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Oh, I totally agree about the belligerence aspect. I anticipate that this thread will devolve into name-calling and ad hominem attacks here shortly (unfortunately, because that does nothing to further any real discussion of the issue).

As far as what God's motivation might have been, I could not possibly have a clue. My postulation was based solely on my observation that all of the living elements of God's creation were reported in the Biblical record as having been created in their mature form. It's only a small leap to the possibility that the "dead" (read that non-living, if you will) elements of creation could have and should have been created in their mature form as well.

Mind you, whatever conclusion you come to about our origins, it must be accepted on faith. Unfortunately, nobody can produce a videotape of the big bang or of creation, so you must look at what evidence we have today and decide how it got here.

I guess for me, it just fits better that the complexity we see all around was the product of an intelligent designer, rather than finished products that somehow sprang out of the random noise.

I believe that everything in the universe was created by an intelligent designer (namely, God)from nothingness (i.e., the Big Bang). I believe that from the Beginning until today, the whole process took billions of years. Such a timeframe, though boggling to us since we only live 80 or so years, is nothing to a timeless God.

So, though I don't believe that God created the world fully-formed 6000 years ago, I do believe He started the whole process billions of years ago.