Christianity does believe some strange things (from a Jewish perspective)... And this is one place where Judaism and Christianity appear to differ. There are many things in the Torah which are not intended to be taken literally, and our tradition through the Oral Law passes down from Moses to the Rabbis of the Talmud, and through this we learn that the Torah is not a science book.
The 613 commandments are clearly not debatable, and I do not understand what you are saying concerning whether the Shabbat is Holy or not. As the Jewish view of Creation goes, there were indeed seven stages of creation, and on the Seventh Day Hashem ceased creation and thus created the act of 'rest'. The Oral law explains the various aspects of keeping the laws of Shabbat {Mesechet Shabat of the Talmud}.
If you are interested in the Jewish understanding of creation there are many good sites which have been mentioned in this forum which explain how we can reconcile the story of Bereshit/Genesis with science.
My faith is strong enough that no matter what scientists say which can be used to decrease faith in G-d, I am able to keep in my thoughts that Hashem is the creator of all science, and that at the end of the day no matter what explanation is given Hashem's handiwork will be revealed.
A thousand years are like a day for Hashem, and through looking at the fact that the solar day was not even created until the fourth day I can see that maybe the scale of time changed during those proto-man days.
I think science is a tool to understand the creation.
PS: Nowhere have I said that I believe in EVOLUTION. That is surely against my belief. I do not believe I, or my family, is descended from animals. We share an Animal soul with the animal world, but humans have a special soul which is breathed into us by G-d. This is the Ruach, the spirit, of our souls.
I believe that there was an evolutionary process, and that at the point when Adam and Chava were created that is considered the beginning of 'Creation', day 1 so to speak {we are 5772 years from that time}.