Here are the opening verses in Genesis:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
[No amount of specific time can be calculated here]
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
I do not think you will get everyone to agree on the timeline in the article. If the Scriptures were absolutely clear, everyone who accepts the Scriptures would agree. They do not.
In the end, at least speaking for me, it doesn't matter whether the earth is 4,000 years old or 4 billion years old [insert your best estimate of time between verse 2 and verse 3]. It only matters that HE made it all by speaking.
Christians often speak of things as if they are ABSOLUTELY true. I've divided up my understanding of Scripture into opinions, beliefs and convictions. The category of Conviction includes only those things I am willing to die for. The exact age of the earth isn't anywhere close to this level.
Here here! Love this!
Yes, but when Christ said, "This is My Body" many don't believe the clear words of Scripture.
Ex 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Ex 20:2 I [am] the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Ex 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Ex 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
Ex 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;
Ex 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Ex 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Ex 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Ex 20:10 But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the Lord thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:
Ex 20:11 For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Ex 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Ex 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
Ex 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Ex 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Ex 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Ex 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.
It may be that man's interpretation of that reality is skewed to say "Why would God create a universe that appears to be billions of years old. Was it to trick us"? When the simple answer is, He made it as a whole from the start, just as he most likely made Adam as a mature man from the start (being that he was not born of a woman as a baby).
I realize you are not cementing your opinion, but it never hurts to fall on the side of what the scripture says in it's most obvious interpretation.