Who came first Adam or Eve?

Answer 1

== == Adam and Eve obviously came first! It says in the Bible that Adam was the first man and Eve was the first woman. God created them making them the first people on earth or better said, the origin of all human kind. === === The cave men were most likely those who, in the post Babel dispersion, were forced to temporarily use caves for shelter and protection from wild animals. Some groups would also have not necessarily had the technology for building structures and so were forced to live in caves. So, as above, Adam and Eve certainly came first.The use of caves would certainly have been a temporary expedient, until more suitable shelter was either constructed or ability to construct developed. There are a number of problems with the suggested dates for human evolution and the development of agriculture, for example, which do not square with what we know of history and the actual evidence. The idea of cave men is, at least in the popular mind, connected with the idea that such were evolving into the humankind as we know it today, as they were not yet 'clever' enough to build houses or structures. The actual evidence that is found, however, indicates that humans have always been humans, with evidence of culture and sophistication, such as complex Musical Instruments, burial customs, and art. Thus, it is clear that Adam and Eve came first.

The term "cavemen" is a bit of a misnomer. Very few of the early hominids lived in caves. The popular view of caveman probably started in the 17th century, nowadays Neanderthals and Cro-magnon might be thought of as "cavemen" - of course it can be argued that prehistoric remains are much more likely to survive in caves that outside, so it can't be assumed that caves were common shelters. The earliest homo sapien fossils date from over 100,000 years BCE. The, somewhat confusing, calculations for the date of Adam and Eve dates them at around 4000 BCE. So if you accept the existence of a historical Adam & Eve, they postdate the earliest humans by many thousands of years. Who came first? Gee...that's not a very hard question. As mentioned above, I also know that Adam and Eve came first but there is also the posobility that Adam was a caveman himself after been pushed out of the garden of eden. Now, I will never know for sure, but there is always that possibility. Your call! :) The whole crux of this answer is how you interpret Genesis and the Adam and Eve story. Fundamental creationists will have us believe that the universe was created just 6000 years ago or so with Adam and Eve being created on the sixth day, because it says so in Genesis. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary from the geological record, archaeology, ice core analysis and so on, the absolute scientific truth of Genesis is still postulated by Creationists who will not accept scientific evidence for the universe being a great deal (13 billion years?) older despite the overwhelming bank of evidence that suggests this. Often bizarre theories and couterarguments are postulated by them, most of which invoke pseudo-science and reduce Christians to laughing stocks. Sadly, within society those who would attack Christianity (such as the likes of Richard Dawking) latch on to this absurdity and then extrapolate this to the whole of Christianity - an 'if these Christians believe this rubbish then they are stupid - therefore there is no God' attitude. And, of course, Christians know that this is far from the truth. But the truth is that Genesis was never ever meant to be a scientific report on how the universe, and the earth, were created. As scripture, of course, it was inspired as the Word of God, but this does not mean that it should be taken absolutely literally. The same Creationists who accept Genesis as totally literal will also indict, say, Jehovah's Witnesses who take Revelation literally stating that only 144.000 will be saved because 'that is what it says in the Bible'. One cannot have one's cake and eat it. It also states two Creation stories in the Bible, which show some contradiction of each other - one in genesis Chapter 1, and the other in Genesis Chapter 2. Many Biblical scholars regard these being written by two different authors the 'Yahwist' (God-centred - where God is regarded as an aloof deity) author and a 'Priestly' (more human-centred, where God can walk and talk with humans) author. Some scholars regard these two stories as a foretaste of the Trinity and others as two different sources written at different times, by different people, with different agendas. The Hebrew word used in Genesis for 'day' (yom) has several meanings - one common meaning being a 'period of time'. It just so happened that in the earlier translations of Genesis the term 'day' was used. The idea of the 7 periods of time (rather than just 'days) is reinforced by the themes of 7 running through the Old testament - 7 days in the week