Expert: Rev Steve Parish - 11/2/2011

Question
Hi Father,
If you can clarify just one thing here. Somewhere in old testament talks about the two sons of Adam and Eve. Well we all belive that Adam and Eve were the first Human on earth but we also know that one of their two sons was killed by his brother and went away and then he had family. Were there any other human around apart from his parents (Adam and Eve) during that time so he went to find them?

Thank you

Answer
Not all Christians believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans, seeing Genesis as teaching divine creation but not bothered about the detail. Taking it literally, then the next generation would have been from sex between Adam's sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4). However, you'll note that Genesis chapter 5 has no record of Cain and Abel.

Many scholars explain this by identifying at least two separate sources for the stories in Genesis, one where God is called El, and one where the divine name is used Yahweh (Jehovah) - you can tell the latter because in many English translations this word is usually translated the LORD (in capitals).

This would mean Genesis is a story about the truth of God's creation, rather than a true story.

Of course many Christians insist on the literal truth of all these stories (so would explain the lack of reference to Cain and Abel as because of Cain's sin, or simply because it was Seth's line that led to Noah and so to salvation history).