In a way, I suppose, I have followed Darwin's example by throwing away the 'standard texts', both secular and sacred, and, instead, taking my inspiration from the world I see around me. Darwin really stuck his neck out and stood up for what he could see with his own eyes: the world was not created, but rather it developed ('evolved') starting with one simple lifeform, which then spawned a new, more complicated form, which then either survived or failed. The survivors then went on to spawn new forms again, and so on until we reach the our present stage.
As I say, Darwin could see this to be true. The evidence was there for all to see. But somehow, however logical it all looks, I feel that it doesn't quite fit. I'm not at all happy with this idea of an evolution which has progressed largely by chance mutation resulting in successful adaptation. The time scale seems too short and the outcome seems too marvellous!
Think about a seed. It has a relatively 'simple' structure and yet contained within it are all the instructions necessary for growth into a fully grown plant. Or even more wonderful: think how a single cell can grow into the complex organism that is a living animal. We can see the growth, and we can chart the stages by which cells grow and multiply, not just producing more cells the same, but spawning new cells which then, in turn, spawn more new cells, of different types until the whole creature is formed. And the information required to direct this process was all contained in that single first cell.
I believe that life was 'created' in the same way: a simple single-celled life-form reproduced not just more of itself, but produced new forms, similar yet different, which then, in turn, produced more new forms, and so on until the whole of life had been produced. The whole thing looks like evolution. The difference is that the instuctions which largely controlled the outcome were all contained in that first tiny cell.
There would have been some dead-ends, but by and large, progress would have been made in a largely pre-determined fashion towards the ultimate goal. This 'creationary evolution' is the process by which, I believe, God has put life on his planet.
The world is a beautiful place. Such beauty could not have happened by chance. Life, surely, was designed.