Sephiroth

Simple, conduct tests to find out which one is sadistic enough to be willing to kill off almost the entire human race simply because they wouldn't do his every bidding. The sadistic one would, of course, be good ol' Yahweh.

Carlos

I'm not sure that you could tell.

The Devil, we presume, would have no qualms about using deception to make you think he was God. And God - well, what do we know about God? "God works in mysterious ways." Understanding is limited at best. It is entirely possible that God would act in a manner we would attribute to the Devil. So, while the Devil would fool us intentionally, we might be fooled by God - in some cases, not always. Our judgment is not reliable. We could very well mistake one for the other.

A key consideration is the Devil's power of deception. Is he limited to lying, or do his abilities extend beyond that? Think of The Matrix. In the matrix, the Devil (or Jimmy, your 12 year old neighbor) could manifest himself as God. If the Devil were able to reshape your view of reality, how could you tell the difference?

The mind reading thing (and other powers only available to God) works only if God is willing to use those powers. But since God might be unwilling to show us, we still have nothing definite, nothing we can always rely on.

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: Carlos ]</p>