Some quick questions from a newbie...

[ErikK]

New to the forum here. Had some basic questions and was hoping that bigger brains could help me out.

I always hear how Christianity isn't as old as other religions or has a similar story to other religions or mythologies. My question(s):

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

2)I was once told that if you wanted to disagree with Christianity that you can't do it from a validity issue as the scriptues are historically accurate and forensically authentic. Where can I read about this? The same person said that one would be better suited to contest doctrinal issues of Christianity should one want to dispute it.

Any help would be... well... helpful! Thanks...

Erik

 

[MoNiCa4316]

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

Hi the thing is, I don't think we know when exactly Adam lived. It doesn't say in the Bible. And some people take Genesis metaphorically (I mostly take it literally, but that's just me). The Resurrection of Jesus is better evidence of Christianity, since we know it is supposed to be literal.

2)I was once told that if you wanted to disagree with Christianity that you can't do it from a validity issue as the scriptues are historically accurate and forensically authentic. Where can I read about this?

Do you mean, where can you read about the historical accuracy of scriptures?
There's a book I read called 'the Case for Christ' by Lee Strobel, and he presents some interesting points about history and the Bible. He also talks about evidence for the Resurrection.


Sorry I can't help more, lol.

God bless!


monica

 

[ErikK]

First off, thanks for the response, Monica!

What I was hoping for with my first question was to be able to trace culture(s) FROM Adam or re-trace cultures TO Adam. I was just interested in seeing how so many differing cultures, beliefs, religions, myths and worldviews have developed from Adam.

And you were right about the second question, I wanted to read more about scriptural history. So I'll give Strobel's book a tumble. Thanks!

E.

 

[GrinningDwarf]

And you were right about the second question, I wanted to read more about scriptural history. So I'll give Strobel's book a tumble. Thanks!

E.

While Strobel's book is pretty good, I think a book more along the lines of what you're looking for would be Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. It's not a difficult read, being designed for laypersons. It's actually the results of McDowell's investigations of the claims of Christianity when he was a college student in the '60s...and an atheist. He was certain that if he objectively looked at the evidence, that Christianity could be proved false. He wound up becoming so convinced by the evidence that he became a Christian. The book is basically his notes from that investigation. He examines the claims for the authenticity of the Bible, and the claims of Christ's deity.

Another, more detailed, book on the history of the Bible is A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman Geisler and William Nix. This is a more scholarly book than Evidence, and in fact I think it's used as a freshman textbook at many Bible colleges, but it is still accessable to us laypeople!!

Here are some websites to consider...

CRI

Monergism

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

Hi ErikK,

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

Outside of the Bible, there isn't any religion/mythology which traces its origins back to Adam. In a real sense, people can trace their origins back to Noah and his family. There are a number of flood stories among the different mythologies. Also the "Table of Nations" in Genesis 10 matches up well with known groups and tribes in the Ancient Near East. There is an archaeologist whose name escapes me at the moment who has done research into this. But here is a link which is decent.

I think Monica and GrinningDwarf's answered your second question well. A good site where the author, Glenn Miller, tackles many of these issues is found here:
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/

LDG

 

[dimwhitt]

New to the forum here. Had some basic questions and was hoping that bigger brains could help me out.

I always hear how Christianity isn't as old as other religions or has a similar story to other religions or mythologies. My question(s):

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

2)I was once told that if you wanted to disagree with Christianity that you can't do it from a validity issue as the scriptues are historically accurate and forensically authentic. Where can I read about this? The same person said that one would be better suited to contest doctrinal issues of Christianity should one want to dispute it.

Any help would be... well... helpful! Thanks...

