Expert: Brenda Martin - 12/31/2002

Question
I have been wondering about several things that I was told in school and have not been able to obtain an answer from anyone and when I did ask the questions, I was told "well you must have faith and faith is believing in the mystery of your religion."
Question 1:  We were told Adam and Eve had two children: Cain and Able. Cain killed Able.  Cain got married. Who did Cain marry?

Question 2:  Noah was supposed to have gathered two of everything.  I dont think it would be possible today with all the technology and the entire Red Chinese Army to gather two of everything.  How did Noah do this with just his immediate family?

Question 3: A lot of the "holy men" in the bible were saying that God talked directly to them.  Yet these holy men were not all that holy - for example some had sex with their slaves.  If that happened today, these holy men would be labeled as wicked and jailed.  How can the church justify this?

Question 4:  Up until the mid 1400's people thought the earth was the center of the universe.
If God had talked with all these holy men, how come they didnt know the difference?  One would think that the creater of all heavens and earth would have told them the truth.

Question 5:  We were told that God made us in his "image and likeness" yet science says that the first people were cave men/women. Can it be possbile for the creater to look like them?  

Answer
I WAS TOLD, "WELL YOU MUST HAVE FAITH AND FAITH IS BELIEVING IN THE MYSTERY OF YOUR RELIGION."

I know what you mean James, I was forever asking questions and forever being told ,“that's life” or “it's a mystery” and it was not good enough for me, I kept asking till someone helped me to find the answers, so I hope I can do the same for you.

QUESTION 1: WE WERE TOLD ADAM AND EVE HAD TWO CHILDREN: CAIN AND ABLE. CAIN KILLED ABLE. CAIN GOT MARRIED. WHO DID CAIN MARRY?

Yes I was told the same in my church, that Adam and eve only had 2 children, however that is not what the bible says—

The solution lies in the fact that Adam and Eve had more than two children. According to the context, they had a large family. At Genesis 5:3 we read that Adam became father to another son named Seth and then, in the following verse, we read: “He became father to sons and daughters.” (Genesis 5:4) So Cain could have married one of his sisters or even one of his nieces. At that early stage of human history, when mankind was so close to perfection, such a marriage evidently did not pose the risks for the children of the union that it would today.
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QUESTION 2: NOAH WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE GATHERED TWO OF EVERYTHING. HOW DID NOAH DO THIS WITH JUST HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY?

If we were looking from a purely human standpoint EVERYTHING Noah was told to do would be impossible for him and his family, for instance what about the ark he was told to build?

The construction of the ark would be a colossal project. God had specified its dimensions. The ark would be longer than some modern-day sports fields and as high as a five-story building. (Genesis 6:15) The builders would be inexperienced and few. They would not have the sophisticated tools and equipment available today.

Noah had no way of knowing what situations would develop over the years that might either help or hinder the building project. How would the building materials be accumulated? How would he gather the animals? What food would be needed and how much? When, exactly, would the foretold Deluge occur?

Then there were the social conditions. Wickedness abounded. (Genesis 6:1-4, 13) Furthermore, ark building would not be a project that could be carried out in secret. People would wonder what Noah was doing, and he would tell them. (2 Peter 2:5) Could they be expected to approve? Hardly!  Noah knew that the project had the backing and blessing of Almighty God and that is the only way it was possible.

The Bible does not say that he had to preserve alive every variety of the animals. Rather, it states: “Of the flying creatures according to their kinds and of the domestic animals according to their kinds, of all moving animals of the ground according to their kinds, two of each will go in there to you to preserve them alive.” (Ge 6:20; 7:14, 15) God knew it was necessary to save only representative members of the different “kinds,” since they would reproduce in variety after the Flood.

It has been estimated by some that the hundreds of thousands of species of animals today could be reduced to a comparatively few family “kinds”—the horse kind and the cow kind, to mention but two. With this in mind some investigators have said that, had there been as few as 43 “kinds” of mammals, 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles in the ark, they could have produced the variety of species known today.

