"So your evidence for creation is your bald assertion that the universe could not exist apart from being created by a supernatural entity? Do you have evidence for that assertion?"
Yes. The chances of this universe existing for us to exist. Even Stephen Hawking is at a point where he reconizes the need for God to explain the perfection and apparent chances for everything to have gone right for such an impossibly-existing universe comming into existence. The chances I think are like 1 in 10 to the 63 power. And that's just for one factor. There are perhaps at least 75 factors necessary..if you think of all the chances for all these factors to be right and perfect for our existence, then personally, I think, it requires more faith to believe it happened that way, than to believe God is responsible for creation.
"So, what was your evidence that God entered time at precisely where the matter/energy ratio was 1/1?"
It's a theory. To explain a possibility which explains what we observe today: the bible says 3 days passed when God created the earth. With that end result, I work backwards, using all science available to me today to come up with a sound theory.
"Since creation preceded the existence of humans (and life for that matter), we are not likely to find such a document. If one was uncovered, and verified to be reliable as an account of creation, then it would serve as evidence of creation's hypothesis. "
Such a document could be created. Easily. You're not thinking temporaly. God created Adam, and it was most likely that the account we read in Genesis is actually Adam's account of Creation and the beginning of history as God told him who in turn told his family - for then on the whole world would know through "accepted" family history. This oral account was passed down 14 generations, through the bottleneck of Noah, to the time when Moses was born, and it was finally recorded in the Hebrew original from which copies exist today. Though this account could have been recorded much earlier, and quite possibly may have been a book on Noah's ark - but that is just speculation using common sense.
"If you accept the idea that the Bible is the word of God, that would make the basic premise that "God created" a given. It would still be a faith position, not based on evidence."
As I said, mathematically, it makes sense to believe in a God than to accept the impossible chances for the existence of existence. Ultimately it is a faith issue, no matter which side of the fence you are on.
"It would not even require one to abandon science, because the Bible doesn't say that man did not have a common ancestor with all other living things, just that God is the one that created man and other living things."
If you believe that, then you're missing the idea that God destroyed every liviing thing on the world in Noah's time, so where only Noah and his family survived. Noah is a direct descendent of Adam.
"However, I am kind of skeptically minded, and I will tend to dismiss those considerations unless I can hope to see some evidence to confirm them."
Might I suggest a website:
http://www.mooreonlife.com It's currently down for maintenance, but when it's back up, I invite you to listen to the Real Audio message answering the 7 common objections and questions about Christianity, God, and Faith.
"As I mentioned to s0uljah, I have no problem with philosophical ideas of creationism. I only have problems with attacks on science inspired by certain, very specific, unsupportable views of creation."
You will be surprised to find then, that you and I are on the same team.
