oh, and of course, creation is an indicator that he is, greg !

bill, a lot of the above has bearing on your post too.
"...they don't begin with a claim..." I have read lots of atheist claims here. and of course the underlying assumption is that we all and everything came from nothing. I suppose I could do the atheist tactic and say, you cant prove a negative, so maybe it could make itself. only trouble is, it would not be entirely honest, as I believe it accords with science and logic to say there must be a creator.
it may "bother" you that I describe atheism as a religious belief, but I am not intending to leave atheists comfortable in their unbelief, it seems to bother you, even as a "skeptic", but I guess we can agree that we speak from our own perpestive
"..God as an eyewitness." I was not trying to convince you of that, merely expressing what my preconceptions are. I am fully aware that I could never provide enough evidence to convince you of the bibles trustworthiness....let alone the crusading atheists.
having said that, your dismissal of my explanation for the [minor] mistakes, fails to take account of the much greater agreement of most of the mss with each other. despite gregs claim that gen 1v1 does not read the same in the Wycliffe, there are, I am sure ,no biblical ms that say anything other than God creating, and in 6 night/day cycles.
that is further attested to in ref to the Sabbath commandment [exodus20 v 11], so it is clear that deep time is not taught in scripture.