Does your colleague write on Medium? It is more likely that someone who doesn't believe would be likely to consider God evil. It's possible he/she has some kind of agenda.

You don't seem to be reading very carefully what I'm saying. I am suggesting that the ultimate Ground of Being is the source of both good and evil, unless anyone can come up with a convincing argument otherwise. The verse in Isaiah agrees with that, both light and darkness, peace (good?) and evil. Therefore I do not have to address why my opinion differs, nor do I believe that God is evil.

On your lengthy commentary of the Garden of Eden story, it is unlikely that anything I say is going to change any of your opinions, so I'm not going to go through it point by point. It all depends on how you interpret the myth. My interpretation is somewhat different from yours. You have already read and responded to it, but if you want to have another look:

The Garden of Eden Revisited. This is the last of four articles in… | by Graham Pemberton | Medium