exception. We can, and we all have at some point. As "meaningless" as lying may be in this world, it is still wrong. Regardless, evil is the reality of imperfect people. The harshest evil is not the physical evil we experience though, it is the spiritual anguish that we (sometimes unknowingly) go through on a daily basis. We indulge in things that numb us to the pain that we perceive through our physical senses, unwittingly destroying the only hope for changing the physical evils in this world. I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, as the Son of God, to offer a solution to evil. Through salvation in Him, which offers complete liberty and true freedom, we are able to live a life that is full of the Spirit of God, enabling us to being true world-changers. Is God evil? Certainly not. Why would God allow such darkness in this world to go on? So that the Light of His Children should shine ever brighter. God is not evil. God is love (1 John 4..

(*Note: Is there such a thing as absolute truth? If your answer is "no", then is that absolutely true? Is it absolutely true that there is no absolute truth? If that is the case then there must be absolute truth in order for there to no be absolute truth. I recommend the book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", by Frank Turek...for those who are comfortable with stepping out of their comfort zones in regards to the question of Faith. I also recommend the website http://www.gotquestions.org, it has a good Q&A format, even if you disagree with the "A" part, we all ask "Q's". It also includes recommended resources outside of the Bible and the website. I enjoyed this question and hope that it causes more searching and questions. I hope that I did my part in this "online community" to, if not answer questions, to spark more questions. Good luck to everyone who is looking for the answer...luckily, I already found Him, and His name is Jesus.)

You know what's evil? A wall of text like that. You want it read? Break it up.

[Ceannairceach]

No, it mustn't. Morality is simple; If it harms someone who wasn't harming you, it is wrong. For example, murder and rape are wrong. The reason is because it violates people who weren't harming the attacker.

Those are basics which are fairly obvious (although it can be argued that almost any action is harmful). However, religions and many other organizations try to tack all sorts of other junk on top of that, and all think their exact version is truth and everything else is evil.

And they, inadvertently, support moral relativism in doing so.

[Keronians]

He didn't.

He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Eve was persuaded, and Adam was as well, and the Fall occurred.

1. An omniscient God would know this would happen

2. An omniscient and omnipotent God would have prevented it.

3. Adam and Eve didn't know what sin was, so how were they supposed to know it was wrong to eat the fruit? They could hardly be blamed.

Face it, if we suppose the story of Original Sin is true, he is similar to a parent who:

Has a pair of two-year-olds.
Puts an open cookie jar right in the middle of their playpen.
Tells them not to eat the cookies (they don't understand why they shouldn't).
Knows he has an obnoxious brother who has the keys to his house and would find it hilarious to trick the kids into eating the cookies.
Leaves the kids alone anyway.
Discovers that the cookies are gone.
Punishes his children by abandoning them in a dumpster.

EDIT: oops. double post.

God probably has inherent omniscience, not total omniscience.

[Keronians]

Is God Evil?

