Expert: Brian Thompson - 1/1/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi Brain

From: NKJV Genisis 1:28 Then GOD blessed them, and GOD said to them, "Be fruiful and multipley;..."

My question(s) Brain.

1- Where do all the othere peoples of the world come from?

2. Did Eve have sexual relationships with Cane & Able ?


Brain there's lot I don't understand in GOD'S Word. But I do believe it.

Brain is here an answer somewhere in GOD'S Word that explains these questions that I've missed ?

Thank You Bran
GOD BLESS YOU & YOUR FAMILY
Ray M.

ANSWER: HI Ray
firstly I'm sure you appreciate your name being used and spelled correctly and so do I, my name is Brian

Let me address this whole issue, you say you believe God's Word, therefore the issue is; are you trying to read too much into it? or are you being confused by various commentatators? There is such a thing as overthinking a problem. As Christians we are are expected to exercise our faith and believe what we are told

The life span of people in Adam's time appears to be about 1000 years. We are given no idea of the timing of the birth of Adam's children or how many there were. We know that Cain and Able were contemporaries however we do not know their ages when Cain killed Able or at what time they were born in Adams life time, we assume because of the way the Bible is written that Cain was the first born and that this happened early in Adam's life. We assume they were adults although Cain's behaviour might belie thus. In the days of Adam the gene pool was pure and as far as we know there was no rule against sexual relations between siblings. I don't expect that Cain and Able had sexual relations with their mother. I think you can see that far too much assumption is called for if we want to fit the story into the way we percieve life to be. Just because the Bible narriative places events close together doesn't mean there were not many years in between the events.

If you assume one generation each twenty years and even discount the first century when there would be few people there are 16 generations until the flood and within ten generations there are millions so with a long life span there is not great difficulty with finding a mate and within a short time that mate may not be closely related. We only have to look at behaviour today to see that such estimates are extremely conservative. Because food would be scarse for a large population people would have spread out quickly.

So you see there is no great difficulty in seeing what the nature of the society might have been and observation of primitative groups existing today give a picture of how they may have lived and related to each other.

I find there are very few difficulties with the Bible accounts and seeming inconsistencies may relate to translation and to the very little datail we are actually given. Given the opportunity the Holy Spirit will resolve any doubts and difficulties we may have.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Brain (Not Bran)

I apologize for misspelling your name BRAIN.

Now onto your reply and my question.
First I do not read too much into the scriptures I only wonder about some of the ones  that the Holy Spirit asks my to test. For that what the Lord said in HIS Word; " test the sprits "

As far as only commentators, well GOD works with the Holy Spirit and some that come in form of evil just might be angels in disguise. The Holy Spirit that in you and me according to believes will come to the answer if it be HIS will. That what faith is all about in the Bible. Either you believe or NOT. NO luke warm believers. Just like the Mafia, either you're in or your OUT !!!

You said, " There is such a thing as over-thinking a problem. As Christians we are are? (double R's here Brain)expected to exercise our faith and believe what we are told(.)

I disagree with you summation. I don't no anywhere in the Bible where that is in scripture. However, everyone looks out of his own window.

I pray that you and I only look through JESUS' window. Now onward to your reply and what I wonder about.

You bring in the theory of: time, ages of Cain and Able,
Cain's behavior, gene pools were pure, incest between Mother and Son, etc,etc. what difference does all that mumbo-jumbo make in answering the question I put forth to you? (WHERE DID ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE COME FROM)?

The truth of what JESUS did and said is thus: GENESIS 2:7 " And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." NKJV  That's one human being.

The truth; GENESIS 2:22 " And the rib, which the Lord GOD had taken from man, made HE a woman, and brought her unto the man." That's number two human beings.

The truth; GENESIS 4:1-2 And ADAM knew Eve his wife; and she conscience,and bear Cain,and said,I have gotten a man from the LORD. That's the third human being. 2 And she again bare his brother Able. That's the forth human being brought into the world.

Now Brain I know or I only pray that you know all about what JESUS has said in these scriptures. However, in GENESIS 4:16-17 further says,16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, and he east of Eden. 17 And Cain know his wife and she conceived and bare Enoch: and he BUILT a city, and called the name of the city, after the  name of his son, Enoch.( Now hold it right there; I wonder to myself where in the world did Cain's wife come from? If not from JESUS then were ? And why didn't JESUS tell us that HE made another place/land(NOD) where others lived?)

If Eden was/is the paradise that the Lord made for Adam and Eve so wonderful, then was the land of NOD a junk pile? and land of low-lives or just for ordinary people; Why just make another female for Cain to have sexual relationships with ?)O.K. Brain I don't understand all that - but I believe it, if the Lord did it I'm a believer PERIOD.

Now, Brain I don't know about you with this scripture,if you just accept that ? As for me I wonder and accept it on faith. I wonder: Why did JESUS not say that HE created a land called: NOD?

Yes,Brain I do wonder about all this. However, if you remember somewhere in the Bible and I paraphrase the following, ". . . no one know the mind of GOD" All I know is what I don't know and that's just fine with me.

Your brother in CHRIST JESUS
Bro. Ray M.







ANSWER: Ray, you are extremely argumentative and you insist on using my name incorrectly which is very impolite particularly for a Christian.

You introduced the question of incest, not I, I merely answered you. I accept what is written in Scripture and I don't add to it by conjecture that there were peoples other than those we are told about, this is a matter of faith. God also told us he took the dust of the Earth to form man, who knows what that actually means, but I take it literally. IT is obvious that God is capable of cloning mankind he did it with Eve, but Scripture doesn't tell, us he did it frequently. As I said to you just because events are related following one another in the Bible doesn't mean there are not years in between. Adam lived a thousand years and no doubt had many children. You may have noted there is infrequent reference to female children in the early parts of the Bible. Just because it is not written doesn't mean they did not exist.I am not told in scripture to test the scripture, only the spirits that would lie and deceive. God decided to give us certain facts, these he inspired Moses and others to write down. Why he chose to give us only limited detail I don't know, perhaps he knew that the more detail we were given the more opportunity we would have to misconstrew what we are told. So I know he didn't tell us everything, but he also did not tell us not to use the intelligence he gave us to think about what is meant. I too have many questions but they will only be answered in heaven, not on Earth.

Ray, I don't know what East of Eden means any more than you do. We have no reference to distance. I once lived West of Havilah, did that mean I lived in paradise? or that all the other places around me were crap? Whether Adam lived on the north, south, east, or west, of Eden we are not told. Nod is a place we no longer know the location of. What I think we are being told is that Cain lived at some distance from his family.  That is all the inference I take from Nod. The only inference I take from Cain building a city is that population had grown, but "city" might mean anything from a few mud huts to a metropolis. I think it means a number of dwellings grouped together. What I do know is that if you did this the land must be fertile enough to support the people living there

so, vaya con Dios, Ray keep studing

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: BRIAN
Maybe I'm dyslexic, I purposly tried not to misspell your name BRIAN. Forgive me.

As far as me being argumentive, well I'M NOT. Just expressing my beliefs.
So as always I will leave he answer up to the Holy Spirit. Maybe HE'LL never let me know ~ and that will be that Brian.

GOD BLESS YOU BRIAN
Bro.Ri,Rey or Ray . . . lol

What's in a name anyway.

Answer
ok Ray let's move on
What do you think of the mark Of Cain. is it still among us?
After the birth of the son of Seth men began to call on the name of the Lord
what do you think this means? that they became religious? what had they been doing previously?
is Enosh, a contemporary of Enoch or a completely different generation?