I realize this statement is a few years old but I just want to respond and point out that the six days of creation can not be a literal six days as we define "days" today.
Quite simply this is because the sun was not set in the sky until the fourth "day". So how can the first three days be measured without a sun around which to revolve the earth?
Actually there are many sources of light, not just the sun. There are also many types of light, not just visible light. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others. Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, etc. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun. God had at His fingertips many options to accomplish His purposes. Light does not automatically require the sun. Not surprisingly, the Hebrew
'owr in vv. 3 and 4 are used to mean "light of day," and as is told in Revelation, the new Earth will be lit not by a sun or a moon, but by God's presence. Remember? He was there at the creation.
We also have important data given by the Hebrew words used in the creation account. When God created "light" in v. 3,
'owr connotes the presence of light only, while the word used for "lights" -- the Hebrew
ma'owr -- in v. 16 is best translated "light bearers," or permanent light sources. Their purpose was not only to give light, but to serve as timekeepers for man once he was created. According to the best stellar creation theory now available, light from stars created anywhere in the universe on Day Four would reach earth in two earth days, and would be useful to Adam on Day Six.
Clearly the "days" of creation are not 24 hour periods ...
Clearly they
were, as I'm sure you know that when the Hebrew
'yowm preceded by a cardinal number requires us to interpret it as a literal 24 hour day, and despite numerous Internet posting to contrary, this was, in fact, a hard and fast rule in the Hebrew language.
... but also we have to recognize that God exists outside of our constraint of time and prior to the creation of time, in which we live, nothing can be measured ...
In reference to the portion I've emboldened and italicized, you
must add, " ... except by God" who, I assure you, can count minutes, seconds, even millionths of a second -- and did so during the creation.
Carbon dating also relies on the rate at which carbon enters the atmosphere but at which point during creation did carbon begin to enter our atmosphere? On the first day? The fourth? The sixth?
Carbon dating, or any other isotropic dating method, is inaccurate, in that it assumes there were uniform distributions of radioactive isotopes of certain key long-half-life elements, which is a ridiculous and unscientific assumption.
If we can't even define the time it took for creation to be completed ...
Straw man argument, which you created in order to destroy, but as I've shown, it isn't valid.
... how can we with any certainty use carbon dating to mark "the beginning" of the earth?
We can't.
There are just way too many unknowns.
Except for the absolutely knowable and definitive truth of God, which He has graciously given us in Scripture.