A question

[Red79]

In genesis adam and eve are the parents of cain and abel and also their wifes? It dosent mention it only seth. Can anyone enlighten me

 

[fm107]

Here in Genesis 5 it does:

Genesis 5:1-5
This is the written account of Adam’s line.
When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.”
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

 

[Red79]

Thank you. Ive only recently became a christian and still learning.

 

[fm107]

Your very welcome brother, just glad I could point you in the right direction. May you grow closer to God each day!

 

[briareos]

hmm....

 

[Bible2]

Red79 said (in post #1):

In genesis adam and eve are the parents of cain and abel and also their wifes? It dosent mention it only seth.

While Genesis 5:4 does mention other sons and daughters of Adam besides Seth, Genesis 5:4 doesn't say that Cain and Abel married their full sisters. To avoid Cain and Abel having to commit such incest, God could have allowed them instead to marry only daughters of other humans which could have been miraculously created (or could have been allowed by God to evolve) before Adam was created.

Creationism includes what could be called the double-gap theory, meaning that there could have been two different gaps of time in Genesis chapters 1-2, the first gap having occurred between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, and the second gap having occurred between Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 2:5.

Genesis 1:1 could have occurred some 4.5 billions years ago, when God first created the planet earth, and its atmosphere (the first heaven, in which the birds fly: cf. Genesis 1:20b). Between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, some 4.5 billion years could have occurred, in which God could have allowed his own created process of evolution (random mutation and survival of the fittest) to serve as a mechanism by which new species arose on the earth. During those same 4.5 billion years, God could have also sometimes gone outside of evolution and created new species miraculously, whenever he wanted (cf. punctuated equilibria).

Genesis 1:2 could refer to the condition of the earth only some 12,000 years ago (at the end of the Paleolithic period), after some cataclysm, such as a comet strike, had killed off all life on the planet (both evolved and miraculously created), and had submerged all land areas in water (comets contain huge amounts of water), and had ruined the atmosphere. The impact of the comet could have also knocked the earth out of its orbit around its original star, so that the earth was sent hurtling into the darkness of interstellar space. Genesis 1:3-2:4 could then refer to God, over a period of six literal, 24-hour days (some 12,000 years ago, at the start of the Neolithic period), miraculously restoring to the earth light, a good atmosphere, dry land, and life, including a race of male and female homo sapiens sapiens, after God had miraculously restored land plants (Genesis 1:11-13) and land animals (Genesis 1:24-25) to the earth.

Then, only about 6,000 years ago, God miraculously created on the earth an individual male homo sapiens sapiens named Adam in an uninhabited desert land (Genesis 2:5-7; the original Hebrew word translated there as "earth" can simply refer to a certain "land"; cf. Genesis 2:11). After that, God planted the plants of the Garden of Eden in that desert land (Genesis 2:8-9) and God placed Adam in that garden (Genesis 2:15). After that, God miraculously created the animals of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19). After that, God miraculously created in the Garden of Eden an individual female homo sapiens sapiens (Genesis 2:22) whom Adam named Eve (Genesis 3:20).

If there were pre-Adamic humans existing on the earth when God created Adam, they could have all died in the same ways people die today, and all of their descendants could have died during Noah's flood.

Because Adam was created only about 6,000 years ago, but there are homo sapiens sapiens fossils said to be as old as about 200,000 years, God could have first created homo sapiens sapiens (or it could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) as far back as about 200,000 years.

Also, all the different hominid forms the fossils of which long predate or are as old as the earliest fossils of homo sapiens sapiens, and which preceding or co-existing hominid forms we don't consider to have been fully human like us (such as homo sapiens neanderthalensis), could have all been created by God (or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) over millions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth.

And this doesn't even get into the possibly trillion other inhabited planets in the universe on which homo sapiens sapiens (or similar or far more advanced life-forms) could have been created by God (or could have evolved by God's created process of evolution) billions of years prior to the first appearance of homo sapiens sapiens on the earth. For the universe could be about 14 billions years old, and there are something like 100 billion different galaxies in the universe, each containing something like 100 billion different stars. So even if only one out of 10 billion stars in the universe has an inhabited planet, this would still mean that there are 1 trillion inhabited planets in the universe. And on most of these planets God could have begun his miraculous work (and the work of his created process of evolution) billions of years before beginning his miraculous work (and the work of his created process of evolution) on the earth.

---

Some people claim that the Bible requires that the earth itself is only 6,000 years old. But this isn't the case. All the Bible requires is that Adam was created about 6,000 years ago. For various verses in the Bible make it possible to estimate the year BC that Adam (as opposed to the earth) was created, by working back from the year BC that Solomon's temple began to be built:

