Sure the true religion was perverted by Constantine's forced conversion. However, before that took place Christianity was still growing even though Emperors such as Nero burning Christians alive to illuminate his gardens. Must be something to it.

Most of what you mentioned are man on man atrocities, God has nothing to do with it. Assuming atheist believe man is nothing more than an animal, diseases such as cancer are merely natural ways of curtailing the population indiscriminate of age.

If I’m remembering my Protestant upbringing correctly

… the Old Testament says only Jews could go to heaven as they’re the chosen people

… everyone else burned for eternity

… then in the New Testament God changed his mind and said us sorry gentiles were allowed an opportunity if we believed in Jesus his son

… I feel sorry for the poor folk that died before God changed his position lol

Rockcrick I may pray for someone's healing but understand that ultimately it is God's will whether they be healed or not. I'm fine with that.
If I were an atheist I would have know problem understanding that human diseases are no different than other animal diseases. I wouldn't curse natural selection.
As for predestination, God may ultimately know what your going to do in life but allows you the free will to choose your path. So you decide whether you are going to punch someone in the mouth, not God. He simply knows before hand what you will choose.

Seems to me your vision of God is like a genie in a bottle who is only there to grant your wishes. Otherwise, he does not exist.
Does the lump of clay tell the potter what to make?

Seems to me there is no wrong answers with religion. If the toddler dies they arent suffering anymore and are with god......if they survive it was god answering your prayers.

I don’t think of God as a genie in a bottle. I don’t believe he exists. I don’t believe other religion’s gods exist. I think it’s all nonsense. I think the bible, quran, book of mormon whatever it is were written by powerful people in history so they could manipulate the masses into doing what they wanted. It is pretty easy to control people with the threat of eternal damnation. Why is there so many versions of the bible? How do you know it wasn’t manipulated by kings to control people? The King James version? Sure sounds like King James wanted it rewritten to fit his narrative no?

Hypothetical question for you J. If you had a young child, a toddler, that had a terminal illness. You would pray for them yes? You would have other people pray for them like on the church prayer list yes? If that child fought, suffered and ultimately died. Would you say it was gods plan to end their life in a horrible suffering death at 2 years old? Or would you be angry, that the most innocent in the world suffered that fate and start to question your faith. Really put yourself into the shoes of that hypothetical question. I’ve seen the worst things happen to the most innocent and I’ve seen the most evil humans on earth thrive and live a full life. That’s why I can’t get on board with religion.

I am more than happy to share my perspectives and debate the subject with you J. You won’t change my mind and I don’t feel like I’ll change your mind but that’s okay to agree to disagree.

…. One of my favorite stories from the bible is where god told Abraham to sacrifice his son

… he tied his boy up and went to stab him to death or something… then an angel showed up and told him god was just kidding dude…. You don’t really have to do it lol

…. It’s a weird religion for sure