Well, that depends on what your definition of "good" and "evil" are. You must first have an idea of good and evil, therefore there must be an inherent knowledge of that good and evil. There must be an "absolute truth" prevalent in every human being. For there to be something good versus something evil, there must be an absolute somewhere in the equation. But, who establishes the absolute? No human being can establish any absolute law. For we do not establish the law of gravity, relativity, or the laws of thermodynamics. They are simply true because they are fact. Our universe is a universe of absolutes. The absolute truth, and scientific fact, is that if you sit a hot cup of coffee on the countertop and leave it alone at room temperature it will cool down. It will not stay hot forever. Nor will it randomly turn over and spill on the floor. This is because our universe is governed by a set of natural laws. If this set of natural laws dictate the can's and cannot's of the natural world, then subsequently, we must assume that there must be moral laws that dicate the can's and cannot's, the do's and do not's, the right's and wrong's, of the moral/spiritual world. If that is the case, then there must be a definitive set of right and wrong. But, who dictates the right's and wrong's of our moral selves? Well, we do, in a sense. We decide what we will do, but just because we decide what we will do does not make that right or wrong, it just means that we exercised our free will. One argument is that if God is good then why is there such suffering in the world, and/or if God is good then why do bad things happen to good people? You are asking the wrong questions. Firstly, the question should be if God is good then why is there such evil in the world, but, if God is evil then why is there such good in the world? Witness the birth of a newborn baby, read your favorite poem, listen to the song that you and your spouse danced to at your wedding, look at your children. Those are truly good things, things that cause good emotions to flow up inside of you. Given, there is just as much good as there is bad in the world, but that does not mean that God wishes these things to happen. He allows them to happen for a time. For instance, on the walls of one the housing cells in a Nazi concentration camp one of the prisoners scrawled on the wall, "I believe in the sun even when it doesn't shine, I believe in love even when it isn't shown, I believe in God even when He doesn't not speak." That man, or woman, must have found some shred of good in her soul in the face of such evil. Anyone who would say otherwise is refusing to see the obvious. Is God evil? No. But, there is evil in the world, just because God allows evil to happen for a time does not mean that he endorses it and it certainly does not mean he is powerless. Just like a parent, sometimes you will allow your child to fall off of their bike, but you'll be there to help heal their wounds. You're children will undoubtedly have fights and cause "evil" to each other (speaking from my own sibling experiences ) but, you will love them both, unconditionally. God allows evil to happen because evil is the reality of our broken world, and it effects the "good person" and the "bad person" alike. Unfortunately, the truth is there are no "good" people. For we all have the capacity to do evil. Not doing it is no exception. We can, and we all have at some point. As "meaningless" as lying may be in this world, it is still wrong. Regardless, evil is the reality of imperfect people. The harshest evil is not the physical evil we experience though, it is the spiritual anguish that we (sometimes unknowingly) go through on a daily basis. We indulge in things that numb us to the pain that we perceive through our physical senses, unwittingly destroying the only hope for changing the physical evils in this world. I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, as the Son of God, to offer a solution to evil. Through salvation in Him, which offers complete liberty and true freedom, we are able to live a life that is full of the Spirit of God, enabling us to being true world-changers. Is God evil? Certainly not. Why would God allow such darkness in this world to go on? So that the Light of His Children should shine ever brighter. God is not evil. God is love (1 John 4..

(*Note: Is there such a thing as absolute truth? If your answer is "no", then is that absolutely true? Is it absolutely true that there is no absolute truth? If that is the case then there must be absolute truth in order for there to no be absolute truth. I recommend the book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", by Frank Turek...for those who are comfortable with stepping out of their comfort zones in regards to the question of Faith. I also recommend the website http://www.gotquestions.org, it has a good Q&A format, even if you disagree with the "A" part, we all ask "Q's". It also includes recommended resources outside of the Bible and the website. I enjoyed this question and hope that it causes more searching and questions. I hope that I did my part in this "online community" to, if not answer questions, to spark more questions. Good luck to everyone who is looking for the answer...luckily, I already found Him, and His name is Jesus.)

You know what's evil? A wall of text like that. You want it read? Break it up.

That's unfair. People always read ASB's walls!

Though not me. I usually just skip over them.

[Farnhamia]

1. An omniscient God would know this would happen

2. An omniscient and omnipotent God would have prevented it.

3. Adam and Eve didn't know what sin was, so how were they supposed to know it was wrong to eat the fruit? They could hardly be blamed.

Face it, if we suppose the story of Original Sin is true, he is similar to a parent who:

Has a pair of two-year-olds.
Puts an open cookie jar right in the middle of their playpen.
Tells them not to eat the cookies (they don't understand why they shouldn't).
Knows he has an obnoxious brother who has the keys to his house and would find it hilarious to trick the kids into eating the cookies.
Leaves the kids alone anyway.
Discovers that the cookies are gone.
Punishes his children by abandoning them in a dumpster.

EDIT: oops. double post.

