Ummm??

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by SnakeLord, Mar 12, 2003.

  1. SnakeLord snakeystew.com Valued Senior Member

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    Apologies once more but I have another question to ask

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    Adam and Eve had two sons... Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel. Later on Adam and Eve had a third son.

    "So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain lay with his wife....."

    Not being rude but where the hell did she come from??

    Let's try again.... Adam and Eve had three sons. So umm where the hell did Cains wife appear from??

    You'd think if you were writing the most important historical book on the planet you'd include that rather important detail dont you?

    It is exactly that lack of detail that causes problems but this is even more than just lack of detail. It would be the real answer to the creation of mankind. Frankly I don't care what the first mans name was or the first womans name, and i dont really care to know she was made from spare parts. What would seem more relevant is knowing where every other human sprang from.

    Does anyone actually agree with me or am i the only person who wonders such things?
     
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  3. Bridge Registered Senior Member

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    "Am I my brother's keeper?"

    LOL! Not at all, I think that the question of Cain's wife comes up with regularity with all Bible readers.

    This is actually a great question because it cracks open a big nut full of other questions like should we take the Bible literally, phrase by phrase or contextually. There are some genres in the Scriptures which are somewhat historical, and other stories which are myth. One Biblical scholar described a myth in the context of Scripture, "A lie that tells a truth."

    One take on it is that the Genesis stories are mythical, but reveal a deeper truth about Humankind. In the case of Cain and Abel, it tells a story of the sin of jealousy and murder. This is actually some of the consequences of original sin. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, their offspring are prone to sin as well. But we have a choice - we always have a choice. We can follow God's ways or the ways of our own selfish interests and even the way of the Evil One. Abel followed God's ways, and Cain obviously followed a sinful path. But even still, Cain was remorseful and wanted to hide in shame from God, but God promised protection for Cain. Cain could still be forgiven, and follow God's ways.

    A second take, the literal approach, would incorporate Genesis 5:4


    So the literal approach means Cain lived a long time, hundreds of years like his pop Adam, killed Abel somewhere in the early days, wandered a long time, meanwhile Adam and Eve had themselves a bunch of more babies, then after they grew up to child bearing age, some of the daughters wandered around and eventually Cain procreated with one of his sisters.

    Regarding the details to your question, yes, there seems to be a problem with the four people and suddenly a fifth shows up, a wife for Cain. To me personally, the details do seem trivial compared to the deeper meaning of the story.
     
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  5. Taken Registered Senior Member

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    One could also mention the rumor of Adams first wife.

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    Have you ever considered the magnitude of time and parchment required to give every single detail of time in a written account. Perhaps the writer thought his decendants would be at least as intelligent as him and could reason the smaller issues for them selves. You can spend years debating the whys and wherefors of the technicalities and never get arround to the Point. Just for the benefit of doubt...It SAYS Adam was the first man and eve was created from his rib...what about what it DOESN'T say...it doesn't say they were the ONLY people created. Mabey they were and it was Adams daughter that married Adams son. Does it matter?
     
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  7. Darwin Disciple Evo v CS advocate Registered Senior Member

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    Well, if you're going to go on about what the bible DOESN'T say, then how about we assume there was an Introduction page by the author stating that the bible is his first work to be published in the first issue of Science Fantasy Journal.
     
  8. Taken Registered Senior Member

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    Well it didnt say you were going to be born, yet here you are, so I suppose anything is possible. Hello...nice to meet you.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2003
  9. SwedishFish Conspirator Registered Senior Member

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    it tends to leave out women whenever possible. don't forget it's a book of teaching stories anyway.
     
  10. SnakeLord snakeystew.com Valued Senior Member

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    Well, the bible is a book of historical events, not a future prediction novel.

    Yeah, i've noticed that. But doesn't that actually show it's true lack of historical teachings? It mentions God many times, but perhaps they forgot to mention he was 2 feet tall and lime green. It is this absolute and utter lack of detail which leaves so many question marks concerning its validity. That of course was my whole original point and yet here everyone is preaching it like it's the only fact in the world. Frankly with it being so full of 'holes' and so open to random interpretations I dont think anyone has one foot to stand on when trying to compare the stuff within to anything based upon real life. Which leaves nothing more to add than it's a great sci-fi novel, but personally i prefer Philip Jose Farmer.
     
