OldMan,
I was reading your creation account and I find myself in a similar position. I can't ignore the science and, so far, I am forced to recognize that God's activity evidently isn't very supernatural. You seem to be saying that God did his work through the natural processes that science is in the process of identifying. This leads me to the question of what it is that God does now. People of faith believe he enters into relationships and works miracles of healing and timing, but, I can't ignore that this activity is almost entirely anecdotal and as such, subject to emotionally held points of view.
Richard Dawkins seems to take delight (Blind Watchmaker) in pointing out that if you buy into evolution, God becomes superfluous, and while this bothers me, I can't really come up with an argument showing how God's supernatural intervention is active or necessary. Though I would really appreciate some direct revelation - speaking to God like those old testament guys - it seems to me the real 'spirit' is contained in narrative stories (fiction). But that's my own particular tangent.
What I find troubling in your account is the part where:
> At some point in the development of life on this particular planet a
> species eventually evolved to the point that it became capable of
> communication with God. And he then endowed that life with an eternal
> spirit and began to reveal himself to us.
The "eternal spirit" thing just kind of sticks out like a sudden retreat from science into fantasy. It seems that many humans just assume we have eternal spirits, but I can't seem to find even biblical support for this idea. I'll try to find my old notes and be more specific later, but the Hebrew and Greek terms used for spirit seem to me to imply little more than 'life' and seem also to be used in connection with other animals. I don't see that a spirits 'eternal' nature is ever implied, and why would it be if you're working with a resurrection model?
I wonder if 'eternal spirit' isn't just a word for "I don't understand what makes something alive." and that it has been used primarily by humans to give themselves a sense of superiority over all the other animals. Though I have found new testament descriptions of the Holy Spirit praying for the things I don't have words for, on my behalf, and hope that It does, I'm hard pressed to describe how this works, and in any case, it isn't my eternal soul, it's supposed to be a manifestation of God.
Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing your reasons for positing an eternal soul, and why a soul would be necessary.
Scott