One question for Christians

[DeistPaladin]

I am asking why would they do it for traditional purposes?

Because tradition is a powerful thing. It seems to be human nature.

The fact the books were written by primitive people does nothing to support your assertion (fallacious appeal to novelty);

You missed the part about "...who didn't know any better". In this case "primitive" underscores their primitive, superstitious and limited understanding of the universe.

and you haven’t provided any verse that supports your assertion.

OK. Let's start at the beginning, so to speak: Genesis chapter 1.

Yahweh creates light and calls it "day" in Gen 1:5. However, he doesn't create the sun until "day" 4, in Gen 1:16. Scripture claims that he created the sun (or "greater light") to "rule the day". But the sun doesn't "rule the day". It rather defines the whole concept of "day", as well as "evening" and "morning" mentioned on days 1, 2 and 3, referenced respectively in Gen 1:5, 1:8, and 1:13. So how exactly were there "evenings" and "mornings" without a sun?

Curiously, the sun isn't created until "day" 4, whatever "day" must mean since the sun, the very thing that defines what is a "day" wasn't created for the first three of them. Plants, which require sunlight, were created on "day" 3 in Gen 1:11-12. Now, plants, which thrive on photosynthesis, were created prior to the very thing that feeds them. You'd kind of think a designer would work the other way.

But of course, we know the sun is older than our earth and plants came much later, after the earth cooled sufficiently. So "day 3" would need to come after "day 4" to even be accurate in terms of poetic metaphor.

Yahweh also creates the stars in the sky in 1:16 almost as an afterthought. Primitive Hebrews didn't realize the stars were distant suns. Had they (or their god) known this, they would have had some of the stars created on "day 1", instead of "day 4". Not only are many stars older than our sun but they are much older than our earth. The earth was created on "day 3", Gen 1:10.

And all this doesn't touch upon the "firmament" created on day 2 (Gen 1:6). He calls this firmament "Heaven" (Gen 1:8). Interestingly enough, the ancient Hebrew word for "Heaven" and "sky" were one and the same. So the verse in Gen 1:8 could be accurately translated to "and God called the dome 'sky'." To the ancient Hebrews, the sky must have looked like a dome and, judging by scripture, they thought it was.

So, to sum up:

Day 1: Light and dark, day and night.
Day 2: Sky dome that is "Heaven"
Day 3: Earth, dry land, plants.
Day 4: Sun, moon and stars.
Day 5: Fish, birds.
Day 6: Animals and humans
Day 7: "I'm bushed. Gotta rest."

Now a poetic but accurate representation of the actual order of events might look like this:

Day 1: Time, space, matter
Day 2: Stars
Day 3: Sun, molten earth
Day 4: Cooled earth, sea, plants
Day 5: Animals
Day 6: Humans