I believe the earth/universe to be approx 6,000 years old bc, as a christian, I believe the Bible first and foremost. Furthermore, carbon-dating and radio isotope dating presume uniformitarianism (things remaining constant/consistent over time) - even though just about anything that science can measure shows periods of inconsistency (i.e. the reason most folks reject global-warming) - often times great inconsistencies.
Last, I don't think any christian should accept evolutionary creationism. Either God did it as stated in Genesis or not. If not, then the Bible and my faith are both frauds. Evolutionary creationism is simply trying to be accepted by mainstream and/or science. My faith is not open to a popularity contest. Anything that directly contradicts the Bible (as evolution does) is imho incorrect - often the errors/assumptions have not been revealed. Introduce incorrect assumptions into any theorem and the results follow GIGO (garbage in garbage out).
Tearing away at Genesis is tearing away at the very foundations of christianity. My apologies to all that I may have offended with these remarks - just don't expect a retraction too.
"I believe the earth/universe to be approx 6,000 years old bc, as a christian, I believe the Bible first and foremost."
Nobody minds that you believe that, honestly. We think you're incorrect, but we don't mind if you believe it.
We do, however, mind if you insist on teaching that belief to children in our public schools. You can teach it to your children, or to other children in your church's Sunday School, but not to all children in public school.
Yours is a purely religious belief, and it runs counter to the religions belief of many, even a majority of Christians.
Believe it or not, I fully respect your position. You don't try to shove pseudo science down someone’s throat. :-)
I don't agree with your position, however, I certainly do not disrespect you belief.
A final note: The reason I argue on these threads is that I do not agree with a belief system being forced into our science education like so many are trying to do. They attempt to masquerade it as ID or some other such nonsense.
OTOH, your position is plain and forthright. :-)
Radiocarbon dating can be calibrated against tree-rings from standing dead bristlecone pines. By matching up the rings from one tree to the next, a sequence can be made which currently goes back 12,600 years. Radiocarbon dates are done every ten years, and this creates a calibration curve that accounts for variations in the atmosphere.
This curve has been shown to be quite accurate by dating things of known age from, for example, Egyptian tombs where an age can be ascertained independently.
You may not believe this, but this is what science shows.