I don't believe that the "oldest is best." I believe that Moses was inspired by God when he wrote Genesis ("All Scripture is given by inspiration of God", 2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, Genesis is correct, even if it was written later than the Sumerian texts.
There's no question my position ultimately depends on faith, in that I believe that the Bible is true. But, I don't think it is a blind faith. In the Bible, multiple authors reference each other and affirm that the writings of earlier authors are true. This makes the Bible like an interwoven tapestry of multiple authors which affirms the claim of divine inspiration. In the cases of Joseph Smith and Muhammad, they added large portions of allegedly inspired writing, but no contemporary writers were affirming this inspiration. And, their writing does not "mesh" with the previous writings the way the New Testament meshes with the Old Testament writings. So to me, it is clear that Joseph Smith and Muhammad were false prophets.
I don't believe that the "oldest is best." I believe that Moses was inspired by God when he wrote Genesis ("All Scripture is given by inspiration of God", 2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, Genesis is correct, even if it was written later than the Sumerian texts.
There's no question my position ultimately depends on faith, in that I believe that the Bible is true. But, I don't think it is a blind faith. In the Bible, multiple authors reference each other and affirm that the writings of earlier authors are true. This makes the Bible like an interwoven tapestry of multiple authors which affirms the claim of divine inspiration. In the cases of Joseph Smith and Muhammad, they added large portions of allegedly inspired writing, but no contemporary writers were affirming this inspiration. And, their writing does not "mesh" with the previous writings the way the New Testament meshes with the Old Testament writings. So to me, it is clear that Joseph Smith and Muhammad were false prophets.