Realist,
It was only in my former life that I had all of the answers. Nowadays when it comes to these topics, all I know is that there are certain aspects of nature – not the least of which is the human species – that are miraculous to me. At the same time, as I've said, I've seen no meaningful reason to believe that there's presently a god who even knows about planet Earth or cares. Then again, maybe there is one and this life is just one big experiment of his that helps him find how to place us in the next life. The one that counts.
As for evolution and the "certainty" that we come from primates, I'm troubled that they are no missing links. Why are there bonobos and chimps but no homo erectus or Neanderthals when the latter are supposedly superior. IOW, why would a superior species die off and a lesser one live on? I've never seen a satisfactory answer for that.
OTOH (if I don't seem confused enough), generally speaking I do believe that evolution is the way much of life got here. But I also think that life is just to diverse and complex to have all evolved from a ancient soup. Most, maybe, but not all.
I'll take your word for it that the universe isn't as complex as it seems. Seems pretty complex to me. If there's a designer and he/she/it made some major goofs, I have no problem forgiving them. It's probably a little better what I could do and seems to have worked pretty good so far.
If intelligence can only come from "an intelligent source", whence comes the intelligent source? – FunkyD
Realist would say, "from chimps." Zechariah would say, "from god." I'm comfortable saying, "I don't know."