Very well said, LEJ. I've always thought along similar lines. The lessons in the Bible are well worth the study, which is why it continues to be the best-selling book in the world. But I take exception with the folks who insist that mankind is only ten thousand years old in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Even inspired by God, the writers of the Bible were unaware of modern science, and therefore unable to fix events accurately in geologic time. They did the best that they could, IMHO.

Many events in the Bible have been discovered to be historically accurate. I admit this even though a skeptic. Perhaps even the Great Flood. This makes the Bible an invaluable historical document, not to mention some of the moral values it teaches. (Some parts of the Old Testament, I'm not so sure about, morally).

LEJ, you mentioned that God created the sun on the fourth day. What's interesting is that this is after he created the Plants, which depend on light for photosynthesis. I think that if the folks who wrote the Bible had understood this, then the contradiction would not exist in the Bible. It would have been the other way around. Now, I've debated with folks who believe that there is no contradiction, that "God could have made the plants without light if he wanted to". I myself don't buy that. It implies a lack of planning on God's part. More likely is that the folks who wrote down this "beginning" did not understand the relation between plants and light.

In any case, evolution certainly exists. American kids are gaining weight, while kids on the other side of the world are losing weight. Before long, we'll throw the earth off it's axis, all the hydrocarbons in our air will center over Antarctica and explode, sending us into a collision course with Mars, which will then be known as "The Really Red Planet". I'm not sure if all this agrees with "Revelations". Thanks for indulging me, BlueJay