I recently began reading Genesis from the Old Testament. I am reading this without much prior knowledge of the Bible. Anyway, I am confused about some things.
God created Adam and Eve everything else. Adam and Eve created Cain and Abel. After Cain killed Abel he left and went to Nod. Then he married and had children? Where did this woman come from? Also after Noah’s family (I assume Noah, his wife, and the three sons) were on the ark the sons went out and had children. Where did the women come from? I thought everything that wasn’t on the ark was killed.
Absolutely amazing! :eek: Nobody has ever noticed these incongruities before. I think you are onto something big here. I’m not sure who you should contact, but this could revolutionize Western history or for that matter World history. :rolleyes:
In addition to Cain and Abel, Adam & Eve had other sons and daughters. In our day, there is a taboo against incest, but there was no such commandment in Adam’s time.
On the ark were Noah and his wife, and his three sons (Shem, Ham and Japeth) and their wives.
The bible doesn’t state that Adam & Eve were the only people created, and in fact the implication is that there were others created in other lands. Cain was afraqid that the people of other lands would kill him, hence the mark.
As for Noah, I’ve heard that the flood covering the worldis a mistranslation, and in the original language the country was flooded. Noahsailed for days until he reached higher land that wasn’t flooded. And taking seven pairs of each animal from his own livestock, not every animal in the world.
A much more reasonable story, and possibly a true one. I understand that there is geological evidence for the flood, at least. Except that Noah was called Utnapishtim.
Anyway, I never said I was out to prove anything. I was simply confused while reading. Geez, some of you need to quit assuming that anyone who asks questions about Christianity is trying to prove something or has a hidden agenda.
Thanks to everyone else who replied.
C’mon guys! It is a legitimate question. We’ve had almost two dozen threads on that or similar themes (some by veteran Dopers), including: Genesis creation in bible doesn’t make sense
My apologies to Paco. I did jump to the conclusion that you were simply baiting the Bible-believers. Seemed that if you were reading Genesis from 1:1 onward, it’d be odd that you’d be confused by these particular points given all the other truly bizarre aspects of the first few chapters, and unlikely that you’d miss the fact that the boys’ wives were aboard.
I do believe that Genesis 1-2 is a good guideline for how to approach this book. Right off the bat, you have two stories which were preserved even though they are clearly contraditory. That should tell you something – this book wasn’t meant to be read like a modern history text.
So that’s essentially my answer. No more need to be confused about this than about why people on TV shows will crowd around three sides of a table with no one on the fourth side, or how Kojak always manages to find a parking space right outside whatever place he’s visiting.
The interesting part about Cain is not his wife, but who the hell was around who wasn’t his cousin, not to mention who was around to populate the city he moved into, Seth, definitely the third son, was born after the murder as a replacement, which would not have been necessary if there were other sons.
No one mentioned this, but Noah’s sons brought their wives onto the ark. That is about the only part of the story that is not absurd.