Aren’t the early stories in Genesis repetitions of the stories from earlier cultures? We read similar stories from older sources elsewhere.

Perhaps they are. Let’s consider. If significant event events in human history happened before the time of the Israelites, wouldn’t one expect there might be echoes of these events in the stories of many peoples? So, no problem there.

Well then, one might ask, shouldn’t we be like good historians and go with the older accounts of what happened, separated by less time from the actual events? Speaking as a Christian who believes in God and believes God inspired the books of the Bible, I would say no. God chose to retell his version of the stories to the Israelites so they would understand the past accurately and pass the stories on to us. If God is real and was there to see what happened, then we are hearing from a reliable eyewitness. Of course, such a view depends on taking God and his action in history seriously.