we're overlooking nothing. many of us have read the bible and found it among the most absurd writings we've ever encountered. we now look elsewhere for answers. your bible holds no authority whatsoever so quoting it is less then meaningless.

Okay Spider since you are getting annoyed I went back to read what you wrote.

First, your statement is that we would be required to know "all of God's goals" for the universe --- this assumes there is a God and that he has goals for the universe.

For someone, like you, who believes in God, this may sound like a logical argument; but for someone who does not believe in God, they can see that this is a huge assumption and premise to assume.

What I am saying is that you would not logically argue that God's actions are "stupid or cruel" if you did not believe in that God in the first place.

And if you do not believe in God, your argument that one would have to know what God knows and know what God's goal for the Universe is, is not a valid argument UNLESS AND UNTIL you assume the premise that God exists and that God has a plan for the universe.

All you are saying is... you don't understand God and his behavior because you just don't have all the facts or because you don't know what God knows.

This assumes there is a God and he has a plan and if you knew everything then you would "understand" his reasons for his behavior.

Hence forth, we just have to "have faith" that this unproven God knows more than we know and that he knows best, so we should not question his authority.

I question all authority, and the only so-called authority I have found or seen is the Church, or the Bible. These things are real. But no one has seen or spoken to the almighty God himself, so we cannot accept him as real. He is not a real authority, so I can't question him.

Another fact is that nobody "knows everything."

Well, there's huge problem with this assumption anyway. According to the Bible, even if God did have a plan it had already been thwarted.

This can only imply one of two things:

1. This god is already inept and incapable of carrying out a plan.

OR

2. It was god's plan for mankind to fall to sin.

If #1 is true, then the God is already inept and the whole thing falls apart right there.

If #2 is true, then mankind never had a chance and couldn't possibly be held responsible for the plans having gone haywire.

So it's a lose-lose story no matter how you slice it.