For the longest time I avoided viewing "Ancient Aliens" because I am skeptical that everything on our planet was constructed and developed by extraterrestrial intelligent beings and that we are merely the shadow of those prehistoric visitations.

There are basically three views of where we came from and how we arrived on this planet. The first and oldest version of our origins is the creationist theory in which a divine creator placed us on this planet with all the plants and animals.The second newer theory is that of evolution. The key to this theory is man evolved from lower life forms and became more robust and stronger due to natural selection and mutations to become what we are today.The third theory, which is the least accepted, is that we were placed here by an extraterrestrial intelligence and are not natives of this planet.Already I can hear the groans and see the rolling of eyes as you read this. This topic is so polarizing that no one approaches it from an objective point of view. We all have our core belief as to which of these two theories is the "correct" one and the others are bunk, wishful thinking or self-deception.To be honest, I think the truth is interspersed among them. As much as the disciples of creation and evolution and even extraterrestrial origins are zealots of their beliefs, they really have no smoking guns to support their beliefs to the exclusion of everything else. I will be honest, and while the third theory that we came from alien intelligence is interesting, I really do not find it to pass muster, so we will carry it no further.Let me preface my opinion by stating I'm not a biologist nor am I an anthropologist, but let's explore these other two theories and see what we can find.The first is creationism. This is the theory that God created humanity in his image and placed them on the Earth to be stewards of his creation. In the creation story, God created everything from light and darkness through the planets, sun and moon, land and water, and then the plants and animals.He finally worked his way up to man who the Bible said was created in his own image from the clay of the Earth. Man was lonely so he put the man to sleep and took his rib and then formed woman. This is how creationists view our origin. This is not just a Judaic legend, but similar legends exist throughout most cultures, so this is almost an archetypical myth describing how we came into being.This theory lasted for centuries until Charles Darwin set sail to the Galapagos Islands and returned with the kernel of evolutionary theory, which he ultimately wrote about in his groundbreaking volume, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." In this volume, Darwin discusses how species develop and evolve gradually over long periods of time through the gradual mutations and changes from one generation to another until they reach a tipping point in which they become a new species of their own.He studied turtles and corals and plants on his voyage on the HMS Beagle and developed this theory which science has advanced and solidified. Many scientists believe evolution to be a fact claiming the fossil evidence exists that links many species to earlier ones and show this evolutionary record.This theory is accepted today by many scientists as a fact. It should be pointed out that our species Homo sapiens and Neanderthals appear to have DNA evidence that shows that at some point in the ancient past the two species commingled. Even though there are sites found with skulls of both species intermingled, I have not yet read of a true skull that is the missing link that brings the two species together.Today the theory is that the Neanderthal was losing ground to Homo sapiens due to some of the latter's superior qualities. They could not interbreed and eventually died off by integrating into the Homo sapiens species.Ozzy Osbourne joked about being Neanderthal to explain his tolerance of heavy drug use, but a geneticist actually verified he had trace amounts of Neanderthal DNA. This doesn't necessarily prove an evolution, but it does prove that minimally there was an interbreeding of the two species.This probably has most of you raising your eyebrows instead of rolling your eyes, and I can understand that. Now open your mind and think about this without prejudice. The creation theory supports evolution. Think about it. When you build something would you not start simply and work your way up? And if you are building a dynamic system, I would design one that evolves itself to adapt to its surroundings.The two theories do not have to be mutually exclusive. Evolution does not disprove God's existence, and creation never claims that evolution is not possible. It is our human intellect that requires these two conditions to be mutually exclusive, and that is a shame because it has caused nothing but a century of stupid bickering.Till next time …