Was at least the first life form created?

[rjh4 is back]

or are we just supposed to believe it because it was written in this book?"

Yes.

And therein lies the problem.

While you might run into many Christians that would answer "yes" to that question as Minimalist says, I would not say that. If you really want to find out whether or not the Bible is trustworthy and Christianity is worth anything, do the research for and against and decide for yourself. I agree that if Christianity and the Bible cannot stand the scrutiny, then why believe or trust it. From the things I have read for and against, I have concluded that it does stand up to scrutiny (I already know some of your are thinking: "What an idiot.", so feel free to refrain from actually responding that way.) (Please note here that if you have already done that and concluded that the Bible is not trustworthy and Christianity is not worth anything, then there is no need to read any further.) Anything I could tell you regarding these subjects you would not accept anyway because you are skeptical to begin with (and I am not saying that in a negative way that is just how it is, or seems to be). I think that in doing the research that you should read the Bible in its entirety, research what people say are contradictions in the Bible, read the proposed answers for the issues and make a decision. Much has been written on both sides of this issue so if you want to make a reasonable decision, I think you need to consider both sides. On the Christian side, I would suggest the writings of anyone who set out to prove Christianity and the Bible wrong and ended up changing their mind. Josh McDowell is one author that I can think of that would fit this description and the book Evidence that Demands a Verdict. In fact, that book will also provide references to authors on the other side of the issue. I think you should start out by seeing whether the Bible is trustworthy on issues that can be confirmed in history. If it is not trustworthy there, then choose not to believe it in other areas. You might say at this point that even if it is trustworthy on these points there is no reason for me to believe it on the other issues because the Bible could be wrong on those other issues anyway. Maybe so and if you take that position, I'm not sure I can say any more. I think it should be kept in mind that any Bible in English is a translation and if you run into troublesome sections finding out what the Greek or Hebrew actually says can help. Furthermore, to be fair and reasonable, the standard for confirming or denying the trustworthiness of the Bible should be the same as one would use for other ancient writings.

Note, I answered above taking Darwinian's question at face value. If Darwinian was being sarcastic, you can ignore all of the above because if I had known this, I would not have responded at all.