[Deathstar 80]

Thanks for the reply, Deathstar. I know that you are sincere in your faith, and I applaud that. In answer to your question, yes - I have studied philosophy. I had four years of Philosophy in college. The cosmological and teleological arguments that St. Thomas Aquinas put forth, and Matman posted are very typical of the arguments for the existence of God that are taught in universities around the world. The cosmological arguments were really first posited by the early Greek philosophers (Plato and Aristotle), and have been developed more fully throughout history. If you are interested in that line of debate, you might also want to read some of the writings of David Hume, for a counterpoint (the argument against the existence of God, from the teleological point of view).

You're very first line says "by faith you are saved ...". That is an excellent point, and you would have done well to stop there. It is by faith - and faith alone - that one accepts the existence of God.

In my case, my desire to believe is simply not strong enough to overcome my ability to reason. In your case, your desire to believe has allowed you to suspend any need for empirical proof.

Though I do not share your faith, I do respect it. I simply don't agree with your conclusion. There are certainly no hard feelings toward you on my part - and I sincerely hope that you can extend me that same courtesy.

Thanks for your courtesy. You said that your desire to believe is simply not strong enough to overcome your ability to reason. You should definitely use reason when deciding on what to believe. Blindly believing in something (whether it just be because you were raised up with that belief, told to believe that, etc.) is obviously very bad to do. Yet, it's dangerous to believe in our own reason as well. If you look at a math problem, it just takes one simple mistake to get a completely wrong answer (Such as accidentally subtracting when you supposed to add. I hate it when I do that!).

Once again, this is why I really like bible prophecy. With the questionable inaccuracy of science (and maybe even philosophy), we can use Bible prophecy to accurately know whether or not the Bible is true.

Where did the inorganic matterial come from in the begining?

This reminds me of what philosophy states. Something can't come from nothing. Therefore, how was the universe made? We must then assume the universe has existed and will exist for an eternity. I'm pretty sure the Bible suggests this.