I appreciate your comments. Smokey, I've been regretting using the term "straw man" all day. I am truly sorry I used it because it could have been taken as implying dishonesty on your part. That was not my intention at all. That is not what I think. What I should have said is this: "I've got my hands full explaining what Young Earth Creationists actually think. I can't also take time to explain what they might think, but don't really think. They don't think that the universe was created Monday. If you know anyone who thinks it was, ask him about it. I know no one who thinks that. I don't think it. It is not consistent with what I think and hope I know about God."

With respect, I didn't say it for you to use as a straw man either; we both know that no-one thinks that, and that it doesn't matter. I'm trying to ascertain why you believe the universe was created 6000 years ago, when it apparently could have happened at any time under the conditions you describe. If our understanding of fossils or carbon dating, for example, can be illusory, then so can our understanding of the Bible and its history.