Were Adam and Eve the first?

[wisdomseeker]

I have some questions regarding Adam and Eve. I feel in my heart that they were not the first man and woman in the world. The bible even mentions that their son goes away and comes back with a wife. How can that be? If Adam and Eve were truly the first wouldn't that make thier son's wife his sister? Please help me with this question it has been bothering me for some time.

 

[Serapha]

I have some questions regarding Adam and Eve. I feel in my heart that they were not the first man and woman in the world. The bible even mentions that their son goes away and comes back with a wife. How can that be? If Adam and Eve were truly the first wouldn't that make thier son's wife his sister? Please help me with this question it has been bothering me for some time.

Hi there!



The Word of God teaches that God created Adam and later formed Eve from Adam's body. The Hebrew text indicates that the word used in the creation of Adam was that of an original kind, while the word used concerning Eve was one of being formed, but not in the original sense as in Adam.

Furthermore, Jewish tradition teaches that Adam had 23 daughters and 33 sons (Whiston's notes to Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, page 32) It is apparent that one of the first marriages would have been between Cain and a sister or a niece. Close marriages such as this were not "outlawed" by God until the giving of the law at Sinai, many generations after the time of the flood.


I hope this helps in your understanding.


~serapha~

 

[wisdomseeker]

Thank you for your reply. I'm still a little confused though because if Adam and Eve were the first then how did black, Native America, Chinese, and other ethic backgrounds arise?

 

[gluadys]

Thank you for your reply. I'm still a little confused though because if Adam and Eve were the first then how did black, Native America, Chinese, and other ethic backgrounds arise?

Why are you assuming Adam and Eve were not any of these? Maybe you should assume they were Chinese and reword your question to read "...how did black, Native American, European and other ethnic backgrounds arise?"

Or better yet, make no assumption about Adam and Eve and simply ask "...how did so many ethnic backgrounds such as black, Native American, Chinese, European, etc. arise?"

Otherwise, its a good question. There is little reason so many different human groups could arise in as little as 6,000 years (even less if all humans are descended from Noah and his family). It takes time and a significant degree of isolation to develop distinctive regional characters.

 

[rmwilliamsll]

I have some questions regarding Adam and Eve. I feel in my heart that they were not the first man and woman in the world. The bible even mentions that their son goes away and comes back with a wife. How can that be? If Adam and Eve were truly the first wouldn't that make thier son's wife his sister? Please help me with this question it has been bothering me for some time.

Genesis is the historical origin of the Hebrews.
Adam and Eve are the first progenitors in that special relationship that the Hebrews shared with God. The first to walk and talk directly with God. The covenantal pair that gave rise to the Hebrews, out of which Jesus evidentally came.

Genesis is not about the Indians in South America nor about the Chinese, it is about the Hebrews.

...

 

[GenemZ]

Thank you for your reply. I'm still a little confused though because if Adam and Eve were the first then how did black, Native America, Chinese, and other ethic backgrounds arise?

God wanted man scattered over the entire face of the earth. Yet, mankind was fighting this idea.

Genesis 11:4 niv
"Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

God tells us that he created new languages that caused a divsion amongst mankind, dividing men up intp groups. The inability for men to understand the other's language isolated one group from another. He did this instantly! It was not evolution.

God moved these groups to where he desired.

Acts 17:26 niv
"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."

In moving men to areas that had unique climates, God had to provide the means for them to be fully adjusted to their new environments. If it depended upon evolution it would have taken way too long for their survival. God's Word shows the means by which God could cause an instant transformation, as to cause each group to be fully adapted to where he wanted them to be. He first caused them to speak certain languages that divided them up into predetermined groups. Then God needed to transform them as to be suited to where he had each group go to. How could he do this without evolution? Divine Instant Transformation.

Here's how.....

Genesis 3:14 niv
"So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life. "

God caused the serpent instantly to become a belly crawling creature. Apparently, before it was cursed, it had legs!

God is able to transform a creature at will. Instantly! It does not need evolution and thousands of years to produce a change when God has a plan for something to change.

Daniel 4:33 niv
"Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird."

It says that it was fulfilled, immediately,,,,,

Just the same, God has built into certain creatures (because he knows all our needs before they are known to ourselves) the ability for physical change when the envirornment changes and requires a new need.

Take a chameleon who always lived on a brown surface and place it on a green one. Did it evolve when it turned green? No. But it would seem that way if it had been known only to live in an environment that was always brown. Likewise, God knowing all our needs had created into certain creatures an inate ability to adapt that will not be recognized until the need arises. Its not evolution, but God's forknowledge at work. It is to reveal that God knows all things before they happen.

Grace and peace, GeneZ

 

[Maccie]

God caused the serpent instantly to become a belly crawling creature. Apparently, before it was cursed, it had legs!

What happened to its legs, then? Did they shrivel up into his body, fall off, or what??

Sounds like a lot of creationist myths, to me!

 

[GenemZ]

What happened to its legs, then? Did they shrivel up into his body, fall off, or what??

Sounds like a lot of creationist myths, to me!

When God tells us something happened, God is not in the practice of "pulling our leg."

When God says something was so. It was, as he says it was. He is not required to tell us how. How did Jesus walk on water?

Adam ate of the tree. Was he not told what he needed to know in order not to do so? Yet, it did not matter to Adam. For what God told him was really a myth. Right?

I believe I will need to repeat myself with you. For, I have a feeling that no matter what I tell you, you will find a way to "myth" the point.