All said and done however it was still a task that Noah and his family could not accomplish alone, as these were wild animals etc. so obviously God did something to make it possible.
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QUESTION 3: A LOT OF THE "HOLY MEN" IN THE BIBLE WERE SAYING THAT GOD TALKED DIRECTLY TO THEM.

True.

SOME HAD SEX WITH THEIR SLAVES?

If I knew who you were speaking about I could perhaps answer this better, slavery was maybe customary at the time I don't know, I would need to know who and what time you are meaning.

IF THAT HAPPENED TODAY, THESE HOLY MEN WOULD BE LABELED AS WICKED AND JAILED. HOW CAN THE CHURCH JUSTIFY THIS?

Again I would need to know who you are speaking about, if it was the Israelites, there was slavery back then, but God laid down laws to protect these slaves. You could let me know okay and then I will explain in full.
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QUESTION 4:  PEOPLE THOUGHT THE EARTH WAS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. ONE WOULD THINK THAT THE CREATER OF ALL HEAVENS AND EARTH WOULD HAVE TOLD THEM THE TRUTH.

Yes people in general believed many wrong things regarding the earth, but those who worshipped the true God didn't, as God had told them “the truth” The bible clearly states the shape of the earth etc.

Its contents are scientifically sound on matters that human researchers discovered only at a later date

Shape of Planet Earth: Isa. 40:22: “There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth.” In ancient times the general opinion was that the earth was flat. It was not until over 200 years after this Bible text had been written that a school of Greek philosophers reasoned that the earth likely was spherical, and in about another 300 years a Greek astronomer calculated the approximate radius of the earth. But the idea of a spherical earth was not the general view even then. Only in the 20th century has it been possible for humans to travel by airplane, and later into outer space and even to the moon, thus giving them a clear view of “the circle” of earth's horizon.

The idea of a spherical earth was not widely accepted until thousands of years after Isaiah's day.

Job 26:7—written more than 3,000 years ago—states that God is “hanging the earth upon nothing.” Says one Bible scholar: “How Job knew the truth, demonstrated by astronomy, that the earth hangs self-poised in empty space, is a question not easily solved by those who deny the inspiration of Holy Scripture.”
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QUESTION 5: GOD MADE US IN HIS "IMAGE AND LIKENESS"

Which means, Adam had the divine attributes of love, wisdom, justice, and power; hence he possessed a sense of morality involving a conscience, something altogether new in the sphere of earthly life. We cannot literally look like God as he is a spirit being.

SCIENCE SAYS THAT THE FIRST PEOPLE WERE CAVE MEN/WOMEN?

Since the Scriptures outline man's history from the very creation of the first human pair, there can be no such thing as “prehistoric man.” Fossil records in the earth provide no link between man and the animals. Then, too, there is a total absence of reference to any subhumans in man's earliest records, whether these be written documents, cave drawings, sculptures, or the like.
The Scriptures make clear the opposite, that man was originally a son of God and that he has degenerated. (1Ki 8:46; Ec 7:20; 1Jo 1:8-10)

Archaeologist O. D. Miller observed: “The tradition of the ‘golden age,' then, was not a myth. The old doctrine of a subsequent decadence, of a sad degeneracy of the human race, from an original state of happiness and purity, undoubtedly embodied a great, but lamentable truth. Our modern philosophies of history, which begin with the primeval man as a savage, evidently need a new introduction. . . . No; the primeval man was not a savage.”—Har-Moad,

The Bible reveals that man's original home was “a garden in Eden.” (Ge 2:8;.) Its indicated location is relatively near the place of mankind's early post-Flood civilization. The view generally accepted by scholars is expressed by P. J. Wiseman as follows:

“All the real evidence we have, that of Genesis, archaeology, and the traditions of men, points to the Mesopotamian plain as the oldest home of man. Far Eastern civilization, whether Chinese or Indian, cannot compete with this land in the antiquity of its peoples, for it can easily sustain its claim to be the cradle of civilization.”—New Discoveries in Babylonia About Genesis,

I look forward to hearing from you James, and thanks, Brenda