Faith is like a small brook that starts high on the mountain side and as more water is added to it from the canyons and crevices, it becomes a mighty river of power and strength."

That's beautiful, Two Bears, but water ya tryin to do? Drown me???
;-)

Do you have some evidence to the contrary that I am missing? I am not sure what you WOULD consider "compelling evidence" if all those skeletons and careful dating of changes do not convince you. We have taken photos of Earth from orbit, but there are still a few folks who declare it non-compelling and state that is is obvious that the Earth is flat....I don't know what to say...*shrug*...

Bill I certainly didn't mean to imply that the world is flat or that the theory of evolution is nothing but hogwash! I only wanted to point out the differences between what is true rock-solid "knowledge" and what is "theory" or "faith". I don't know why "religious" scientists refuse to acknowledge the DNA evidence as "fact", but here's a couple ideas that have nothing to do with religion ...

DNA testing is still a new technology using new equipment/hypotheses etc which are continually being tested and modified, possibly leaving previous conclusions in doubt?

The inevitable conflicts between the conclusions of different researchers?

The difficulty (if not downright impossibility) of claiming ANYTHING as "fact" about what happened on this planet millions of years ago, when NO ONE WAS AROUND TO DIRECTLY EXPERIENCE IT! The theories and the means of testing them are relatively new, and of course scientists themselves make human mistakes. Scientific investigation has been known to start out with faulty premises, produce selective "evidence" to support those hypotheses, then draw questionable conclusions which are bandied around as "facts" ... until another investigator "proves" otherwise.   

It may ultimately be impossible for science to "prove" the theory of evolution! So what? In my understanding to date, there is no conflict between the theory of evolution and spirituality. It's not "Creation or Evolution but not both", it's "Creation IS evolving, as it always has!"

My best guess is that human spiritual consciousness/awareness - the aspect of human nature called "Soul" - didn't become part of our nature until physical evolution had produced the "wiring" (ie brain development etc) necessary to accomodate it. (If that's true, your dates would give some clue as to when that happened!) And that "Soul", (ie personal spiritual consciousness/identity), continues to evolve just as our physical bodies do.

But to accept something like the theory of random mutation would take a GIANT leap of faith, for me anyway. That the wondrous variety of life-forms on this planet, the "miraculous" structure of even ONE LIVING CELL of our bodies .. (which science STILL cannot explain, much less duplicate!) - are the result of "chance" is just too unlikely a premise for my logical mind to swallow, Bill.

That's like saying -- "Oh Beethoven didn't write the 9th Symphony -- there IS no Beethoven! This chaotic cacophony of tones was swirling about in the airs of infinity and somehow accidentally (and quite randomly) arranged themselves into beautifully ordered and aesthetically pleasing melodic phrases, harmonic progressions and complex musical structures - and voila! There's the Ode to Joy! No kidding! You just GOTTA 'believe' it!"

As for me ...

I'd much rather "know" I'm Divinely Created
Than try to "believe" I was randomly mutated!

:-)   daylia