“Only an all-wise and omnipotent Creator could have been responsible for the miracle of life’s origins and the diversity and complexity of its amazing systems.”
It’s easy to agree with this.
Doing so, however, does not mean one also must also agree that it all happened ~5700 years ago over a period of six days.
What many "Christians" will find out is calling yourself Christians doesn't make you a Christian. There will be many that will Hear from Jesus, "I never knew you". They will be the foolish virgins in Mat 25 that are left behind where they "buy and sell". Most Christians think taking God's name in vain means cussing, but what it really means is calling yourself a Christian while calling Him a liar. Being the Bride of Christ means we take His name, but if you have His name, do you say He lies? A wife would not do that.
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul explains that God will give us up to a debased mind, because we will not admit that He is Creator. He explains that we will think ourselves wise and become fools by doubting Him. Have we given up the use of the woman and have vile passions and are doing things not fitting?
If a preacher told you the cure was to repent( 2 Chron 7:14) and replace evolution with Creationism in school was the cure for the explosion of Homosexuality, would you see the connection or call the preacher a fanatic weirdo? Introducing evolution was the start of the explosion of evil that is overtaking us today. Read verses 28-32 and besides the sodomy thing, all the others are on the rise. Verse 32 tells us those that agree with these things are as guilty as those that do them, so if you vote for homosexuality, you are guilty of homosexuality or abortion, or any of the other sins listed.
Logically speaking, if you disagree with Genesis 1 and 2, exactly how do you logically explain Jesus rising from the grave? Being born of a virgin? Raising Lazarus? Healing the blind, deaf, and cripples? Where do you exactly draw a line? Peter tells us a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day for God. Is he telling the Jews that there will be 6 thousand years and then a "day" of rest will come with Jesus ruling and reigning for 1000 years?
God tells us he uses the foolish things to save us, such as a man living a sinless life, laying it down for our salvation, rising from the dead after 3 days, and ascending into Heaven. Is there anything in that statement that is any more impossible than God speaking the world into existence?
I was born again at 43 and accepted the literal meaning of the Bible, and my Spiritual life suddenly made sense. When you accept what God has written as it's written, you can suddenly see the Spiritual message he is trying to say to His children. If you can't or won't accept it, will you really be His child? If we worry about someone ridiculing us on FR, are we really a believer? I read the Bible several times over and never saw Jesus admit to His followers that they came from apes or pond scum, and the earth is really billions of years old. Satan OTOH, asked Eve, "Did not God say" and then say, God lied and you will not surely die. Did not Satan temp Jesus with His own Scriptures taken out of context and Jesus came back with the Word of God to Satan to send him running? Do you really believe you can call God a liar and ever hear "Well done" good and faithful servant?"
If we follow the Word of God, we see many places where God defied the law of physics. Can a man walk on water? Has a scientist tried to replicate that? They can't replicate even an amino acid formed on its own, so how will life come from non life without supernatural intervention? It is a dangerous game to gamble with your eternal soul because some atheist says the Bible isn't true and it's the dictionary example of lukewarm to take some and leave some. You will not be allowed to be on the fence in your heart.
You said, “Doing so, however, does not mean one also must also agree that it all happened ~5700 years ago over a period of six days.”
Just have the honesty to admit that the Bible story of what happened is what you are denying, rather than just assert loudly that it does not mean what it actually says.
I often wonder what the big hullabaloo over creation is all about. We are here, and that is a fact.
Do I care if “God” made us from clay? Do I care if were made by higher level creatures to act as intelligent slaves? Do I care if I am a spiritual being confined to the body to serve some bigger purpose?
Do I care that I am a collectiob of single celled goop that was hit by lightning?
I dont care or worry...or hardly think about that stuff. There is nothing I can do about it. Nothing is going to change it.
I CAN focus on what I do today and how I treat myself and others.
The rest is a pretty bungled mess of “creation” stories—each trying to out do each other.
Everyone is free to believe what they want. I just think its funny to see Scientists and Creationist twist their logic to fit the model.
Correct, our time does not equal God's time. What a day is to us is likely a fraction of a blink of an eye to our Lord.