Adam and Eve

If you follow the Bible version, Adam and Eve only had 2 children, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and was forced to leave the garden. He then went to the land of Nod and married and had a family.

UMMMMM with who? It is never explained.

How freeing it is to be an atheist! I plan on telling my kiddo the bible is a great book that someone with a very vivid imagination thought up, and that unless he wants to read it out of general interest, he doesn't have to worry about it.

Yes, Adam and Eve had children, many children! Not just the three boys that are talked about in the story about Cain and Able. Adam lived 930 years. They had them over hundreds of years. Their kids lived hundreds of years and had many, many children. Yes, they procreated with brothers and sisters. Probably, nieces and nephews. It wasn't till after the flood that they had much shorter lives. Then were restricted on who they had children with.
They had a job. To go forth and multiply. The DNA was as pure as it would ever be and distinctive and strong and quite close to perfect. It would not be the same if close relatives were to have kids today.
I am not defending God's word, I dont have to. You either believe or you don't.

Bible stories are not to be interpreted literally. They are stories meant to teach lessons and help understand our relationship with God.

My favourite explanation of Adam and Eve is by Amy Jill Levine, a Hebrew New Testament Scholar.

Of course, in human history it was not uncommon to procreate with members of ones own family. The human population was smaller and people lived in smaller, more isolated groups. Even 100 years ago it wasn't uncommon for cousins to marry.

You know, it saddens me to hear people call the books in the Bible, "fables." They are not fables, not fairy tales, not just boring stories that religious people read. Now, if one does not have a relationship with the Lord, I can understand why someone would be skeptical of the Bible, primarily because they simply do not understand. The Bible IS the written word of God, written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. With that said, I have included a link for you (and others) to read, perhaps it will help you understand the family line of Adam and Eve.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Cains-wife.html

According to several Christian apologists, Adam and Eve's children did indeed procreate with each other, and while incest is a sin now, it wasn't back then. These are the same people who say that "God's laws don't change." Go figure.

I'm not Christian, so I didn't really care about trying to reconcile all the inconsistencies in the Bible.

When she heard the story and asked me about who Adam and Eve's kids married, I explained it to my daughter by telling her that Adam and Eve weren't literally just two people, but symbols for male and female - that Adam represented men in general and Eve represented women in general.
While I have no personal issue with related consenting adults deciding they want to have sex, had this been the means by which the human race was established, we would have gone extinct before we had done much populating, due to the concentration of recessive genes.

ReverendRuby, according to Genesis, after being expelled from the garden, Adam and Eve did indeed have more children, both sons and daughters.
But I always wondered too - if God only created Adam and Eve, then how was it that there were any people in the land of Nod?

The law not to marry close relations was not given initially. Adam and Eve would have been genetically perfect, their children did not carry the mutations and risk deformities as the human race did later on.
We probably make it weirder than it really was because of our mind set on the subject.

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c004.html

If you don't believe it, then don't teach it to your child.

I believe in God, but I also believe the bible is just a book. My children are raised with the scientific facts of evolution and the spiritual comfort of God and heaven.

Again, teach your child what YOU believe. If he's still wanting to know, go see a priest or pastor at your local church to see what they have to say - they would be the authority on the matter.

I agree fully with JessicaWessica here. I'd like to add that the bible makes mention of one of the brothers (Cain or Abel) going somewhere else (Nod?) to get a wife, which means to me that even the bible acknowledges the existence of other people.

Tangent aspect of evolution: Light-colored eyes used to mean disease. Thanks to evolution, they can now be considered "pretty".

Yeah, I've been asked that too. The best I can say is "Well....what do YOU think?"

The Word of God.

God created Adam & Eve. They were perfect. Yes, they had children, many children.

If you need help answering it - go to your pastor, Priest or Rabbi. They will help you.

When my kids asked? I told them that God made Adam and Eve perfect. They lived for HUNDREDS of years and yes, their children were fruitful and multiplied. It was not like it is today. When one states "we are all related", it's true...

