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"I thought that God created Adam about 6,000 years ago. I was under the impression that the Earth/solar system/universe cold be much older. Does anyone have some insight on this?"

My reading and understanding of the scriptures leads me to believe Adam was created far earlier than the concept we know as "time" began. I believe the proclaimation "..for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" refers to mankind's fallen state in which "time" as we know it began when God cast out the man from the garden. Clearly "day" refers to an age, or a period of time much longer than 24 hours. God placed cheribums with flaming swords to guard the way back to paradise. These, I believe, are the angels of death. Therefore the earth and creation can be many ages "old", before man's life began to age or commence the race to death.

Also in Genesis 2:4, it states; "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens," - again referring to periods of time greater than a mere 24 hours.

I hope that makes some sense.

"Also in Genesis 2:4, it states; "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens," - again referring to periods of time greater than a mere 24 hours."

Hallelujah!!! This is the key verse to understanding the creation "yoms". Any one with an open mind and the ability to read for comprehension would come to the same conclusion as we have.

I love ya man!!! ;-)

Just some thoughts going through my mind:

One hurdle you have to get over with young-Earth creationists is death. As Kent Hovind (and no, I don't support his ideas) would say, the world was created perfect, and death did not enter until Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Since death could not have existed prior to this time, you add up the geneologies in the Bible and get the 6000 years.

Someone I know is fond of saying that Christians like to read their Bibles backwards. They read the New Testament, then the Old Testament (or Tanach), and then try to understand OT in light of the NT, rather than the other way around. In doing this, they are imposing their ideas of Christianity into the books that were clearly written by and for Jews. It's like putting a square peg in a round hole, you can make it fit, but you have to modify the hole (OT).

I mentioned a book, Mysteries of the Creation, in an earlier post. It posits the idea that many worlds were created and offered Torah. If it rejected Torah, it was destroyed and replaced. The author goes into deatils of tohu and bohu and how they relate to previous worlds. In our world, the Jews were presented with Torah and they accepted it, and our world was not destroyed. I don't want to say much more about the book because I don't really understand it. The author is using the Talmud as well in his discussion.

I guess I look at it this way, In the beginning God..., the rest is commentary.

I hope that makes some sense.

I understand your arguments. You have to admit that the various interpretations tend to be ambiguous at best. I noticed that you referred to "time" in an abstract way. Time is a concept that we don't fully understand. We know by testing with lasers that it tends to ripple. It's perceived passage is relative to velocity and gravity, but as to it's true nature, who knows? It would be a good one to ask God about someday.