Genesis Plot Holes

[Ghostjunkie]

There are seemingly two giant plot holes in the first few chapters of Genesis. They have always bothered me. When I was an atheist I was able to point and laugh, but as a Christian there is no satisfactory answers to be found. Anyone that ever tries to answer them ends up making assumptions that are not backed by scripture--adding to the word of God. Does anyone have insight into these mysteries:

Cain's punishment.

God cursed Cain to wander the Earth, separated from the land, etc. He thought this punishment too much to bear, and was afraid people would kill him for his transgression. Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

The Wives of Adam and Eve's children.

After Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had other children, and they had children, etc. With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate? Again, with them being the only people on the planet, incest would be the only viable option--and that genetic line would not have survived, let alone been able to populate the entire planet.

There are only two conclusions I can draw from this. Either the scripture is wrong or incomplete. I have heard that the Roman Catholic church buried certain books from the bible, calling them heretical. Book of Nod, gospels of Judas and Mary Magdalene, other gnostic gospels, etc. Is it possible the RCC buried books that fill in the gaps on this part? Thoughts?

 

[Christ is Lord]

That only becomes a problem when you take the story of Genesis as literal and exhaustive.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Incest was not a concept then - consider that Adam married his clone. Among Adam and Eve's children, brothers married sisters, later cousins, and some cultures still do it. Many years later, God told the children of Israel to stop doing that, so I suppose errors were already building in the DNA.

As for Cain, I'm sure he rightly feared Adam, and also looked forward to persecution from Adam's other descendants.

There...two plot holes now plugged.

 

[Christ is Lord]

Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

Also, have you considered that the list of people descended from Adam and Eve isn't an exhaustive list?

 

[Ghostjunkie]

Genesis is not shy about being absolutely exhaustive about genealogies. To then assume that they just skimped on mentioning all of their children just seems....disingenuous.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

There are seemingly two giant plot holes in the first few chapters of Genesis. They have always bothered me. When I was an atheist I was able to point and laugh, but as a Christian there is no satisfactory answers to be found. Anyone that ever tries to answer them ends up making assumptions that are not backed by scripture--adding to the word of God. Does anyone have insight into these mysteries:

Cain's punishment.

God cursed Cain to wander the Earth, separated from the land, etc. He thought this punishment too much to bear, and was afraid people would kill him for his transgression. Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

Obviously Adam and Eve had other children.

The Wives of Adam and Eve's children.

After Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had other children, and they had children, etc. With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate? Again, with them being the only people on the planet, incest would be the only viable option--and that genetic line would not have survived, let alone been able to populate the entire planet.

Back then, they lived hundreds of years. So genetically they were able to handle such relationships.

 

[Dave-W]

The bible is NOT an exhaustive history book. It is written somewhat in outline form to give ancient Israel a general timeline and picture of what the beginning looked like. It was not necessary for them to have all the details filled in.

And if 1 Cor 13.12 is to be believed, there are MANY things in scripture that God intentionally left murky and will only be revealed at the end of time.

 

[Sam91]

Also, just because Cain was worried about being murdered it doesn't mean he was in danger of being murdered. There is a thing such as projection. Thieves think other people steal, the cheat worries their partner will cheat, liars question other people's truthfulness.

Remember too how long lives were back in the beginning. Many children are born and grow up during 900 years.

 

[Dave-W]

Genesis is not shy about being absolutely exhaustive about genealogies. To then assume that they just skimped on mentioning all of their children just seems....disingenuous.

Not exhaustive by any means. It only gives one family tree.

Genesis 5:4
Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:7
Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

And so on. No mention about any of them, or even how many there were.

 

[Dave-W]

Remember too how long lives were back in the beginning. Many children are born and grow up during 900 years.

Indeed. He could have been worried Seth's great grand children would hear the stories about Uncle Abe and want to kill him.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Genesis is not shy about being absolutely exhaustive about genealogies. To then assume that they just skimped on mentioning all of their children just seems....disingenuous.

Genesis is focused on two genealogical lines, the Cain line and the Seth line. Adam and Eve probably had many more children, but Biblical history is done with a very broad brush, but with exacting details.

 

[Sam91]

Who's to say everyone in those days were descended from Adam. If there were other people created after Eden that doesn't mess up with people's doctrine because of the flood.

 

[Ghostjunkie]

Not exhaustive by any means. It only gives one family tree.

Genesis 5:4
Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:7
Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

And so on. No mention about any of them, or even how many there were.

Your point is well taken, but I was sort of alluding to the idea that they had other children between Abel and Seth that they just forgot to mention.

 

[Of the Kingdom]

There is no "magic bullet" answer to your concerns, and yes God could have provided clear explanations, but they would probably not have contributed much to our understanding of God's nature or the process of our salvation.

With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate?

We can only speculate here. There is a plausible explanation, and if it's erroneous then God will have a better one when we get to Heaven. There are two main reasons why incest is dangerous to society, a genetic risk and confusion of family relationships. Adam and Eve presumably had no detrimental genes, so their children could have married without genetic problems in the next generation.

Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him?

Cain could have reasonably expected to live several hundred years, so he reasonably expected that in the future there would be people who might attack him, even if no one else was around at the time.

buried certain books from the bible

We can be pretty certain that the "standard" 66 books we find in the protestant Bible are fully reliable and inspired by God. Other books doubtless contain useful information, but we cannot be certain if any particular statement in them is true, since God presumably did not control their content in the same way.

I see the so-called "plot holes" you describe as being of minor concern. while we don't know exactly what happened, we do know that God was in charge and His plan for the salvation of man was not impaired.

