I'm looking for a tidy way to end this discussion because I've decided what many others before me have decided: don't argue with creationists, there is no point.

Strawman: setting up a false representation of your opponent's argument and then knocking it down. Saying "rocks turn into people" is a classic strawman. If you haven't heard this word much until now, go find some scientists to argue with and you'll hear it plenty because they don't believe "rocks can turn into humans" either.

I also object to your constant use of the word "believe." What do I believe, believe, believe. What I actually believe is that many things are possible. Believing in a possibility does not equal dogmatic, religious style belief -- that this idea is the ultimate truth and everyone else is wrong.

I said that according to the theory of abiogenesis, organic (not inorganic) molecules became self-replicating. Not cells. Self-replicating. This would have been the very beginnings of some of the components inside a cell's nucleus. You can deny this possibility all you want but you seem to have no logical basis for this; your arguments seem to consist of the fallacy of the argument from incredulity, coupled with the fact that The Bible Says Differently.

If by "evidence" that you have for creationism, you mean the Bible, then I and many others are simply not convinced that this is a scientific document. The Bible is full of logical inconsistencies; I could point you to several web pages that list them exhaustively. It's also strange that if you look in the fields of biology and geology, including people who prospect for oil, the numbers of creationists equal pretty close to zero. When faced with hard evidence that others would perhaps like to avoid, they have to accept the truth of what they see. You wouldn't be very successful at finding oil if you are going by Biblical flood geology. Ask Glenn Morton. http://home.entouch.net/dmd/dmd.htm#mom

Finally, I'm going to ask you to stop the patronising tone. It goes something like this. Russ, you know not what you are saying. You are being fooled by people in power who are conspiring to pull the wool over your eyes and you believe everything they tell you. Do your homework like I have because then you will see the real truth. There is no evidence for your position though there is much for mine. You just don't understand do you.

See? So very easy to say to someone else. Pretty insulting, and it includes no facts whatsoever.