I want to weigh my answer so I don’t offend you or others here, but my heavy heart is not due to loss of childhood beliefs in stories from the bible, but rather feeling like the last man standing when acknowledging that I believe God did create the earth in six days.
I don’t place my salvation on it however, nor that of others, but how does a little child reconcile the bible in their heart and trust it’s words if accepted science says the very first story in it is taken out of context or interpreted wrong, as in a six day creation?
To my knowledge it is still taught in Sunday schools, I would think anyway. Maybe...
Tough questions, no easy answers.
There is no offense in being open and honest, but one big fact is that scientists now tell us that Earth’s age is about 4.5 billion years. That number is based on moon rocks picked up by astronauts some years ago.
A false dilemma as there can be ways of reconciling this that we simply do not comprehend, any more than we can of God being outside time and space. I am no only capable of getting into this as that gets into a level of knowledge far above my own, but there are sites that get into it.
I do hypothesize however that when man sinned and death began, the effects were so dramatic that a rock that was only weeks old would text to be millions of years old. How, i do not know, but the Bible speaks of something dramatic happening as well as a 6 day creation.
Others like Hugh Ross argue for a day ago theory.
Standing right there with you!