Hi there, Bill Hahn,
some interesting insights, some interesting questions, but not quite adding up as logically as you want to live life by logic. Dr. Dale Gottlieb, who once was an Ivy League physics professor, explains something you must know. You say it is doubtful whether my way or your way is truthful. There might be an afterlife, there might not be. 50-50 chance. Being a reasonable person, I would have to say this: supposing I'm wrong and there is no after-life - what did I lose by living my life according to the most amazing set of laws that we have and learning to self-discpline and self-control based on these laws. If however, I'm right and you're wrong, you have much to lose by not living by those laws. Therefore, no one ever lost by living life according to the dictates of the G-d given laws, because if we are right, we lived life right and get our reward - and if we're wrong we still lived life, albeit with some restrictions and guidance, but with no harm. Ergo, a prudent person might decide to live a life guided by the belief of after-life, just to keep his after-life safe if there is that 50% chance that it exists.
Having said that, let me reassure you that I know it to be 100% true, but that I can't convince you of that 100%, so am taking the high road with keeping it 50-50 in this discussion. ;)
As for those who complain that the good things happen to the bad folks, etc. You were born in the midst of things and die in the midst of things. You cannot see from one end of the world to another, nor can you see from the beginning of time until the end of time. You see only one small slice of a play and think you can make a judgment call about the entire work of art. Only when you sit through the whole screening can you really grasp what is going on. Until we get to the next world, we won't be able to say "aha" because it is only then you will be allowed the full screening and you will see that life is extremely fair. However, I noticed that if you start paying attention, you can see glimpses every now and then.
As for the image of G-d concept, that is what is problematic with taking a Bible concept out of context. We are asked when we learn, "what does it mean that man is created in G-d's image" and the answer, folks, is not that we are mirror images of G-d (it doesn't say that - to bolster the rabbi's insight, the word used is B'Tzelem, which does not mean a mirror image - it means a statue- but I digress so back to what does image of G-d mean). Image of G-d means that we are given free choice, just as G-d has free choice. That is the whole of it. We can choose bad. We can chose good. Just as G-d can do the same.
Being the aunt of a darling Downe-Syndrome child, I take offense that folks think they are a mess-up, an error, so to speak, a bad thing. My sister knew she was carrying a Downe-Syndrome child during her pregnancy and was a high risk patient because of blood-clotting issues. She could have gone about her day and the fetus would have been aborted. However, my sister realized that human definition of perfect is imperfect, so she made sure to have that be a viable pregnancy, being bed-bound for most of it. When her daughter was born, she named her Basya, which means daugther of G-d. Yes, she is different than other children, but what makes her less than perfect. She is created the way she needed to be created for the role she needs to play. Each instrument in a band brings its own unique tone to the music. Each person is a different instrument in the music of the world. No one should think a drum imperfect because it appears to our judgmental eyes "less sophisticated" "less perfect" than the highly-polished, intricately strung, highly-sensitive guitar. They are just different instruments, just as I am just as imperfect or perfect as my darling niece.