God probably has inherent omniscience, not total omniscience.

That's not what Jesus said: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 6:26).

[Samuraikoku]

God probably has inherent omniscience, not total omniscience.

Omniscience is omniscience, dude.

[Keronians]

God probably has inherent omniscience, not total omniscience.

Omniscience is omniscience, dude.

You have two types: inherent and total.

I personally think God has inherent omniscience.

[Marsadus]

Is God Evil?

Well, that depends on what your definition of "good" and "evil" are. You must first have an idea of good and evil, therefore there must be an inherent knowledge of that good and evil. There must be an "absolute truth" prevalent in every human being. For there to be something good versus something evil, there must be an absolute somewhere in the equation. But, who establishes the absolute? No human being can establish any absolute law. For we do not establish the law of gravity, relativity, or the laws of thermodynamics. They are simply true because they are fact. Our universe is a universe of absolutes. The absolute truth, and scientific fact, is that if you sit a hot cup of coffee on the countertop and leave it alone at room temperature it will cool down. It will not stay hot forever. Nor will it randomly turn over and spill on the floor. This is because our universe is governed by a set of natural laws. If this set of natural laws dictate the can's and cannot's of the natural world, then subsequently, we must assume that there must be moral laws that dicate the can's and cannot's, the do's and do not's, the right's and wrong's, of the moral/spiritual world. If that is the case, then there must be a definitive set of right and wrong. But, who dictates the right's and wrong's of our moral selves? Well, we do, in a sense. We decide what we will do, but just because we decide what we will do does not make that right or wrong, it just means that we exercised our free will. One argument is that if God is good then why is there such suffering in the world, and/or if God is good then why do bad things happen to good people? You are asking the wrong questions. Firstly, the question should be if God is good then why is there such evil in the world, but, if God is evil then why is there such good in the world? Witness the birth of a newborn baby, read your favorite poem, listen to the song that you and your spouse danced to at your wedding, look at your children. Those are truly good things, things that cause good emotions to flow up inside of you. Given, there is just as much good as there is bad in the world, but that does not mean that God wishes these things to happen. He allows them to happen for a time. For instance, on the walls of one the housing cells in a Nazi concentration camp one of the prisoners scrawled on the wall, "I believe in the sun even when it doesn't shine, I believe in love even when it isn't shown, I believe in God even when He doesn't not speak." That man, or woman, must have found some shred of good in her soul in the face of such evil. Anyone who would say otherwise is refusing to see the obvious. Is God evil? No. But, there is evil in the world, just because God allows evil to happen for a time does not mean that he endorses it and it certainly does not mean he is powerless. Just like a parent, sometimes you will allow your child to fall off of their bike, but you'll be there to help heal their wounds. You're children will undoubtedly have fights and cause "evil" to each other (speaking from my own sibling experiences ) but, you will love them both, unconditionally. God allows evil to happen because evil is the reality of our broken world, and it effects the "good person" and the "bad person" alike. Unfortunately, the truth is there are no "good" people. For we all have the capacity to do evil. Not doing it is no exception. We can, and we all have at some point. As "meaningless" as lying may be in this world, it is still wrong. Regardless, evil is the reality of imperfect people. The harshest evil is not the physical evil we experience though, it is the spiritual anguish that we (sometimes unknowingly) go through on a daily basis. We indulge in things that numb us to the pain that we perceive through our physical senses, unwittingly destroying the only hope for changing the physical evils in this world. I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, as the Son of God, to offer a solution to evil. Through salvation in Him, which offers complete liberty and true freedom, we are able to live a life that is full of the Spirit of God, enabling us to being true world-changers. Is God evil? Certainly not. Why would God allow such darkness in this world to go on? So that the Light of His Children should shine ever brighter. God is not evil. God is love (1 John 4..

