Editing Misotheism (section)

==In Jewish and Christian scriptures==
{{Main|Ethics in the Bible#God's benevolence}}

There are various examples of arguable dystheism in the [[Bible]], sometimes cited as arguments for [[atheism]] (e.g. [[Bertrand Russell]] 1957), most of them from the [[Pentateuch]].
A notable exception is the [[Book of Job]], a classical case study of [[theodicy]], which can be argued to consciously discuss the possibility of dystheism (e.g. [[Carl Jung]], ''[[Answer to Job]]'').

[[Thomas Paine]] wrote in ''[[The Age of Reason]]'' that "whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God."<ref name="Paine1819">{{cite book|author=Thomas Paine|title=The Political and Miscellaneous Works of Thomas Paine ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZYIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA4-PA13|year=1819|publisher=R. Carlile|pages=4–}}</ref> But Paine's perspective was a [[deism|deistic]] one, critical more of common beliefs about God than of God himself.

The [[New Testament]] contains references to an "evil god", specifically the "prince of this world" (John 14:30, {{lang|grc|ὁ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἄρχων}}) or "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4, {{lang|grc| ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου}}) who has "blinded the minds of men".
Mainstream [[Christian theology]] sees these as references to [[Satan]] ("the Devil"), but [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]], [[Marcionism|Marcionites]], and [[Manicheanism|Manicheans]] saw these as references to [[Yahweh]] (God) himself.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}