[TheRealThing]

RealThing, your above post mentions evolution vs creation. Basicly one is based on scientific research and years of evaluation that is always subject to change and progress as improvements are made in various science disciplines. Yes, evolution is a theory in general, but almost all the scientific community around the world accept it as fact. The other, creation, is based on faith and the supernatural, or magic, which is okay if all the proof you need is words written 2,000+ years ago by shepherds and other people of the ancient middle eastern world.
I don't think anyone really knows the complete answer to how we got here or what happens afterwards. I tend to lean toward the scientific answer, but I think a large majority of people, in various religions around the world, feel it's safer to apply Pascal's Wager as an insurance policy, which says God may exist or may not exist but it is safer to take the position that He does exist because if He doesn't and there's nothing after we die then we really have't lost anything....but if he does exist then you lose everything. But the question then leads us to which of all the world's religions is the God that is the right one.
And the biggest question of all: If God created the universe and everything in it, who created God?

Don't get me wrong. If you're dead set to deny that proof of God's existence is lacking, that is your privilege. The point I made at the beginning of my post was it is far easier to accept that all the life and all the matter that makes up the universe was created by God rather than an exploding rock. To that point I would ask, who created the rock?

And, not wanting to appear confrontational but, as I mentioned, acceptance of the notion of evolution is based in faith, not science. The basic surmise dreamed up by Charles Darwin goes as follows. While observing Marine Iguanas that dove under water during high tide to feed on the algae that grows on the rocky shores of the Galapagos Islands, it occurred to Darwin that these lizards must have once lived in the sea. And, that their feeding behavior must be a hold over of that past life, as they re-entered the water each day to feed. The point is, the idea of evolution popped into Darwin's head prior to any known geologic proof or discoveries in the fossil record.

The scientific community has since continued to build and put together a very impressive and extensive body of data to support the basic premise of evolution. The problem with their work is that never has there been found so much as even one transitory life form, an absolute prerequisite to the plausibility of evolution. They have however, concocted all kinds of charts and divisions that depict man's imagined bridges between animals they say evolved into the animals we see around us and are alive today. They retro engineered a hypothesis to give Darwin's theory credibility. Scientists didn't follow a trail of evidence to conclude that man evolved, they took his assumption and used science to build the elaborate guesswork which is the theory of evolution. No transitory life forms, no evolution.

But to your point. I have much more than words written two thousand years ago. The fact that within those words, are thousands of prophesies that have been perfectly fulfilled with out so much as one failure, is none the less incredible in and of itself. Ironically for this discussion, God has revealed Himself to every man through creation. Romans 1:20 (KJV)
20 "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"

BTW, if you're suggesting those who are brave enough to defy God are also willing to risk the Judgment and, those of us who have kneeled before Him are scared. I can live with that. At any rate, whether the words one believes are 2000 years old and inspired by God. Or, 150 years old and written by men. You and I are still compelled to accept them by faith or reject them by contempt.