Let's Begin at the Beginning

How do we explain the universe? What do we know about its origin, after all none of us were there at the beginning. Only God can legitimately make that claim. The bible tells us something about the creation of the universe but the creation story has caused confusion for a couple of hundred years now. Up until the time that geology developed into a science, the creation was understood only by the Genesis account, and that was enough. It was hard enough for people to survive day to day, much less contemplate the physical universe. With the development of geology as a science, and the western world moving into a period where formal education was becoming more commonplace, we began to see that Genesis was inadequate to fully explain the physical characteristics of the earth.
It is fairly obvious now, to almost everyone, that the earth at least 'looks' old. I think only in the Church do folks believe the Earth to be young. By young, I mean the calculation that the Earth was created in 4004 BC (Julian calendar), by Bishop James Ussher in 1654. Where do we turn, if we pursue truth we have to make a choice. Do we trust science and discount Genesis as mere myth, something for the uneducated dupes. Or, do we mistrust science and hold to the idea of 'scripture only'. Therein lies the problem. Almost everyone comes down on one side or the other and this chasm between the two ideas seems to wide to bridge.
I would now like to propose an alternate idea. I believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, without error in its original form. I aslo believe the bible is literally true, but cannot always be taken literally. This is what I mean, some parts or books of the bible are historical, some are prophetic, some are law, some are poetry, etc. The Bible cannot always be interpreted literally. Secondly, the bible does not always say what we think it says. For example, how many people believe there were only three wise men that came to see Christ after His birth. Actually, there would have been a large number of wise men and many servants and guards that came to pay homage to the King of the Jews. Culturally, that is how this would have been done. It would have been a long and difficult trip, there would have bandits along the way, they would have had to obtain food and water, care for a large number of animals, etc. This would have been a major undertaking. But, because the bible only mentions three gifts, many assume this means there were only three wise men. The Bible must be read with at least some understanding of the cultural and historical context in which it was written.
On the other hand, even though we have made great progress in the sciences, science is not the final word of truth. We still have a lot to learn. We are doing pretty good but the march forward continues. So, we cannot say that science has trumped scripture. I stated before that I believe when scripture is rightly understood and science is rightly understood there will be no conflict. I believe the creation is old, the universe on the order of 13 billion years and the Earth on the order of 4-5 billion years. When God created the universe that included time, the physical laws that govern how things work, and God created science. Romans 1:19-20 tells us that God reveals Himself to man through the creation. If we are to understand God better we need to study it, thats why He gave us science. Now we have something to talk about.