Quote - Scientists put the creation of earth at about 20 - 40 million years ago.

Try 4 billion. Yes, with a "B". I don't know where you heard 20-40 million, but I have corns older than that... And in those 4 billion years (with a "B"), scientists are discovering that life has existed for as much at 3.4 billion of those 4 billion years.

Quote - "the theory that we evolved from a single homo-erectus species says that we went from Homo Erectus to highly varied Homo-Sapien in under 2 million years. The Diversity of the Canine species took 10 million years to get to today from thier single ancenstor.  How did we evolve so monumentally fast?

Erm, mutations can and do happen with amazing speed at times. For instance, for a major human mutation (such as skin turning from black to white) can take as little as 20,000 years or less - a mere second in geological terms. Some germs and microbes can manage a major mutation in mere weeks.

The simple fact is that human beings have very vivid imaginations and we, being a very inquisitive animal, feel an overwhelming urge to explain everything around us, even if that means making something up to tell around the campfire. Just because something was written on an ancient clay tablet, while interesting, does not make it true. I can go outside right now and chisel "The sky is red" on a piece of stone and 5,000 years from now - if someone can interpret it - do you think they'll really be asking "I wonder why the sky was red?" More than likely, they'll be thinking I was drinking or smoking something interesting or telling a good story. And when PhilC said "it's on the internet, therefore it must be true" is no less ridiculous then "it's on an 8,000 year old clay tablet, therefore it must be true".

I will concede that life came from somewhere else in so far as perhaps the building blocks of life - the amino acids and enzymes, water, etc. - were more than likely carried here on another rock that hit the planet way back when. Perhaps even on a chunk of another planet blasted away by a comet or asteroid where microbial life had just begun forming. Other than that tho...

Laurie