The Epicurean problem can be broken down into.3 main categories.. That evil which humans do.. which is explained in many theodicies by free will, which God gave to man. Natural.evil such as child lukemia or volcanic activity, for which there is no coherent explanation, and Evil which God does, such as hell and certain acts of the old testament. For which again the only.response is to trust in God's wisdom. of course there is an easy answer to these questions.

But I'm not touching the subjects of causes of evil, or whether the act of the existence of Hell is justified. I'm asking whether the existence and operation of Hell makes God (the same infinitely good God that allows an infinte amount of joy to happen in Heaven) an infinitely evil being as he allows an infinite amount of suffering to happen in Hell?

Well you saying God is evil because evil exist is a bit extreme. If someone e told you that their son raped and killed young women do you put the son's actions on the parents? That makes the parents guilty of the same acts? No, the parents merely created the son. GOD created evil and in the abrahamic religions are open about it. They dont hide GOD created good and evil both. At the same time GOD made a way NOT to GO TO HELL so what does it matter? All one must do is a simple thing & avoid hell. People chose not to do the simple thing. People go to hell for not doing that one simple thing.

I'm not actually saying God is evil because evil, as a whole, exists. I'm providing a point of view that says God is evil because there is an infinite amount of evil he is directly responsible for - the infinite suffering inflicted by damnation in Hell by none other than God himself, so your example with the son and parents isn't really applicable here. Furthermore, it seems to me that some infractions that lead to Hell - homosexuality, for example, it seems to me like a rather overkill punishment to damn a soul for all of eternity for practicing homosexuality. (Just an example.)

See The Problem of Evil : the issue is still open.

On the Abrahamic conception the "good" is that which is in accordance with God's will. Therefore, if the Hell exists it is inherently good (some Christians deny its existence though, due to the kinds of concerns you have). One can rationalize it by saying that the sinners earned their punishment, and not delivering it would be the greater evil. And we have no clue as to what sorts of punishments God delivers in Hell, let alone any basis for doing the finite/infinite arithmetic on them.

You are assuming some particular definition for "good" and "evil". Who created that definition, and why do you (and we) accept their authority to do so?

It's such a good question that the answer has its own word in English: "theodicy". Theodicy:noun noun: theodicy; plural noun: theodicies the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil.

See reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/…

In many orthodox interpretations 'eternal' does not necessarily mean infinitely long, it means in a way that transcends time or renders it irrelevant. By that standard, your life here is an opportunity to learn to accord with God's will, and if you fail, the difference you have with God is then resolvable (given any amount of time, it would remain). C.S. Lewis suggests that knowledge of that is itself a punishment, and it is eternal. If you take that at face value, dismissing other mythologies associated with Hell, it is neither good nor evil, it simply is.

This question is based on false doctrine. You've presented a generalization of alleged belief without a single specific citation for reference. This is essentially a rehashing of the old 'problem of evil' (without the appropriate tag for it), already asked many, many times. So it's a duplicate as well.

Possible duplicate of Is it unfair to eternally punish people in hell if determinism is true?

I raise until you the trilemma of Hell. Define: God is good Assume: a man who will be evil if given the choice Choose: * Mankind has no choice but to not be evil. Ergo: love does not exist. * Evil men go to hell forever. * Evil men are destroyed utterly. C.S. Lewis wrote that Hell is locked from the inside. This but pushes the trilemma back one level of abstraction and does not change it. Propound to me a choice where you would call God good. Even if you manage to find a case that I have not heard, I doubt you can change the outcome.

There's a hole in my trousers. My trousers are in my wardrobe. Therefore, there is a hole in my wardrobe.

Original sin wasn't very nice either, but we get to blame woman for that, or some bs...

This all relates to the Problem of Evil. If a god is all powerful, allows evil to exist, which requires punishment, then he is himself more evil than his creations, for he requires that you believe in him or suffer the worst fate he can fathom. A good god would imo have created everything perfect. Creating a garden with the potential to sin, is by definition not perfect.

@Logikal GOD created evil and in the abrahamic religions are open about it. They dont hide GOD created good and evil both. At the same time GOD made a way NOT to GO TO HELL so what does it matter? All one must do is a simple thing & avoid hell You just laid out the exact reason why one should find god abhorrent. It sounds like forcing people into a building, setting it ablaze and saying: "I've left the door open, all you have to do is leave!"

@Lee, the whole concept about free will is NOT FORCING people to do things. You are ignoring that your choice is what matters. Choose wisely and you avoid punishment but you could choose the other way freely as well. How can you blame someone else for what is in your mind? How can you blame God for you being able to make poor decisions? If life were perfect as you think it should be why would anyone NEED a GOD? Your point of view is like a human parent having ungrateful children. The children think they are GODS and everything is about them. You want a God to be a slave to you.

@Logikal What seems rather illogical to me is that there is a standard of behaviour to which everyone is FREE to adhere to, with rather terrible punishment for NOT doing so. If the government put a rifle to your back and said "you're free to labour in this here uranium mine", does it still seem unforced?

@Ivan Talanov, the issue with your analogy is that the rifle is a negative incentive for human compliance . Do what you are told OR ELSE. . .. A God does not make an offer like that. There is no negative incentive over your head or in your face. Your result is YOUR CHOICE. The rifle to my head is NOT my choosing. Why is there rifle or a negative incentive period? Give a case where nothing negative occurs & you are free to choose positive or negative. The point is the EXIT strategy for HELL is to honestly believe in God. That is you dont do it just for the result you desire --that is bad.

It should have been pointed out at the very start, that the English translation, "suffer" in the KJV bible doesn't mean physical pain or torture in either the original Hebrew or Greek scriptures. I did point out in my answer, that Hell = [final, with capital D] Death, aka "the Grave". The bible also states that the dead know nothing, so they can't suffer in the manner that many have envisioned.

Show me the scripture that says human beings will suffer eternity in Hell (not true), and I will show you the proper, accurate translation. The only beings to spend eternity in Hell are the Beast, the False prophet, and the Devil (according to actual scripture rather than false Church doctrine, which is what you have presented here in this highly inflammatory question) -- all of which are Evil. To destroy Evil cannot be evil, that's silly.

I voted quite early on, to close the question for that reason (it's inflammatory), and also because it is based on false doctrine therefore false premises. I guess I should have flagged it as well.