Camille, very well said. This planet is special. Like the fact earth has a transparent atmosphere. Why is it the only planet in our solar system that has observers on it has an atmosphere clear enough to observe the wonders in the heavens.
rrt, you said,"Evolution is fact regardless of how the universe, solar system, and Earth formed, regardless of how many worlds support life, regardless of how life first formed here. And it has nothing to say about any of those things."
That is such a bias statement. Evolution does try to answer how life formed, through natural selection. But natural selection...selects out of information that is already there. There has not been one observation of even one mutation that has created new genetic information.

Watch this video: http://www.answersingenesis.org/AnswersMedia/video/frogPrince.aspx

Camille:

You need to do some research into the formation of the Earth and solar system. There are quite thorough scientific explanations for these events, and a huge portion of our space science efforts are directed at further researching them.

You assert that the Earth was specifically created to support life. But you have no scientific basis for such a claim--no one can prove such a question of purpose. More importantly, Earth is not as unique as you describe. We know it is at least possible life has existed, or still does, on at least two other worlds in this solar system. We now have very good evidence that Mars once held far more water than it does today. Europa still likely contains massive quantities of liquid water beneath its icy surface, and there are quite a few other worlds containing large quantities of water ice. Water does indeed "float around in the cosmos and just land on planets." It happens here regularly, and likely happened much more often in the past. If we are looking for Earthlike planets, the staggering number of stars in this universe might be a good place to look--we now know that many of them do indeed have planets. It's rather silly to ask why Sol has only one Earthlike world since an important part of that classification is the orbit Earth occupies...and therefore no other planet here can.

And, perhaps most important of all, we have no reason to assume that life must obey the "rules" we see here on Earth. We live here, so of course, the only life we know is that outside our windows. It is not reasonable to claim that therefore, these are the only conditions under which life may exist. Further, we are continuing to discover life under stranger and more extreme conditions on Earth than we had ever known before. We have life living in boiling hot springs, deep frozen cold, under ridiculously harsh chemical conditions, deep within layers of rock, burrowed into methane ice, and surviving on photosynthesis in places with absolutely no sunlight! The rules of life even on Earth are nothing like we once thought they were.

None of which, I need to re-emphasize, is relevant to evolution. Evolution is fact regardless of how the universe, solar system, and Earth formed, regardless of how many worlds support life, regardless of how life first formed here. And it has nothing to say about any of those things.

You say: "Scientists try to tell you that you can get a lot of something, from absolutly nothing. That doesn't sound very logical or scientific to me." But this, and the general nature of many of your questions, suggests that you have very little understanding of what science, as a concept, is. Aside from the general problem of the way you characterize the Big Bang, much of what you ask should be covered in most any good high school science class as well as the fundamental basics of the scientific method--and sadly, too often is not. Science education is poor in the US. Science is not a matter of "well, that doesn't sound very scientific to me!" Science is a matter of research, of observation, of material, testable, demonstrable evidence. Your analogy of Columbus ignoring the majority opinion about the flat nature of the Earth is flawed in that the majority in that example had no scientific evidence to support their claim, whereas evolution has more than enough. Of course, it's now suspected the prevailing opinion in Columbus' day was that the Earth was round.

I hope I don't seem too harsh in what I'm saying here. I have no lack of respect for you as a person. I note from your personal site that you are quite a faithful person, and you seem very serene and comfortable in your faith. I think that's wonderful...but I wonder if you perceive evolution as a threat to that faith. Personally I think evolution and faith should not conflict, but if you wish to reject evolution as a matter of faith, that is certainly your choice. But please, come to understand the biology of evolution better, and do not confuse faith with science.

I love it when people say that you are closed minded because they have a different idea or they oppose your idea. As a close minded person I have some questions to the open minded scienctist wanna be's. This planet was created specifically to support life. No other planet is anything like our planet. Orbiting the sun is lots of dead rocks called planets. Why is this the only one with over 70% of it covered with water that supports life? If it evolved then why don't the other planets have water on them? Where did the water come from in the first place. Water doesn't float around in the cosmo's and just land on a planet. I have one more question. What about the big bang theory. Scientists try to tell you that you can get a lot of something, from absolutly nothing. That doesn't sound very logical or scientific to me. But they try to tell you that Creationist Theory is not scientific. Don't believe evolution just because the majority of "intellectuals" say it's true. The majority of the people are not always correct. The majority of the people in nazi germany thought that killing jews was correct. People thought that Columbus would sail over the edge of the world because the majority of the people were sure that they were correct also. Don't follow the majority of the crowd. The truth of the matter is that they could be very very wrong.

'Fraid the question seems rather vague, Interested. What exactly do you mean, name something Man has made out of nothing? Are you referring to something like conservation of energy or matter? It's true that matter cannot be created nor destroyed by means we're familiar with, but it's also true that matter can be transformed in ways most people would think of as creation or destruction. Specficially, it is possible to create particles of matter from energy or destroy such particles, converting them to energy. Both have been done. That just underscores the fundamental relationship between matter and energy.

As far as I can tell, the only real question of creation relates to the origin of the universe itself and possibly some very "out there" aspects of theoretical physics, which suggest creation and destruction of matter and energy may be an ongoing process in the universe. Ultimately it's a worthwhile avenue of study, though irrelevant to the study of evolution.

You have a lot of interesting views that are being marred by the opinions of closed-minded people. I am a devoted Catholic yet I can still see how Evolution played a part in the development of everything around us. Obviously, through time, everything has evolved to some degree. One thing I am puzzling over is creation of man-made things. God created the materials but man made things out of those things provided. Name one thing that man has made out of nothing.

Hi Ryan. I am interested in the origin of life also and I saw your blog and checked it out. I don't know what your life is centered in. Sort of like ships at sea, we either drift or follow the north star and gaige our position by that star. What are you grounded by. My website is about the Living God. He is sort of like the north star to me. I know where I am by gaiging my position toward or away from my life with Him. I have a question and I am very curious as to what your answer is. I was wondering what you see in your future after your body has died and your brain no longer functions. I don't know, from a scientific viewpoint, what your answer would be. Do you have any hope for the future beyond your years that you are conscious or do you believe that human beings will be like Rover. Dead all over. Thanks, Camille

you are really cool

Nice space here...

Full of exciting info...

Keep it up!

Keep smiling :)

Got ur footprints on Komal's space...

ur space is really something! i love this debate going-- its fascinating to read what everyone thinks or feels or believes.
just wanted to say hi and let u know that im adding a link to ur space on mine.
keep smiling, and good luck with ur work.

Ryan, enjoyed reading your blog and all of the comments here! Keep up the good work. I like the healthy skepticism on your part :-). We are too easily satisfied with half-truths and lies -- let us test all things and hold on to what is good. Let us pursue truth -- whether it leads us to discover sovereign God or no God at all. I think we will all be stunned by what we discover!

Blessings,
Igor

Wow Ryan, That's really awesome! Too bad I can't get to New York I'd love the chance to hear you out in person.