Then why did he create pain in the first place? Under that definition, if there were no pain, there could be no right or wrong and everyone would be happy.
This goes back to the book of Genesis - Man didn't so much as know wrong or evil before acquiring knowledge, and therefore pain wasn't necessary in the Garden of Eden. I think this is a broad metaphor on the uses of knowledge for the right purposes, to avoid bringing pain unto others. Pain is thus a deterrent, but it's also a consequence and not a cause. Creationism versus evolution aside, I'm not the kind of person that believes the Bible is to be taken at face value - as it was written by men and much was undoubtedly lost in translation twice over. It DOES, however, offer a good deal of acceptable moral advice, if you learn to take the lessons from it through a filter of your own perception, rather than take it directly.
He created the universe and the rules, but that doesn't mean his rules are to be followed. If you look at the rules he created, there is a good number of things I personally consider to be very wrong, but god (the Christian one) doesn't have any troubles, for example, giving the life of a man a set price.
And yes, god condemns souls to hell as per the little book of his.
God doesn't give you a gun and tell you to shoot people. That's all you. He also doesn't keep you from doing so, except sometimes if you have such a strong belief that a man's life is sacred that you can't get yourself to do so.
To me god doesn't have any right to judge us at all. He personally created rules under which we are born as sinners and die as sinners regardless of our actions. If I am born a loser without any choice, I think the rules need to be changed very, very quickly and that's where I jumped into action and created my own little rule set. So far I am doing just fine.
This goes back to my argument that the Bible isn't to be taken literally. Consider this: Man needs something to believe in. Man eventually comes up with the notion of God. However, upon spreading the notion, Man realizes his fellow men and women do not share the same view of God that he does. Therefore, Man writes a book of metaphors and whatnot teaching people how they should be better men and women. To enforce the notion there is a need to better themselves, Man comes up with the notion that everyone is a sinner from birth and therefore must strive to become better.
Sociologically speaking, God was the first form of law enforcement. The Ten Commandments, when you think about it, are the ONLY part of the Bible that's written in the form of an order - everything else is within parabole and metaphor.
As for the "right" to judge us, I don't think that's God's job, specifically. Our deeds are what make our souls lighter or heavier. Therefore, we send ourselves up or down.
What about the difference between god's attitude in the Old Testament, in the New Testament and in Islam? He goes from vengeful, heinous bastard to loving hippy tree hugger/you're all going to die and burn in hell if you don't love me, back to vengeful hateful bastard except this time he's mad at the Jews and what's them all dead. If he's the same god, he's certainly bi-polar which makes him imperfect. Not to mention all of his crazy little rules that send you to hell: "Don't mix clothing fibers" or "Don't eat shell fish."
This is because the Bible is made up of several authors. God as a character is inconsistent because he was conceived by several different people. It also goes back to my point of God as the first form of law enforcement - you can't really make people do the right things if you're a lovable character, the simplest form of reinforcing behavior is fear. It's like dressing up one of the Care Bears with a police uniform and saying he'll shoot you if you disobey him. Who'd hold back thinking of that?
Of God's omniscience - again, back to my initial point. The easiest way to do something without facing the consequences is keeping anyone from knowing it. The notion of God being omniscient is thus made to keep people from thinking they can escape punishment. It doesn't matter what you do to cover it up, God knows you did it. The easiest way to prove this is: we know God isn't devoid of feelings. Therefore, if he sensed mankind about to turn in on itself - over him, no less - do you SERIOUSLY think he wouldn't act? The only other possibility assumes he CAN'T act, in which case God would eventually grow mad at his powerlessness.
It's funny, I usually don't back up the Big Guy's existence like this.