So, I suggest you go back and re-read the post you just mocked as a diversion away from what was said. Maybe the Holy Spirit will open your eyes and allow you to see what it is that you are missing to see. For it answers many questions that YEC's and Evolutionists miss all the time, because they are too busy concentrating their aim at what they know is a lie from the other side.



Grace and peace, GeneZ

 

[Sinai]

I have some questions regarding Adam and Eve. I feel in my heart that they were not the first man and woman in the world. The bible even mentions that their son goes away and comes back with a wife. How can that be? If Adam and Eve were truly the first wouldn't that make thier son's wife his sister? Please help me with this question it has been bothering me for some time.

This is also the topic of another thread in this forum (which you may wish to check out): http://www.christianforums.com/t1752328-could-genesis-support-adams-being-another-man.html

 

[artybloke]

When God tells us something happened, God is not in the practice of "pulling our leg."

But God didn't. The authors of the Genesis creation myths told us that happened, and as they were story tellers, rather than scientists, they didn't need to go into too much detail.

God does, however, speak to us through the evidence left behind in the fossil record, in the universe etc. You can be pretty sure he "wrote" the universe. And there he says that the universe is very old, that the earth is very old and that human beings evolved over a very long time-period, and probably first came out of the Rift Valley in Africa.

 

[storminhorman]

Genez, firstly. I agree with most of what you have said, apart from one relatively crucial point. The Tower of Babel section. Let me explain.

When God made Adam, he was free of all disease and mutation in his DNA. Variation in DNA began as soon as Adam and Eve began having kids.
The Tower of Babel story tells us of how God separated man into different tribes and nations&c. On this I agree with you. However, when man was separated, they moved away to other areas and began to populate the whole Earth. Different climates made change inevitable as (for example) shorter, stockier people survived more easily in colder environments. This change occurs over time, but does not need to occur in a very long period of it.

The colour of skin &c., of groups of people is all relative to environment. The fittest bodies would have survived in each of the climates that were moved to and hence people began to look more different fom each other.

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

I have some questions regarding Adam and Eve. I feel in my heart that they were not the first man and woman in the world. The bible even mentions that their son goes away and comes back with a wife. How can that be? If Adam and Eve were truly the first wouldn't that make thier son's wife his sister? Please help me with this question it has been bothering me for some time.

Yes, his wife was his sister. Incest wasn't forbidden at that point because genetic errors resulting from the Fall wouldn't show up for quite some time. In a way, we are all related.

 

[Bushido216]

Yeah, that genetic bottleneck at Noah's Ark can be clearly seen. Amazing how we go from what? 10 people at most to over 6 billion in a few thousand years.

 

[GenemZ]

But God didn't. The authors of the Genesis creation myths told us that happened, and as they were story tellers, rather than scientists, they didn't need to go into too much detail.

God does, however, speak to us through the evidence left behind in the fossil record, in the universe etc. You can be pretty sure he "wrote" the universe. And there he says that the universe is very old, that the earth is very old and that human beings evolved over a very long time-period, and probably first came out of the Rift Valley in Africa.

What does the following tell you?


"Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind. " (Isaiah 65:17 niv)

That will be in the future! God will remove this creation and replace it with another. Guess what? It will have lions and snakes. But, there will be a big difference between that creation and this one.


"The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but dust will be the serpent's food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,"
says the LORD." (Isaiah 65:25)

It said in verse 17,that this creation will not be remembered. What will happen if someone dug up the bones of our present day wolf? A lion? When they see the carnivore teeth? Will they understand it was an old destroyed creation? Or, will someone create a concept that they evolved? Or, better yet, will some future YEC's claim that this was an early part of that creation that died off?

God says he will once again create a new heavens and earth. Just like he recreated the present one we live on. What we find in fossils were not what was evolved into what we find today. They were an old heaven and earth creation that was replaced by this present "new heaven and earth."

This planet is very old. The present living creation on the face of the earth is very new in comparison. God will replace this present creation with a new one, just like he replaced the older ones with the one we now see.

And, for your information. This understanding of there being older creations that have been replaced is not a new concept created by believers when Darwins ideas became popular. Since this reality is revealed in the Scripture, it was known to ancient scholars long before the Theory of Evolution raised its ugly head and belched in the face of traditionalist believers. If you are interested in the ancient scholars who saw this long before Darwins was conceived, take a peek at the following link. The man who wrote this book
spoke several languages.

http://www.custance.org/Library/WFANDV/chap1.html

Why were scholars seeing this factor long before there was any controversy?
They did not even know what to make of it at times. It was the very foundation for the theory of evolution (fossils) that actually verified that what they were seeing was a valid interpretation!



"Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind. " (Isaiah 65:17 niv)


In Christ, GeneZ

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

Where do you get this idea that God has "recreated" the earth multiple times?

 

[Bushido216]

For that matter, where do you get the idea that God makes a new creation and the only effort He puts into it is killing everyone off and making only slightly modified replicas of the original species?

 

[artybloke]

What does the following tell you?


"Behold, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind. " (Isaiah 65:17 niv)

That 3rd Isaiah was a good poet?

 

[depthdeception]

That 3rd Isaiah was a good poet?

LoL!!!!!

Awesome!!!

 

[GenemZ]

That 3rd Isaiah was a good poet?

True knowledge of the Word rhymes with reality.

Those who have it, the Lord makes free...


And? May I inquire of you? Which "Isaiah" wrote the following?

1Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?


2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

...........Isaiah 53 niv.........

In Christ, GeneZ

 

[gluadys]

And? May I inquire of you? Which "Isaiah" wrote the following?

Isaiah 53 niv.........[/color][/b]

In Christ, GeneZ

Second Isaiah.