As a Christian, can I not have my own understanding of what the words in Genesis 'mean'?
I have never run into any so-called 'scientists' that have ever asked me to question my faith, while they were discussing their 'discoveries'.
The importance of the words in the Bible are that they present 'concepts' which God intended to be understood by the faithful who developed an 'understanding' between God and themselves.
We can fight over whether a 'day' was 24 hours, just like we can fight over whether God removed an actual 'rib' from Adam to make Eve, but it doesn't change the fact that we live in an amazing Universe, and how it 'got here', no one really knows, except by faith.
C’mon now, you have been following these threads for a while. Do you really think I have a problem with the differing opinions of people who are respectful of my opionions? I have a lot of people on my list whose interpretation of Genesis is far different than my own, and yet we get along just fine. Why do you suppose that is???