  11. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

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    You are not the only one, and there are a lot more questions where that came from.

    What I posted on another thread...

     
  12. SnakeLord snakeystew.com Valued Senior Member

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    Be careful One_Raven! Someone's gonna come along and post some scripture that answers absolutely bugger all and then claim it's the answer to everything you asked. I notice that a lot round here and I only been here 2 days

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  13. Darwin Disciple Evo v CS advocate Registered Senior Member

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    I'm not a christian but I study religion religiously!:bugeye:
    I asked those questions as well and thought "Aha! We got a fallacy here" but then you just have to read on. Genesis chapter 5. This explains the genealogy of Adam. It goes on and on about son begot son and they had sons and daughters but doesn't really tell you how many of them or if they had sons and daughters as well. They only name the first sons. Chapter 5 is not chronological with chapter 4 but rather explains Adams family tree so I would assume Cain's wife is either a sister or niece.
     
  14. UNCStudent Registered Member

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    It seems to me the Bible has a lot of vague statements like that. Also, while we are on the subject of Adam and that gang, why did the Animals have to leave the Garden of Eden? They obviously did not eat from the tree as Adam and Eve did.

    ~Robin
     
  15. Darwin Disciple Evo v CS advocate Registered Senior Member

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    The sons of God are Adam and his male descendants because of Adam's purity being the direct creation of God. Cain sinned and was cast out and his male descendency are known as the sons of man.
     
  16. SnakeLord snakeystew.com Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry, my history is a little bit fuzzy... First we had Adam and Eve. They had children who had children and so on and so forth. When did the cavemen arrive exactly? And why were they about 1/100000000th as smart as the first man?

    If you cannot take the bible to be an accurate account of historical events how can you consider it to be anything other than pure fantasy? How can people preach it so easily when it's blatantly obvious it bears no resemblence to anything remotely real?

    I know this will never get an answer, just some worthless garbage spouted from the bible that offers nothing.

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  17. Jan Ardena OM!!! Valued Senior Member

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  18. Taken Registered Senior Member

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    Ahhh...the voice of wisdom sounding in the desert Jan Ardena. *giggles* Hello old friend.

    And actually SnakeLord it is a novel of future predictions...or atleast a good part of it is. The better part of the Old Testament was written to fortell the events of the New Testament & the New Testament foretells the destruction of life as we know it.

    Most references to "men" in the english Bible are a lose translation and can be better termed "people" or "humans" so it wasn't to discredit the existance of women.

    You simply have to reason some things for yourself on the number of humans in existance because; as Gods chosen people, the book was written with the focus on the history and future of Isreal & therefor does not detail all acounts of all people and all events in the world. Among many important paths laid out for them in the Old Testament the geneology of Isreal and the specific blood line of The Christ was very important to the nation of Isreal and became one of the focuses of the Book. So as for the actuall "men" accounted for...Jesus' blood line was the focus here I believe.

    If one does not reason, with discresion of course, then one would also have to assume that all other nations of men in all other areas of the world were just being totaly ignored and had no communion with God and since "He" is the giver, sustainer and source of ALL life that would hardly be reasonable to assume.
    Creation stories of religions dated and preserved as far older than Judism have exceptionally similar details to the creation account in the Bible. I think thats not a happy accident nor a case of total plagerism but perhaps a case of the culture and nationality of the teller effecting it. Assuming you accept that Moses was the author...he had to go way back before his own birth and give a brief recount of the history from the start up till his time for the purpose of clarity. He would have to go on storys passed down through generations and written accounts recorded by earlier men and his education (wich was as an egyptian) in order to relay the earlier events. Im sure he did the best he could given the wieght of his task...but lets not forget we are talking about humans not magicians and given a similar project you would have to consider your own ability and resources. He had to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Anyone here ever tried to do a family tree or history? Just by the stories of the older people in your family and legal documents on file at court houses? after about 3 or 4 generations back it gets sketchy...names change...stories are lost...documentation is harder to find...grave stones are missing. Now imagine trying to trace it back THAT many generations with NO court house...NO grave stones...and being raised seperate from your own nation as a foriegner. Cut Moses a little slack here.
     

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