They also had other intentions. At the time when the Hebrews wrote the many scrolls (later became books) of the Old Testament, they felt that their land (once known as Persia) was a very evil place. And, people lived more like barbarians than in a conventional civilization. It made them sorry to see that people did not appreciate the wonderful place in which they were living. So, when they wrote their stories, they ended many of the verses with the chorus: "And God saw that it was good".
So, these writers were more concerned with telling a parable in order to teach the people something about God, than with giving them a history lesson. The Bible does contain much true history, but that is not so important as the truth which it teaches - the truth about Christian living, and loving, as Christ did for humanity. But that was not yet to come, until the New Testament came about. There is not a lot of loving and forgiveness in the Old Testament.
This Old Testament gave the people of Persia a common belief, and created a set of ideals and laws for their society to follow. It also created a common enemy: the "non-believers", for them to hate, so that they could band together and stop hating each other. This took much time, and their ideas became their institution. After many centuries of this, their harsh laws and ideology of the Old Testament had turned their lands into bloody wars. Thus, the plan of their ancestors had come full circle.
The Scientist and the Historian have tried to uncover the truth about the beginning of the world, in order to tell other people. They have discovered a great deal about how the world was made, and how it developed. But, they do not try to say why the world was made, so they can give no other answer to the question "Who made the world?" than the simple one of "God did". What this answer means varies from person to person.
Keep in mind, the Old Testament was written by a variety of ancient people, who had to be very artistic, for these books were intended to be adopted by an entire continent of people. If the Old Testament was truly inspired by God, the Supreme being, the writers would only be capable of writing their version of what they understood. Remember, there was no technology back then. There was scarcely even order, in this pre-industrial world. A mere few percent of people could even read or write their own language.
It is believed by some scholars that the book of Genesis is still written in a figurative language, to this day. Keep in mind that these ancient books have been translated by countless societies, countless times, in countless ways. In fact, there is very little of any 'original' texts left in existance. The scrolls found at Nag Hammedi are the oldest such documents, and are conflicting with many of the dogmatic practices of the church. See: Examples of Faulty Bible Scholarship.
Due to compromise, ignorance, confusion, poor translation, loss of text, adoption of new doctrines, and intentional deceit, Bible scriptures have been greatly twisted and reshaped over the centuries, from how they were originally written and intended. Unwittingly, Christianity has embraced ancient Babylonian customs rooted in "sun worship", having assimilated many things Pagan by the evolution of time, and now thought of as "tradition", without thinking twice. See: The Pagan sources of Christian customs
Fact and Theory There is a big difference between the fact of evolution and the theory of evolution. You sometimes hear people comment that evolution is "just a theory". This statement is very misleading, because evolution is a fact as well as a theory. See: A Theory in Crisis
You can understand what I mean by thinking about gravity. There are theories of gravity, including those of Newton and Einstein. These theories can be right or wrong, complete or incomplete. But there is also the FACT of gravity.
When you drop something, it falls. This fact remains whether the theories are correct or not. In just the same way, the record of the development of Life from humble beginnings to the present complex biosphere is a fact that can be read in the fossil record. Similarly, the ability of living things to mutate in response to environmental change can be seen in labs and in nature. Whether any of the current theories of evolution can or cannot explain this record does not change the existance of the Fact of evolution. (James Trefil, 1001 Things everyone should know about Science) See a few words about: Charles Darwin
The Timeline which follows tells of the way in which the world developed through a period of about 4.6 Billion years. It has been a slow process, but all the more wonderful, because it took so long, and not a mere seven days!! (by Vlar Dracul & Ray Chapman Andrews)
