The Earth has the appearance of great age, but the Bible talks of creation as happening in six days. Is there a way for the two to be reconciled? My theory is that when God is creating things in the six days, he is actually creating the design of that thing, and that the actual things form at a later time.

There is a gap after the creation account between when a mist came up and water the whole ground and when Adam was created. Is the gap a few days or billions of years? While I don't pretend to have all of the answers, I think that I can lead you to a greater understanding of the Bible and creation which will be able to sand up under scrutiny.