Creation and Genesis
Fundamentalists often make it a test of Christian orthodoxy to believe that the world was created in six 24-hour days and that no other interpretations of Genesis 1 are possible. They claim that until recently this view of Genesis was the only acceptable one—indeed, the only one there was.
The writings of the Fathers, who were much closer than we are in time and culture to the original audience of Genesis, show that this was not the case. There was wide variation of opinion on how long creation took. Some said only a few days; others argued for a much longer, indefinite period. Those who took the latter view appealed to the fact “that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8; cf. Ps. 90:4), that light was created on the first day, but the sun was not created till the fourth day (Gen. 1:3, 16), and that Adam was told he would die the same “day” as he ate of the tree, yet he lived to be 930 years old (Gen. 2:17, 5:5).
Catholics are at liberty to believe that creation took a few days or a much longer period, according to how they see the evidence, and subject to any future judgment of the Church (Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical Humani Generis 36–37). They need not be hostile to modern cosmology. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “[M]any scientific studies . . . have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life forms, and the appearance of man. These studies invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator” (CCC 283). .
If you can manage to make this wholly, Biblically acceptable interpretation into hundreds of millions or even trillions of years, your embrace, of the theory of evolution as it stands currently, as compatible with Christian belief, is Biblically acceptable.
But, you can't. Do the math. It's just simple addition. 6,000 years and 1,000 years of rest.
Funny, that 6,000 year thing. Going back to time and faith, I honestly don't know, either, if the Earth and all that is in it, is 6,000 years old, but honest, believing Christians have made a good faith effort to put together the generations, and this is what they've come up with. I see no reason to argue against it. Arguing for it, is a matter of interpretation.
But, again, there is no way, whatsoever, to extend the Biblical timeline into even hundreds of thousands of years, in order to make it compatible with an evolutionary timeline.
Is the approval of the world so important to you? Because, that's what you're seeking, when you defer to man's knowledge over God.