The universe existing as a byproduct of God?

[KevinM1]

Many people believed the earth was flat and that illness was caused by demons and curses.  Why did they believe that to be true?

C'mon Steve, you're smarter than this.

Sure, why not believe the earth is flat when you live a little section of the globe and lack the ability and the tools to find out. Were people irrational to believe such a thing? No.

I'm sure some people thought that demons and curses were the cause of problems. Remote tribes still believe that. Was that the common understanding of say the first century Roman empire? I don't think so.

You know what was the common understanding of the first century Roman empire? 
1) people did not line up and get healed from all manner of very common maladies (blind, crippled, leprosy, etc.); 
2) people did not have power over the elements (walk on water, water into wine, weather, etc.); and
3) people did not have power over death.

So when they saw such things:

A) they believed them to be true, 
B) upon hearing the message of the one performing such things, they believed his claims to be true (that Jesus was the messiah) and 
C) this is an important point, they did not understand the complete picture until Jesus rose from the dead. 

I'm curious, since you think the first century Christians' beliefs were not true, what is your theory of why they believed they way they did even before the NT began to be written?

You have to prove that they saw these things before you can move on to A.  Then, you have to successfully demonstrate that what happened (again, if anything did happen) was indeed miraculous.  Why?  Because the issue at hand isn't whether or not ancient people thought they were miraculous, but whether they actually were.

Ultimately, you're acting like the supernatural events - the things in question - aren't actually in question when they most certainly are.

Also, I also don't need to provide an alternate theory.  It's up to you to meet your burden.

You keep relying on the old "People wouldn't believe in a lie" meme, which just isn't lending any strength to your position.  Demonstrate these things.  Provide evidence.  Don't rely on appeals to ancient (or even modern) popularity.