Erik
erikkwick@comcast.net

in part studies in DNA have helped to make the case for what is called "mitocondrial Eve" (sp?) which can trace a single type of DNA which is passed down from mothers to daughters has been positively indentified the "first human mother"

mythologies develop among people sometimes far removed from God and His proof of existence in creation so myths would not reflect a common Adam tradition
for more on the topic read NEIGHBORING FAITHS by WINFRIED CORDUON

the truth and falsehood of the Christian faith is answered by the evidence for it veracity
for more read I DONT HAVE ENOUGH FAITH TO BE AN ATHEIST by NORMAN GEISLER and FRANK TUREK

for anything about defending the faith (based on the facts of history and the evidence which supports it) read anything by Norman Geisler (he has over 40 books - which defend or define the Christian Faith in light of its historical evidence like archeology and natural science)

 

[MrdeRastignac]

Hi ErikK,



Outside of the Bible, there isn't any religion/mythology which traces its origins back to Adam. In a real sense, people can trace their origins back to Noah and his family. There are a number of flood stories among the different mythologies. Also the "Table of Nations" in Genesis 10 matches up well with known groups and tribes in the Ancient Near East. There is an archaeologist whose name escapes me at the moment who has done research into this. But here is a link which is decent.

I think Monica and GrinningDwarf's answered your second question well. A good site where the author, Glenn Miller, tackles many of these issues is found here:
http://www.christian-thinktank.com/

LDG

Islam could though.... Muslims are generally taught that Jews and Christians and their scriptures are quite okay, but it has been corrupted by the hands of man and therefore Allah gave Muhammed the holy book of the Muslims etc.

Jewish and Christian people always thought Arabs descended from Abraham, and that is also repeated in Islam. Though there Ismael is the big guy instead of Isaak.

Muslims love to argue about how their holy book is perfect in contrast to that of the Christians, and they love showing how Christianity is a polytheistic religion according to them. But the most fundamental difference (which makes all the other claims irrelevant IMO) is that they deny the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

So from a Christian point of view, Islam could be some of the things mentioned several times in the Scripture; very interesting and attractive to some, but in essence they're false prophets trying to get people away from God by pretending to be close to Him.

 

[Libre]

Here's how I see it. God taught Adam and the first promise of a savior was given in Eden. But when Adam left Eden, things went from bad to worse. So, we have that flood. But after Noah, things continued to deteriorate. The truth of God was replaced with things men made up, for the memory of the true began to dim.

Did you know that some believe, and I am one, that the gospel is in the stars? Adam passed on this knowledge, too, but it became perverted into astrology. There are good sources on this. James Kennedy has a book on it, and the classics are by Seiss and Bullinger. Bullinger's book is available to read online. Just Google the names.

On religions, most of them have some sort of savior story. But of course they got it wrong. God chose the Hebrews through which to work. Why? Perhaps because they managed to hang on to the truth better than any other culture.

I love your question. I have read several things that trace cultures and agriculture and language. And I read a book about tracing mitochondrial DNA, but can't remember the title and have just searched without success. Did find this:

http://www.ramsdale.org/dna7.htm

Keep searching. God will guide you.

Libre

PS After I posted, then of course I found the book title:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Daughters_of_Eve

Enjoy.

 

[Albion]

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam?

Plain and simple...this cannot be done. Most of that is lost in unrecorded history.

I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

Yes, but the truth lies in the veracity of the Bible, not in a family tree kind of chart.

 

[Catherineanne]

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

Hiya Erikk. I think my view would be that you want nice neat answers to questions that do not have nice neat answers. However, there are threads to follow, if you want to.

The first is that of anthropology. The study of genetics does indicate that humanity began in one place, probably in Africa, and spread from there to collonise the whole world.

The second is linguistics. There are relationships between many (but not all) Indo-European languages which show their derivation from a single source, called Proto Indo-European. From this derive the Romance, Germanic and Indian languages, but not Basque or Portugese. Nobody knows where they come from.
So there is plenty of evidence outside the Bible for humanity having begun in one place, and spread from there, and much of that migration can be traced through settlement patterns and dating the earliest remains to be found.

Whether we can say that this backs up the creation story is pretty well academic, however, as there are two creation stories in Genesis and they are mutually incompatible. One says that God created Adam and Eve first, the other says that God created the whole of mankind in his image, male and female.

2)I was once told that if you wanted to disagree with Christianity that you can't do it from a validity issue as the scriptues are historically accurate and forensically authentic. Where can I read about this? The same person said that one would be better suited to contest doctrinal issues of Christianity should one want to dispute it.

