Friend,
I hope you are a sincere seeker and not a smart aleck; but regardless, here is a link to a site which will gice you a pretty good cursory insight into how the “young earth” numbers were calculated.
http://www.answersincreation.org/ussher.htm
I BELIEVE the Scriptures. And once one arrives at THAT juncture, a fairly resonable ballpark age for the earth can be calculated, using the detailed Hebrew geneologies found in the Old Testament, and other data. This is what was done by James Ussher back in the 15 or 1600s.
Since my Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the Flood of Noah’s day and other events as literal historical happenings; who am I to call Him a liar.....or a fool? I’m trusting HIM for my Eternal Salvation!
Interesting link and insights. Yom, the Hebrew word translated as days, simply means some period of time indefinite. I don’t see a conflict, although 4000 years seems especially short for human history.
I wonder if something else is at work. The Garden in Eden is a unique place on an earth that was already functioning when Adam arrived.
I also don’t accept the conventional reading of ex nihilo creation. The actual Hebrew doesn’t read that way and Eastern tradition finds the creation of order from chaos a more godly power than simple creation. Order being the key.