(*Note: Is there such a thing as absolute truth? If your answer is "no", then is that absolutely true? Is it absolutely true that there is no absolute truth? If that is the case then there must be absolute truth in order for there to no be absolute truth. I recommend the book "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", by Frank Turek...for those who are comfortable with stepping out of their comfort zones in regards to the question of Faith. I also recommend the website http://www.gotquestions.org, it has a good Q&A format, even if you disagree with the "A" part, we all ask "Q's". It also includes recommended resources outside of the Bible and the website. I enjoyed this question and hope that it causes more searching and questions. I hope that I did my part in this "online community" to, if not answer questions, to spark more questions. Good luck to everyone who is looking for the answer...luckily, I already found Him, and His name is Jesus.)

You know what's evil? A wall of text like that. You want it read? Break it up.

Good one! Consider the entire post the incarnation of evil itself lol In all seriousness, it's not a question that can be answered with just a sentence. It's a deeper question than just "Is God Evil?" because there are branches of that question itself.

[Suidwes-Afrika]

But why did God allow the "Fall of Man" occur?

He didn't.

He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Eve was persuaded, and Adam was as well, and the Fall occurred.

In my opinion, they must have had some sort of supernatural manipulation by the Devil to doom the entire human race to the "Fall of Man".

Or could it have been the sheer agony of temptation? What everyone on NSG is so fond of saying: "You simply can't suppress 'natural' human desires."

[Vorond]

Funny, I so far never have met any religious person who had an answer to old Epicurus:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

[Deus in Machina]

He didn't.

He told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit. Eve was persuaded, and Adam was as well, and the Fall occurred.

In my opinion, they must have had some sort of supernatural manipulation by the Devil to doom the entire human race to the "Fall of Man".

Or could it have been the sheer agony of temptation? What everyone on NSG is so fond of saying: "You simply can't suppress 'natural' human desires."

Adam and Eve were right to eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. God was wrong to lie to them about what would happen if they did eat it. The Devil was right to tell them the truth. God was wrong to attempt to keep them in ignorance.

[Vitius]

And I also believe that.

However, the rapist may not. The rapist may think he is somehow (in a twisted way) helping his victim or 'gracing' them. I had a friend that had such a high self-esteem that he though his mere presence at a social event was an honour and benefited others.

It doesn't matter what the rapist believes.

Why is that?

[Suidwes-Afrika]

In my opinion, they must have had some sort of supernatural manipulation by the Devil to doom the entire human race to the "Fall of Man".

Or could it have been the sheer agony of temptation? What everyone on NSG is so fond of saying: "You simply can't suppress 'natural' human desires."

Adam and Eve were right to eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. God was wrong to lie to them about what would happen if they did eat it. The Devil was right to tell them the truth. God was wrong to attempt to keep them in ignorance.

I think that when the Bible was written, it was actually intended for the "Fall of Man" to have been a test for mankind.

Of course, Adam and Eve failed it, thereby ''dooming all of humankind".

[Ceannairceach]

It doesn't matter what the rapist believes.

Why is that?

Because, simply because he believes he is right in his actions doesn't mean he is.

[Deus in Machina]

Adam and Eve were right to eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. God was wrong to lie to them about what would happen if they did eat it. The Devil was right to tell them the truth. God was wrong to attempt to keep them in ignorance.

I think that when the Bible was written, it was actually intended for the "Fall of Man" to have been a test for mankind.

Of course, Adam and Eve failed it, thereby ''dooming all of humankind".

I disagree. They passed with flying colours.

Of course, if it was a test, the deck was stacked against them from the beginning.
First, the information God gave them at the beginning was false. He told them if they ate the fruit, they would die.
Second, that threat had no meaning. They were the first humans. No one had ever died before. How could they understand what death meant?
Third, they ate the fruit after the Devil exposed God's lie. He told them that the fruit would educate them about good and evil and give them the faculty to judge between them.
They discovered that their creator lied to them in an attempt to deprive them of a moral compass. They concluded that this creator wasn't worth obeying.
The million dollar question is, why would God want his creations to be unable to distinguish good from evil?