 

[topher694]

Not exhaustive by any means. It only gives one family tree.

This. The Bible primarily follows one family line. The one that leads to Jesus... cause that's kinda important . It would quickly become waaaay too much to try to do more.

 

[Sam91]

This. The Bible primarily follows one family line. The one that leads to Jesus... cause that's kinda important . It would quickly become waaaay too much to try to do more.

We can see a glimmer of that from the book of Joshua.

 

[☦Marius☦]

There are seemingly two giant plot holes in the first few chapters of Genesis. They have always bothered me. When I was an atheist I was able to point and laugh, but as a Christian there is no satisfactory answers to be found. Anyone that ever tries to answer them ends up making assumptions that are not backed by scripture--adding to the word of God. Does anyone have insight into these mysteries:

Cain's punishment.

God cursed Cain to wander the Earth, separated from the land, etc. He thought this punishment too much to bear, and was afraid people would kill him for his transgression. Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

The Wives of Adam and Eve's children.

After Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had other children, and they had children, etc. With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate? Again, with them being the only people on the planet, incest would be the only viable option--and that genetic line would not have survived, let alone been able to populate the entire planet.

There are only two conclusions I can draw from this. Either the scripture is wrong or incomplete. I have heard that the Roman Catholic church buried certain books from the bible, calling them heretical. Book of Nod, gospels of Judas and Mary Magdalene, other gnostic gospels, etc. Is it possible the RCC buried books that fill in the gaps on this part? Thoughts?

To answer your question on the heretical books you mentioned, if you read them they truly are heretical and what Gnosticism is based on. They preach a different Christ, a Christ who was a spiritual elitist teaching the Apostles and the enlightened the way to leave reality. They also are not authored by any known apostle. Based on that and their radically different teachings from the rest of the NT, I think their absense from Canon is legitimate.

As for the rest I'm not sure the Bible claims Adam to be the first created humanoid, only the first created in the image of God. 7 day creation could easily be different from what our traditional day spanse is.

There are too many unanswered questions to take Genesis as the sole authority on pre Jewish history. One only has to study the Mayan and Egyptian early constructions to see that there was much more going on then the OT goes in depth on.

I don't think Noah was the sole survivor of the flood either. Every culture in the world has some flood narrative in their mythology, but spread over the entire globe.

 

[Dave-W]

To answer your question on the heretical books you mentioned, if you read them they truly are heretical and what Gnosticism is based on. They preach a different Christ, a Christ who was a spiritual elitist teaching the Apostles and the enlightened the way to leave reality. They also are not authored by any known apostle. Based on that and their radically different teachings from the rest of the NT, I think their absense from Canon is legitimate.

I agree totally.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

There are seemingly two giant plot holes in the first few chapters of Genesis. They have always bothered me. When I was an atheist I was able to point and laugh, but as a Christian there is no satisfactory answers to be found. Anyone that ever tries to answer them ends up making assumptions that are not backed by scripture--adding to the word of God. Does anyone have insight into these mysteries:

Cain's punishment.

God cursed Cain to wander the Earth, separated from the land, etc. He thought this punishment too much to bear, and was afraid people would kill him for his transgression. Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

The Wives of Adam and Eve's children.

After Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had other children, and they had children, etc. With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate? Again, with them being the only people on the planet, incest would be the only viable option--and that genetic line would not have survived, let alone been able to populate the entire planet.

There are only two conclusions I can draw from this. Either the scripture is wrong or incomplete. I have heard that the Roman Catholic church buried certain books from the bible, calling them heretical. Book of Nod, gospels of Judas and Mary Magdalene, other gnostic gospels, etc. Is it possible the RCC buried books that fill in the gaps on this part? Thoughts?

Where is the geneology for the tons of wicked men that perished in the global flood? Surely such a list in the millions would be too much to place within our Bibles. So the genealogy we have is narrowed to the line of Christ and the important biblical people involved in our narratives. The fact of the matter is that there always going to be things that you will not know in the Bible. This should not take away from your faith, but it should simply increase it. We did not visually see God create the Earth in six literal 24 hour days, but we know that is what happened based on God's Word. We don't know how exactly that happened, but we know that it did.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

There are seemingly two giant plot holes in the first few chapters of Genesis. They have always bothered me. When I was an atheist I was able to point and laugh, but as a Christian there is no satisfactory answers to be found. Anyone that ever tries to answer them ends up making assumptions that are not backed by scripture--adding to the word of God. Does anyone have insight into these mysteries:

Cain's punishment.

God cursed Cain to wander the Earth, separated from the land, etc. He thought this punishment too much to bear, and was afraid people would kill him for his transgression. Of whom exactly was Cain worried about killing him? According to the scripture him, Abel, Adam, and Eve were literally the only people on the planet.

The Wives of Adam and Eve's children.

After Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve had other children, and they had children, etc. With whom exactly did Adam and Eve's children mate? Again, with them being the only people on the planet, incest would be the only viable option--and that genetic line would not have survived, let alone been able to populate the entire planet.

There are only two conclusions I can draw from this. Either the scripture is wrong or incomplete. I have heard that the Roman Catholic church buried certain books from the bible, calling them heretical. Book of Nod, gospels of Judas and Mary Magdalene, other gnostic gospels, etc. Is it possible the RCC buried books that fill in the gaps on this part? Thoughts?

No other books are needed besides the traditional 66 book Bible. The other added books contradict God's Word, and there is no evidence supporting them that they are divine in origin like the traditional Bible is.

To check out evidences that support the Bible, see my Blogger article here:

Love Branch: Evidences for the Word of God