"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth WAS . . without form and void [uninhabitable]." – Genesis 1:1

Sometime later, God created the "Day" and the "Night" (verse 5) and the earth was not void and uninhabitable. The introduction to my Bible says:

"GOD has always existed (John 1:3). Lucifer probably reigned over the planet, but he rebelled (Ezekiel 28). Just as the fall of man affected the earth, this first fall left the earth dark and void.

"The account of the "six days" in Genesis describes a re-creation following the cataclysmic chaos. The "let there be light" in verse 5 was not the original creation of light but the penetration of the sun's rays through the darkness that had covered the earth. 'Geological signs show that light existed in the unfathomable past.' There is light coming to earth that is LIGHT YEARS old.

"The words that you just read describe the Third Way between the two extremes, 1) the instant creation by God of everything as we see it today, or 2) godless evolution of the planet, man, and animals over 'billions and billions of years.'"

As for the former, that on "the first morning" God created everything to look old, that would have been a joke, a bad joke. I posted this topic on Facebook and some good believers were offended.

"Some people even believe it's a salvation issue, and if you don't 'believe the Bible' as translated by man, and interpreted by men, then you are going to suffer forever in Hell (another false doctrine that turns off a lot of prospective inhabitants of heaven)."

So how old is the earth? Are we too proud to say "we don't know?" Pride is one of the "seven deadly sins!"

P.S. Young earthers cannot fit continental drift, ice ages (probably more than one), prehistoric floods (at least one), or the rising and weathering of mountain ranges, all into the first morning and the first day of Genesis 1:5. This is not a salvation issue, but the young earth creationists damage their own credibility, hindering our efforts toward evangelism.