I take the Bible 100% literal. Yes every single word is true. What Mrslavallie said is correct. She is spot on, IMO.
I also teach my kids that God created the Heavens and the Earth.

I would tell him that while it is a good collection of stories, some of which have valuable lessons, no Adam and Eve were not actual people. A species descended from two individuals - what a horrible genetic bottle neck. Fortunately for us your son can also learn about evolution and where people actually come from.

Well I would tell him the Bible was written a long time ago for people who also thought that the world was flat. Maybe you could find a childs book that explains evolution.

This is such an interesting question!! I am not sure how old your son is, but there is a really interesting book called "The Seven Daughters of Eve" that traces the main mitochondrial genetic strains from "Genetic Eve" in Africa to the continents. It is a bit out of date, but the main principles are quite sound. I feel a connection and comfort knowing that my cells hold information from all of the women before me all the way back to "Genetic Eve." People thousands of years ago had to realize that their mothers had a mother, and a mother before them, and so on. Adam and Eve were their answer to where that started. The fascinating part to me is the scientific reality of these common genetic ancestors that share the shape of the Adam and Eve story. Maybe tell him that the important thing to take from the story is not the icky idea of brothers and sisters procreating, but that we are all one human family.

There are really no inconsistencies in the Bible. You just have to know and understand the Bible and what it says and you will see that the Bible is very consistent.

Adam and Eve and sons and daughters. The sons and daughters married each other since that was who was there. They also didn't have health concerns with marrying their sisters because it was the beginning of when God made humans. And they had families, etc etc.

N.

Hi L.,

Your son is awesome! It's great that he's questioning what he reads, because it's how he'll grow in his faith and develop his own beliefs.

I haven't studied the details of that part of the creation story, but I have noticed that the Old Testament tends to focus on the parts of human creation that are critical to the spiritual development of the race. It can't include all the details. In genealogies, many names are listed without us knowing anything about the individual. Like others have said, Adam and Eve would have had many more children than just the three mentioned in the creation story. Genesis 4 mentions Cain, his wife, their descendants, spouses, family members. It doesn't specify if or how the husbands and wives were related.

So I wonder if God didn't stop creating people after Adam and Eve? Maybe Adam and Eve were the ones who were critical to the story, so they're the ones who are names. Maybe there were others who didn't earn recognition? Or not. The Bible doesn't give us those details.

But that's not what I think of.

I think of this. If I believe that God is powerful enough to create the universe, then he can probably handle the problem of populating the Earth. Yes. I'm curious, and I'd like to know the *real* answer to your son's question. But it isn't one of the things that would shake my faith. It would make the story a little richer in detail. If you think your son's ready, maybe you could give him a few of the "what-ifs" the moms have presented in this thread and ask him if any of them would change his view. I also support the idea of talking to a youth pastor for some suggestions.

I noticed you're in Bothell. Overlake Christian Church in Redmond has a phenomenal children's/student ministry, and it would be a place that would support your son's (and your) interest in finding answers to tough questions!

And incidentally, I personally feel that science is evidence of God's hand as a creator. That so many systems that work in harmony (molecular structures, DNA, organs, tides...) screams to me that it can't all be because of blind chance.

What an interesting question!
He's a smart O., your boy!

I'd go with "yes" or "what do you think?"

(If we're all related, you'd think there'd be more compassion in the world and less war, huh?)

You can't think of it like we do today concerning incest. Adam and Eve were created perfect, and held all genetic information and variations in their genes. Their children could have been any color, size, "race" (as we think of it now), because of the endless combinations. There would have been no problem with their offspring having sex and creating yet another combination. The problem today is that our genetics were "bottlenecked" through Noah's family and we now only hold a tiny percentage of variation which came through those 3 couples. This handful of combinations can cause genetic mutations if we procreate with a brother. Reference this article for technical info: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/tj/v17/n1/events

And the Bible does not account for every action that took place from creation through Revelation, so to say that Adam and Eve only had Cain, Abel and Seth is just silly. Read Genesis 4 - there are many references to "people" and "wives". They are the product of God's command to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply.