Genesis As History
Many people, both within and outside of Christian circles, believe Genesis 1-11 to be mere poetry rather than literal history. The main purpose of this section is not so much to prove that Genesis is literal history, but instead to show that the Biblical patriarchs, prophets, and apostles all interpreted Genesis as literal history.
Just to reiterate, the purpose of this section is not to prove that Genesis is True or false, it is mainly here to analyze how the Bible treats Genesis.
Bible passages that I will be referring to over the course of this topic.
Some of these passages will require more explanation than others (e.g. Psalm 33:6-9) however the purpose of these passages is to show that whenever the Biblical authors quote Genesis, they always quote it as literal history. For example, Adam, Seth, Noah etc. are included in the geneologies leading up to Jesus Christ. This would make no sense if the Biblical authors took Genesis to be mere poetry.
Matthew 19:4-6,
Mark 10:6-9,
Romans 5:12-19,
1 Corinthians 15:20-22,
1 Corinthians 15:45-47,
2 Corinthians 11:3,
1 Timothy 2:13-14,
Luke 11:50-51,
Matthew 24:37-39,
2 Peter 2:4-9,
2 Peter 3:6,
Luke 17:26-29, (mentioned in the same context as Sodom)
Luke 3:34-38,
Romans 1:18-20,
Romans 8:19-23,
Exodus 20:11,
Psalm 33:6-9,
In Genesis 1-11 we repeatedly see the Hebrew phrase eleh toledoth which translates to mean “This is the book of the genealogy of . . .” or “This is the history of . . .” [Chaffey]. This shows that whatever we might believe about the text, the author of Genesis believed it to be literal history.
Links
How Should We Interpret the Bible, Part 2: Is Genesis 1–11 Historical Narrative?
Systematic Thology, Berkhof on Genesis 1 and the use of toledoth
Were the "days" of Genesis intended to be taken as literal days, or as long periods of time?
24 Hours—Plain as Day
Genesis 1 and 2 Putative contradiction
Many people, both Christians and non-Christians claim that Genesis 1 and 2 contradict each other, and therefore we cannot take them as accounts of literal history. The problem, however, goes away with a little understanding of Hebrew, and some basic logic.
https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/do-genesis-1-and-2-contradict-each-other/
http://creation.com/genesis-contradictions
Genesis, History, and Genetics - While this section is not primarily intended to address the science of Creation VS Evolution, I wanted to put a small playlist here just to show people that from a genetics standpoint, Genesis is well supported, despite claims to the contrary.