I am very curious about religion. I have been studying many books and videos and read many things saying how certain religions add this or take that away and to begin with it almost seems impossible that the truth remains the same. But I do have faith in the idea of GOD and even if Jesus was not his son, and just believed he died for us all anyway, he is still in the message of GOD. I know the OLD TESTAMENT is more accurate about GOD"S words and the new testament is about JESUS'S words but I am curious when did people first hear of GOD and where was it written down about the first account? Thank you and GOD bless.
Answer
Those of us who are Christians believe that both the Old and New Testaments are all the word of God. The difference between the two is that the Old Testament gives information leading up to the coming of the Messiah (Christ) while the New Testament tells about his life and teachings and gives a history and teachings of the church after his death and resurrection.
In answer to your question, though, about how we first learned of God and when it was written down, I would recommend a good book on the history of the Bible. One of my favorites is “How We Got the Bible” by a man named Goodspeed. I am not sure if it is still in print (my copy is over 30 years old), but it, or one like it, should be available from a good library.
Basically, the Bible was written over a long period of time. The earliest portion is probably the book of Job. The Bible was written in essentially three periods of time. The earliest was around 1300 BC (Job, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, parts of Psalms). The second period of writing (most of the rest of the Old Testament) was during the latter part of the period of the kings of Israel and the captivity in and return from Babylon (approximately 900-500 BC). There were some writings in between. For instance, some of the Psalms as well as Proverbs and the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) were written in the early period of the kings. Some of the Psalms were written at various times throughout Old Testament history. The New Testament was written between about 45-90 AD.