Hi Streetvision
There have been so many good comments here. Thought I would answer from a different angle, something that I posted on another site, but seems to apply here.
Your question reminded me of myself about 35 years ago. Thought you might want to hear about it.
"I was raised in a liberal "Christian" church that taught there were mistakes in the Bible. I swallowed it whole, never asking them to show me the mistakes so I could check them out for myself. Instead, I became an atheist for about 12 years. Then I made the mistake of playing the Ouija Board, and became demon oppressed. I quickly realized the reality of the supernatural world. More than that, I would pray when the strange things would happen, and they would immediately stop for a time. That proved to me that there had to be a good supernatural being who had dominance over the evil.
As I was terrified, I started searching various religions to see where the truth was. The puzzle pieces finally fell into place when I read The Late Great Planet Earth, a book on Christian Evidences about Biblical prophecy. It showed that past prophecies had been fulfilled 100% of the time, and convinced me there had to be a God guiding the writing of the Bible. There was a Gospel invitation in the book, and I accepted Christ as my sinbearer at that point.
I have been saved for 33 years now and it just gets better with time. The God of the Bible has never, ever let me down.
I have come to realize that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is unique - we do not obtain Heaven by our own good works. Salvation is based on Christ's goodness, not our own. We receive eternal life when we make the decision to trust in Christ alone to pay for all our sins on the cross, (past present and future), and trust in Him to take us to Heaven one day, without any good works of our own. (Rom. 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, I Peter 3:18, and John 3:16). The Bible says also that we cannot lose our salvation (see "gift" in Romans 6:23 and Romans 11:29 and also John 10:28-29 - we can't even take ourselves out of God's hand). I hope that you will make that decision. "
You said, StreetVision, that you feel drawn to the Bible - in the Bible it says that the true God draws all people to Himself, and that the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (in other words, of the need for a Savior).
As far as the creation/evolution/theistic evolution debates, it helps me personally to interpret the Bible this way: I take everything literally, unless it's impossible to do so (there are some figures of speech, such as when the Bible says the mountains were dancing for joy). By interpreting the Bible this way, I find it's never let me down. The Bible itself says it is without error.
For further study (other than the Scriptures themselves): Studies on God are in the bookstores under Christian theology or Apologetics (not apologies, but things like cosmology). Studies from external proofs (such as archaeology) on the inerrancy of the Scriptures are found under Christian Evidences. A couple of websites are: rbc.org and probe.org
May God bless you in your search, Streetvision - sounds like you're off to a good start. As you ask God for guidance, He'll show you the way. I'm praying for you.
Aloha in Christ
