The idea of god and the teachings of religion are superstitious and show discrimination and cruelty

I shall start off by saying that I think you are one of the most realistic Christians I have talked to and I admire your willingness to listen and keep an open mind to an opponents argument. It cannot be denied that there are some ignorant atheists out there who don't research what they preach but I in all honesty I really try to steer away from that. Whether I achieve it or not I am not certain but please know that my intentions are good. Now, You say that Jesus often used hyperbole's to exaggerate a point. What I want to know is who decided that is was hyperbole? Who decided which parts were hyperbolic and which parts were not hyperbolic and where was the line drawn? Is it that the harsh and cruel stories and bible passages are seen as hyperbolic whereas the light -hearted ones are taken as they are written? Likewise, who came up with the notion that when God/Jesus was posing a test when saying "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them." From that text alone I find it very hard to conclude that an ultimatum is being posed. Back to the homosexual aspect. You say it's justified because the bible was written by man, trying to understand the word of God. I am glad you brought this up as it is one of the main reasons why I reject the teachings of the bible. How can so many people follow a text which claims to explain everything about the origin of the life such as who created us and why we are here and how we came to be here yet it was written by men who knew SO much little about the universe than we do today. The knowledge difference is remarkably great. Why would you follow a superstitious belief when the actual true explanation is already there. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." You say that this could mean homosexually isn't actually a sin in the eyes of the Lord. Whether it could or not, this keeps coming back to my point of who came up with such theories and why did they feel that it needed to be sugar coated, because it is so cruel sounding? I am glad to know that you follow all parts of the bible instead of cherry picking the cheerful parts. I do not doubt your sincerity for your faith but for me I cannot commit my whole life to something that seems so unlikely whether it's because Science is disproving bible myths every century, the fact that thousands of gods have been invented over the centuries or the simple fact that the world contains so much misery. Surely God would not want this misery for us? Even with the whole notion of giving us free will I can't see how he can still be so strongly worshipped after events such as the holocaust or the world wars or the death of a helpless African child every few seconds. He did supposedly create a child to die for our sins so why can't he be held accountable for his own lack of intrusion and allowance of mass misery and hatred? And you do say that he can do anything he wants. I cannot disprove that a God didn't hold accountable for evolution I can only say that it is a fact of occurrence. That much is down to belief so I will leave it alone. I do not for one second hope that religion becomes extinct that is not my desire at all. I merely want to suggest to people to research it and seek the truth and realise that a lot of religious teachings are immoral and unjust, minus whatever theories or metaphors people invent for them and that when weighing up the arguments, the chance of a God existing is possible but very unlikely. I would love to believe in miracles but I just can't without evidence. There is plenty references of miracles in the bible so why aren't they being carried out today? Bearing in mind that the definition of a miracle is that it is a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is considered to be divine. Lastly, I feel that I have showed that a lot of the teachings are in fact immoral and cruel if you take out some anonymous attempt of man trying to sugar coat them. I could say that a man who walks in to my house and kills my family is a metaphor for the lack of appreciation in which we show for our family sometimes. You see, it is quite easy to link anything to anything in such a way. You just need imagination and something to hide.