This is not true. You can disagree with Christianity from whatever viewpoint you happen to choose to take. Much of the Scriptures can be authenticated historically, but there also remains much that is dubious, and remains open to question. The important thing to remember is that the Bible was not written as a history book, but as a means of increasing people's faith in God. The writers simply do not have the same approach to historicity as modern writers would have.

 

[Albion]

The first is that of anthropology. The study of genetics does indicate that humanity began in one place, probably in Africa, and spread from there to collonise the whole world.

The second is linguistics. There are relationships between many (but not all) Indo-European languages which show their derivation from a single source, called Proto Indo-European. From this derive the Romance, Germanic and Indian languages, but not Basque or Portugese. Nobody knows where they come from.
So there is plenty of evidence outside the Bible for humanity having begun in one place, and spread from there, and much of that migration can be traced through settlement patterns and dating the earliest remains to be found.

Sure, but the problem is that you can't link up those facts that are widely separated in time--common ancestor and language groups.

 

[Catherineanne]

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Sure, but the problem is that you can't link up those facts that are widely separated in time--common ancestor and language groups.

I think if you were to research into the history of language, and in particular that of Proto Indo European, you would indeed find some interesting correlations between the movement of peoples and the diversity or not of languages. We cannot say everything about PIE, but there is a surprising amount we can say.

And this does indeed go back in time, in the same way as looking into space looks back in time. You just need to have the eyes to see it.

 

[ibba23]

Bump, God Bless!!

 

[flaja]

1)If man started with Adam and mankind branched out from there... how can we prove that? Is there a place where I can read about that... a chart, of sorts, that shows the spread of mankind from the time of Adam? I figure that everything (religions and mythologies) has to trace back to Adam if Christianity is true and all others false.

We can use DNA to some extent. Your body has two types of DNA. One type is found in the chromosomes that are located in the nucleus of every one of your cells. The other is found in a cell structure called mitochondria. The DNA in your chromosomes determines your genetic characteristics. The mitochondrial DNA helps create the proteins that your body needs to convert food to energy. Since the mitochondria of the sperm cell is all located in the tail and the only the head of the sperm joins up with the egg cell, your mitochondrial DNA comes only from your mother (from the mitochondria in her egg cell). The DNA in your chromosomes comes from both parents except for the X and Y sex chromosomes. A woman has 2 X chromosomes, one from each parent, but a man gets an X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father. By tracking the DNA changes in the Y chromosome you can track your male ancestry. You can use the mitochondrial DNA to track your female ancestry.

Actual data is uncertain and various researchers have reached various conclusions when they tried to track the history of the human race by using DNA. But generally speaking the human race has been tracked back to just a few ancestors- and bear in mind that the time scale used for all of this research is usually based on Darwinism. The last ancestors common to the entire human race supposedly date back to a time that was long before the 6,000 years that the Bible allots to human history- the oldest ancestors are supposedly older than Adam and Eve would be if the Bible is interpreted literally. But the time scale is based on assumptions about the rate of DNA mutation, which is something that we don’t fully understand yet, and if I am not mistaken the data from the chromosomes do not always say the same thing as the data from the mitochondria.

2)I was once told that if you wanted to disagree with Christianity that you can't do it from a validity issue as the scriptues are historically accurate and forensically authentic. Where can I read about this? The same person said that one would be better suited to contest doctrinal issues of Christianity should one want to dispute it.

If you are talking about the Bible’s accuracy as a scientific and historical record, I don’t know that you will find a single source. There are many books that discuss these things as bits and pieces and I’ll try to compile a list of books you can consult.

But at any rate, I don’t see how the Bible’s accuracy in non-doctrinal matters means anything when you want to discuss doctrine.

 

[flaja]

First off, thanks for the response, Monica!

What I was hoping for with my first question was to be able to trace culture(s) FROM Adam or re-trace cultures TO Adam. I was just interested in seeing how so many differing cultures, beliefs, religions, myths and worldviews have developed from Adam.

Probably most of the cultures around the Eastern Mediterranean have creation myths that incorporate some elements of the Biblical account into them. Try researching Egyptian and Mesopotamian myths and religion for a start. The Mesopotamian myths are so similar to the Bible that historians and scientists that don’t believe the Bible make the claim that the Jews created the Bible by copying the myths they heard while they were held captive by Nebuchadnezzar.