My view is that I have none of these answers, and happily so, now that I am free from the headache. I have decided that the
mess you end up trying to form these theologies, just leads you into error ultimately, and speculation.
Look at all the different views in this thread alone. Who has the
one true golden revelation?
Do you honestly think anyone does?
I believe in the bible but I only read it as a spiritual guide of truth for all humans.
I see it like this; There could be planets in a galaxy far far away
with life on, even beings such as us. Why doesn't God give us the answers to everything? People have lived and died wondering what exists on the other side of the universe. Because we are ants hoping to find Australia - the only thing to do is accept our size. It doesn't matter if we could travel at the speed of light - such is the size of the universe, our action will never match our
wonder.
Evolution, creation, time, universe, space, dinosaurs, aliens, arks, billions of years, the higgs boson. Ultimately nobody knows what happened in it's entirety. The truth would probably be more odd than any of us can imagine.
We can guess, and stay loyal to that guesswork. Personally, I can't even be bothered to speculate anymore. If boffin-the-prof tells me we're all spaghetti in a can, I don't mind. My own "beliefs" allow that
whatever is true is true, including all of the answers I don't want to hear. Atheism etc...It's the only honest belief system possible, and I don't want to lie to myself in order to comfort myself.
Perhaps this is why I don't mind anyone's ideologies anymore - and tolerate them all. Because at one stage I had them all, so I understand why each person thinks the way they do. And it's good to know that I don't have to think them wrong - because my mind is open to any possibility.