So, I had a bit of an epiphany today.
I have a ridiculously hard time believing in evolution for many reasons. I won't go into them all right now, but suffice it to say I'm not a backwoods Bible thumper. I've read all about why evolution should exist, and I find the argument low on evidence. It doesn't make sense to me and never has. Furthermore, it pisses me off that schools are forced to teach it when, much like intelligent design, it's only a theory. I agree that schools shouldn't teach the Bible, specifically... But I think the idea that the earth was created by SOMETHING is at least as legitimate as evolution. But that's an entirely different story.
Anyway, my realization today (probably not new to people who spend lots of time thinking about these things) is this: if evolution does exist, why isn't there life on other planets? I mean, if there was a big explosion from the ether and the solar system was invented, logically the particles that make up Earth are the same particles that make up all the other planets. Everything is made from the same basic stuff. So, the very same "stuff" that supposedly came together to create a cell here on Earth has to be on other planets as well. What stopped that stuff from coming together on Jupiter or Venus? Okay, one could argue that our atmosphere was the only one conducive to life forming, but that's not really the case- the atmosphere on Mars is reasonably similar to our own- similar enough that it could support life. Besides, Evolutionists claim that species adapt to their conditions- there are bacteria that live inside volcanoes, even bacteria that can survive without oxygen! So why couldn't cells adapt to conditions on any other planet, even though those conditions might be less than ideal? It just doesn't make sense!
This isn't the only reason I believe what I do, by far... But it's a reason I hadn't considered until today. I'm certainly not the world's greatest Christian. In fact, I don't even really like Fundamentalism, per se. I just don't think we got here by accident, and to me there's simply more evidence to support this notion than there is to the contrary.