This.

Don't forget angels.

Can you please tell me what it means, in your interpretation?

I agree with this in so far as I imagine that the vast majority of atheists don't self-identify as atheists but simply have never given the issue any more thought than they give to the existence of unicorns (for example, my father falls into this category) but this is certainly not true for the atheists who post in this forum. I don't think you are suggesting this anyway.

I agree with the bolded as well. I think it's a shame that this forum has a dearth of theists who are actually presenting intelligent arguments for theism. As much as shooting down the easy fallacies that get churned out here is amusing, it's not very intellectually stimulating. Given that you don't post very much, maybe it would be worth recommending to jon_midas a list of the better writers on the subject. Personally I think Plantinga is pretty decent, but I'm sure you have other suggestions.

However, I think you are slightly guilty of begging the question. To say that one's stance on theism is "the most important decision" presupposes that it's plausible and would have any consequences. It would be obviously unreasonable to make the same sort of epistemological imperative for 'ancient alien' theories, so you seem to be advancing some version of Pascal's Wager.

Angels were created before humans.

And unicorns were created before angels.

OK, so please let me know if I have this right (to put it in a nutshell), God created in this order:

1) The Heavens
2) Angels
3) Humans, other earth creatures

wtf? Is Hopey just chopped liver, or what? Unicorns before Angels. Get it right.

I disagree. There is nothing in any of the verses about unicorns that suggests they came before angels:

Numbers 23:22 – God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.
Numbers 24:8 – God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.
Deuteronomy 33:17 – His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
Job 39:9 – Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
Job 39:10 – Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
Psalm 22:21 – Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Psalm 29:6 – He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
Psalm 92:10 – But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.
Isaiah 34:7 – And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

did god use evolution and natural selection to create the angels too?

The Bible doesn't actually give the order, AFAIK, but most theologians think the angels were created before man and after the heavens, since Satan was already in existence and fallen when he went in to the garden, and obviously the heavens were already there. Now I'm tired of all these difficult questions, how about something easy?

waddayamean2?

You have an interesting translation. I put my trust in Hopey.

Do most theologians tend to let Milton shape their view of the heavenly realm more than the Bible?

First, where does it say Satan is a fallen angel, and where does it say when he was created?

Second, when does it say Satan was in the garden? It says serpent. No one ever say it was Satan until the New Testament 1000+ years later in a very allegorical/apocalyptic book.

Third, was man made before or after other animals?

Just playing serpent's advocate with these questions.

My guess is most theologians don't read Milton. Probably, Milton read most theologians who preceded him, i.e., pre 17th century.

For the rest, the Bible doesn't specifically say all of what you ask so it isn't dogma, just interpretation. It also isn't very important theologically.

As for man, 6th day, last of the creation.

Edit: Of course, Satan was created, as was everything that isn't God, which the Bible does specifically say.

Obviously the Bible predated Milton, but my point is that Milton took a lot of liberty because there is not much in the Bible on the topic. Therefore so much theology is just evolution of thought over time and not even from the touted holy book.

Even when I was a Christian I had trouble with the idea of the devil, because he/it was a completely different creature everytime we encountered him: a snake one second, buddy buddy gambler of sorts hanging out with God in heaven the next, then prowling "like a lion", then who knows what in Revelation. It's very hodge podge and probably the first thing in my theology to go.

Devil's advocate again:

If man was as you say "6th day, last of the creation" then what about Genesis 2:4-7?

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being

Also, out of curiosity (no pun intended), what is the verse that says everything is created but God?