One important thing that science claims, and strongly supports by a wide range of different scientific observations and data, is that earth has been in existence for hundreds of millions, perhaps even billions of years. A wide range of chemical dating methods have been discovered, most based on scientifically established and proven decay rates of one atomic form into another. Many of these methods have been checked against each other and have generally been found to agree within close tolerances.
    In one process it is assumed that while a given rock formation was in an early molten state the various forms of the element were mixed up and scattered about, but when the rock solidified the decay forms were fixed in place within the parent from which they came. The time of that freezing, then, can be calculated from the proportions of parent and decay forms “stuck”together within that rock.
    Living organisms take in a radioactive form of carbon known as carbon-14 (C14). While alive, the concentration of C14 in the organism is roughly equal to that in the surrounding environment. After death, when the organism stops intake from the environment, the C14 begins to decay, at a known rate. The time of death can then be estimated from the remaining C-14 concentration.
    And there are other non-radioactive physical methods that strongly suggest a very old earth. For example, the Atlantic Ocean contains a north-south ridge that has long been slowly exuding lava, building ocean floor and spreading the continents. The ocean floor on either side of the ridge looks new, with little accumulation of sediment. One can analyze the water above and estimate a rate of settling of sediment onto the floor. Study of the ocean floor shows a steady increase in the depth of sediment with distance away from the ridge -- the older the floor the deeper the sediment. Calculations from those two measurements indicate that that Atlantic Ocean floor spreading has been going on for millions of years.
    In addition, radioactive dating methods have indicated that over the years the earth’s magnetic polarity has switched back and forth, the north pole becoming the south and vice versa. Times between these reversals tend to (sporadically) run in the tens of thousands to millions of years. As magma oozes from the Atlantic Ocean Ridge and freezes it fixes in place the magnetic polarity of the time. What is observed are “lines” of polarity reversal, parallel to and moving away from the Ridge. This tends to verify that the Atlantic Ocean floor has been spreading for hundreds of thousands to perhaps a million years.
    In addition, of course, there are dramatic geological formations like the Grand Canyon. The walls of that canyon show large parallel layers of different kinds of rock. The visual evidence of slow erosion over very long times is difficult to deny.
    In this case the scientific records seems virtually unimpeachable -- radioactive dating and the geological and fossil records suggest that the earth is more than four million years old. Multiple experiments have tested these data and they have not been found to be false. In the light of the certainty of the scientific records it seems quite reasonable to accept this age as “fact”, as the “truth”. That is the appropriate “box” and analysis indicates that the “walls” are firm -- well established and proven.