Dr Isbell, good attitude to read. However, I think it’s ok to take a lifetime to get through this–and I think God isn’t impatient, so we can be confident it’s ok to take your time. I myself am still evolving (pun intended) and am grateful for those who have helped me with insight along the way, as well. God bless.
Addendum: If you get a chance to take the free on line course from Dr Lamoureux, or read his information, it helped me a lot. Denis O. Lamoureux Webpage He became convinced of old earth (under Packer, I tihnk) when at Regent College in British Columbia (where he got a PhD, and then eventually of evolution in accomplishing his PhD in biology. He now teaches a course on faith and science in Alberta. https://www.coursera.org/learn/science-and-religion-101
Here’s a discussion on our discourse Lamoureux's Evolutionary Creation
Wow, that’s great.
I would agree that that’s what the old writers thought it meant. I would agree with Lamoureux, though, that God was using current idioms and pictures to convey truth–He said that God made it by speaking it–not that Marduk killed his mother and stretched her body across as the firmament. It’s sort of like the idiom of saying in the Bible that the sun rises–it doesn’t, but who would understand if the writer wrote that the earth turns to the sun? And wouldn’t that be confusing and completely ruin the reception? Lamoureux’ course is excellent in explaining this. He’s a Pentecostal and a scientist. (I’m a nondenominational missionary kid who married a Baptist, but that’s another story).