How old is the earth?

Question from Bryan:

I was wondering what your personal opinion is on the age of both the earth and the age of the universe (in general)?

Answer from Pastor Bob:

I take the days of creation in Genesis 1 as symbolic of long periods of time. I am not a scientist, but I don't see the need to insist on a young earth. The Hebrew word yom (day) is used in Genesis 2:4 as a period of time ("In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens"), so why must it be limited to 24 hours in Genesis 1? What's more, the sun and moon were not made until the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19), so how would 24 hours be determined on the previous days? I see no conflict between Genesis 1 and the theory that the earth is millions of years old.
I recommend the following books on the subject: Philip Johnson's Darwin on Trial and Lee Strobel's The Case for the Creator and William Demski's The Design Revolution. I would also recommend the website of the Discovery Institute: www.discovery.org.
If people prefer to believe a literal 6 days of creation, I'm not interesting in arguing with them, as long as we can agree that God created and we do not believe in Darwinian macro-evolution.