[QUOTE=Valteron]
I think you should sit down and have some smelling salts ready. I am about to DEFEND belief in God.
I realize that argument by anaology is frowned upon by the rules of logic, but analogies can have some validity in giving us new views or approaches to a problem.
Some theists almost seem to be saying that God is unable to effectively make himself known NOT because he is not omnipotent but because our understanding is so limited compared to that of an omniscient being.
It has been pointed out that if God appeared in the sky or something, millions would still say that it was a trick, or the work of the devil, etc.
Even if God appeared right next to my computer this second, how would I know, in a world of Pixel animation and holograms, that it is really real?
This might also apply to the problem of suffering. The answer might be that there is an explanation, but WE are too limited in brain power to understand.
Consider this analogy. I am, (grant me this for the sake of argument 
) much more intelligent and knowledgeable than my cats. At least a couple of times a year, I grab them, put them in cages, and take them to a man in a white coat who probes them, sticks needles in them and does all manner of indignities to their feline person. And not only do I allow this to happen, but I hold them down while this horrible man, who smells of DOGS!, does this to them.
Now, try as I might, I will never be able to explain to my cats how vaccination and veterinary medicine work. In fact, they cannot even understand human language except for a few words like “Din-din!”.
I frequently leave them all alone in our condo and go off to work. They do not like to be left alone. But if I do not go off to work, I will not have the money to pay for the nice furniture they claw, the food I give them, etc. I must have money in my bank account to do this. Would anyone like to suggest a way I can explain this series of causes-and-effects to a feline mind?
So is it impossible to bridge the communications gap created by the differences in my intelligence and the intelligence of a cat? No, because there is one channel of communication. It is love. I love them and no matter what cynics say, I am convinced that they love me. Their desire to be in the same room, to get up and sleep on the end of my bed, their greeting me at the door, their desire to be touched, etc., is, I am convinced, a form of love.
Conclusion: It is possible that when two beings are separated by a large gap in intelligence, there may be cases where the superior being must do or allow things that appear pointlessly cruel, but that are in fact justified. It is simply that the being of inferior intelligence may not be able to understand the explanation.
But love, whatever it is, is a medium of communication that can still bridge the communications gap.
I am still an atheist, but if there is one theist argument that seems plausible, it is that one.
[/QUOTE]
Love what you say about cats. I have been an animal rescurer for most of my life, especially cats. They can reason and are very intelligent. I had one cat that learned to open doors by turning the door knob. They respond to love, they know when someone loves them. I have walked into a strange place where they was a cat and picked that cat up and petted it. The owner would be amazed that the cat let me pick it up. They know.
