The following is from a conversation I had with a Catholic friend I like and admire: 

Genesis 1 refers to each day as a “day”,

in numbered order, and with the inclusion of evening and morning. What in the text, either in Genesis 1 or anywhere else in scripture, tells us NOT to take it as written? Simply, nothing.

The text shows us we MUST take it as written.

In Exodus 20, God says “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.” The reason why is because He is telling the Israelites that He set the example for them by working for six days and resting for one. Not only is this passage a lie if God actually worked for 13 billion years in six somewhat overlapping epochs, but it also makes no…