The stories are old and some of the events are verifiable. But that does not mean they are absolute truth and certainly does prove they are the word of God.
They were stories preserved orally over many generations, so they changed slightly with each telling. So a local flood around the Mediterranean (which did happen) became a world flood (which didn’t).
The stories were used as a set of by-laws. You must do this, you mustn’t do that. A way to control society.
Taking a 2000 year old first written publication and applying them as rules for today is a mistake. Conditions change, problems change, people change so the rules become outdated and and miss more modern problems that need addressing.
You wouldn’t read the 1931 edition of the Highway Code to make you fit for a long motorway drive. And you shouldn’t read the Bible to become a model citizen today.