Historians say that Solomon's temple began to be built about 966 BC.
And 1 Kings 6:1 says that Solomon's temple began to be built 480 years after the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.
And Exodus 12:40-41 says that Israel had spent 430 years in Egypt before the Exodus.
And Genesis 47:9 shows that Israel entered Egypt when Jacob was 130 years old.
And Genesis 25:26 says that Jacob was born when his father Isaac was 60 years old.
And Genesis 21:5 says that Isaac was born when his father Abraham was 100 years old.
And Genesis 11:26 shows that Abraham was born when his father Terah was about 70 years old.
And Genesis 11:24 says that Terah was born when his father Nahor was 29 years old.
And Genesis 11:22 says that Nahor was born when his father Serug was 30 years old.
And Genesis 11:20 says that Serug was born when his father Reu was 32 years old.
And Genesis 11:18 says that Reu was born when his father Peleg was 30 years old.
And Genesis 11:16 says that Peleg was born when his father Eber was 34 years old.
And Genesis 11:14 says that Eber was born when his father Salah was 30 years old.
And Genesis 11:12 says that Salah was born when his father Arphaxad was 35 years old.
And Genesis 11:10 says that Arphaxad was born when his father Shem was 100 years old.
And Genesis 11:10 and Genesis 7:6 taken together show that Shem was born when his father Noah was 502 years old.
And Genesis 5:28-29 says that Noah was born when his father Lamech was 182 years old.
And Genesis 5:25 says that Lamech was born when his father Methuselah was 187 years old.
And Genesis 5:21 says that Methuselah was born when his father Enoch was 65 years old.
And Genesis 5:18 says that Enoch was born when his father Jared was 162 years old.
And Genesis 5:15 says that Jared was born when his father Mahalaleel was 65 years old.
And Genesis 5:12 says that Mahalaleel was born when his father Cainan was 70 years old.
And Genesis 5:9 says that Cainan was born when his father Enos was 90 years old.
And Genesis 5:6 says that Enos was born when his father Seth was 105 years old.
And Genesis 5:3 says that Seth was born when his father Adam was 130 years old.

Adding up all the numbers of years above, we see that Adam was created about 4114 BC. This lines up with the fact that our current human civilization began about 4,000 BC.

If Adam was created about 4114 BC, this means that 6,000 years since Adam's creation were completed back at the end of about 1886 AD, and that the seventh millennium since Adam's creation began about 1887 AD. (But this doesn't require that the millennium of Revelation 20:4-6 has begun yet.)

It's curious that the Mayan calendar begins in 3114 BC, exactly 1,000 years after 4114 BC, the possible date of Adam's creation.

The numbers of years in the list of scriptures above show that Abraham (who was first promised the land of Israel by God: Exodus 32:13) was born about 1948 years after the creation of Adam, just as the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 AD.

If Solomon's temple began to be built about 966 BC, then 1 Kings 6:1 means that the Exodus may have occurred about 1446 BC.

---

Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4,000 BC (subsequent to Adam's creation about 4114 BC), by "civilization" was meant "the stage of cultural development at which writing and the keeping of written records is attained" (Webster's, print-version); "The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marked the beginning of the Bronze Age and of writing. The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established and grew to prominence" (Wikipedia -- 4th millennium BC).

Regarding "civilization" being defined by (Oxford Dictionaries) as the "most advanced" stage of human social development and organization, our current human civilization (4th millennium BC to the present) is the most advanced stage of human social development and organization, compared to all known prehistoric (pre-4th millennium BC) stages.

---

Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4,000 BC, by "current" was meant that civilization which began in the 4th millennium BC and continues on today, as opposed to any pre-Adamic human civilizations which may have existed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years ago.

If there were pre-Adamic civilizations, they could have reached as high a level of technology as our modern technology today, for the Bible says "there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things" (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). And even our future technology could have already been invented during past eons, for "that which is to be hath already been" (Ecclesiastes 3:15).

But all past-eons technology on the earth could have been completely obliterated by God, leaving no trace of it, just as all our own technology today (and in our future) will eventually be completely obliterated by God, when "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10b). Here by "earth" could be meant just the surface of the earth, for the planet itself could continue on forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4, Psalms 104:5, Psalms 78:69b), so that the future "new earth" (2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1) could mean a new surface for the earth.

---

Regarding the claim above that our current human civilization began about 4,000 BC, by "human" was meant human civilization in general, as opposed to the civilization of any particular people (e.g. Mayan civilization).

Also, by "human" civilization was meant civilization started by humans as opposed to any non-human animals. For preceding the first human civilization, there could have been non-human mammalian civilizations some 65 to 2 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent horse-like creatures (cf. Revelation 9:17-19), who could have rebelled against God and then been banished from the earth (and forced to live, perhaps, in underground bases somewhere away from the planet, such as on the far side of the moon and/or on Mars, for the future army of 200 million weird horse-like creatures in Revelation 9:16-19 will have to come from somewhere).

Preceding the first mammalian civilization, there could have been reptilian civilizations some 250 to 65 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent dragon/dinosaur creatures (cf. Revelation 12:9).

And preceding the first reptilian civilization, there could have been amphibian civilizations some 350 to 250 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent frog-like creatures, who could have rebelled against God and become unclean spirits (cf. Revelation 16:13).

And preceding the first amphibian civilization, there could have been insect civilizations some 450 to 350 million years ago, started by, for example, intelligent locust-like creatures (cf. Revelation 9:3-10), who could have rebelled against God and been banished to a cavern deep within the earth's crust (cf. Revelation 9:2-3,11).

 

[parsley]

...Or you could conclude that's why we're all a little wonky.

Thanks Bible2 for the great explanation!

People get very caught up in the few chapters that recounted an event occurring before written language was established. I think we need to give the creation story a little patience, for a retelling that was passed down through oral tradition.

Look ahead, look toward what you can accomplish among people now, and how you can connect with God as personally as Adam and Eve did. The Garden was a great model for how close God allows us to get to Him.

 

[toGuides]

!

 

[visionary]

DNA was not full of problems like it is today.. it was perfect and the ruling to not marry family did start showing up for the immediate family early on.. but today I think they figure kissing cousins is safe..

 

[now faith]

Thank you bible, I have pondered this for a long time as well. Genesis ch. 4 verses 16 17 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord ,and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife and she conceived. It did not say his sister. This is a topic that the answer does not come easy. But keeping a open mind helps, my God can create anything he desires including a sub race. God created man in his Image , Adam was chosen by God to create. This does not limit God from other creations. Notice the line from Adam to the children of Israel . God preserved it through the flood and continued it. Looking forward to other comments on this.