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I do think the basic need is to decide whether or not it is true.

Once you have a couple of people, or a group of people, who agree that the Bible is true - as long as they are honest about it, and not playing semantic or “gotcha” games, but are really trying to interpret it - you will find the truth.

God gave us our intellect as a tool. But it is not God. It is important to keep in mind that our intellects can be totally off. One could point to a myriad of examples from history, where extremely intelligent people have made terrible, serious errors.

I don’t think you need to interpret Scripture in the “light of modern knowledge.” I think you need to interpret the “light of modern knowledge” in the light of Scripture.

In all things, Christ must have the pre-eminence. And we know of Christ, who He is, what He expects, etc., through his revealed Word, the Bible. So, where “modern knowledge” and Scripture contradict, I stick with Scripture.

That doesn’t mean I check my intellect at the door. I just keep it in its proper place.

That's right. Our intellects may be totally off. Yours as well as mine.

Psalm 90:4 states: "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."

Second Peter 3:8 amplifies this with: "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

God's sense of time is not man's sense of time. Since the creation of man is the last act of creation, the time before man was measured and kept by God. Therefore the creation may well have taken more than 6 Earth days. It may have taken billions of years.

I don't need to deny either the Bible or modern science. Maybe my intellect has led me astray. But, by the same token, yours might have also. Or we may both be wrong. If misunderstanding -- even an honest misunderstanding -- of scripture is a sin, then I'm sure everyone of us is guilty.

Whatever the case, you can no more separate your intellect from your understanding of the Bible than you can separate yourself from God's creation. Even faith is the intellectual decision to trust in the Lord, despite what might raise doubt.