with the 7th day being a day of rest, 7 years of crop growing with the 7th year with the ground being laid fallow, in the 7th year of slavery (the Jubillee year or sabbatical year) the slaves go free and so on. It is interesting to note that Genesis describes the order of Creation in these 7 periods of time (the universe, the solar system, seas, life in water, life on land, culminating in humanity) in total accordance with the scientific evidence, evidence which the writer (or writers) of Genesis (whether Moses or not) would not have privy knowledge unless Genesis was truly inspired by God the Creator in the first place. But note that the 'day' mentioned in Genesis was 'created' before the earth and sun - and so a normal 'day' as we would know it would not exist unless the earth had been already revolving in a 24 hour period. So the idea of 'day' as a 24 hour period is not in accordance with a universe created in a day - when the very mechanism that produces days had not yet been created. Next, look at Adam. The name 'Adam' means 'man' or 'mankind'. The name 'Eve' means 'from man'. This indicates that Adam and Eve are to represent the whole of humanity - a theme that runs throughout the Bible - and because of their turning away from God brought sin and death into the world. Unlike the animals, God made (hu)man in his own image. And yet, in the New Testament (John 4:24), we read that Jesus says God is spirit and not a human or physical form (hence Jesus' appearance on earth). So Adam, if he existed as a real person, was the first creature to be given a spiritual dimension - to be formed in the image of God. Let's forget about trees and apples for a minute (and the 'apple' doesn't get a mention anyway - it's the 'Fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil'!) and look at the whole picture. In the picturesque language that Genesis Adam, through Eve, rebels against God, and the spiritual bond between God and humans is broken. So, in Genesis we have a lesson in our own failings. God creates a universe, a world called earth, life is allowed to flourish, and humans become the pinnacle of that creation. These humanoid creatures are intelligent (just look at Stonehenge and Avebury in the UK and Newgrange in Ireland), gregarious, cultured and prolific in everything they do - but they are still animals in a sense as they lack their spiritual dimension. God creates then the first humans to have a spiritual dimension - and, in doing so, creates creatures in his own image, holy, and lacking sin. Instead of homo sapiens, let's call them "homo spiritualis" - spiritual man. But these creatures rebel, turn away from their creator and go their own way because they think they know best. Not only physical death is in the world - after all it has been there since life was created - but spiritual death enters too now. As Jesus himself said, we should not fear him who destroys the body, but we should fear him who destroys the soul (Matt 10:28). Incidentally many Creationists will also equate the devil with Satan and that, as a result of their disobedience Adam and Eve die. However, nowhere in the Genesis story is the devil mentioned. The serpent is talked of as the most cunning creature - but never equated with the devil nor assumed to be the devil. Also, no one dies in the story. No one is punished by death. Adam is punisd by being cast out of the garden and made to work tilling the soil for a living. Eve is punished by the ppains of childbirth and subservience to Adam. The first death we hear of is the murder of Abel by his brother Cain - death not at the hand of God, but by the hand of a fallen human. This must show one thing - God does not wish to punish by death - but for sinful humans murder, even in those days, is an all-too-frequent occurrence. So, to conclude, 'cavemen' as such (althoough there is little evidence many of them actually lived in caves), I believe, evolved as humanoid creatures many thousands of years ago. But, if there was a person called Adam, he may well have been the first spiritual human, created in God's own spiritual image, who appeared on earth possibly much later. But let's not get hung up on the literality of the creation stories of Genesis as they were never meant to be taken absolutely literally anyway. To read Genesis just as a literal story denudes it of the great truths hidden within the words - and sadly this is very much what literal Creationists do. Forget cavemen, forget Adam and Eve. The facts and truths that Genesis thunders out, if we would only see them, are that we are all made in the image of God, that we rebelled, and that spiritual death entered the world not long before we were given the chance of eternal life. In oother words, we blew it. Enter Jesus Christ who, through his life, death and resurrection, made possible that restoration of the bond between God and those creatures whom he made in His own image, so long ago.

Answer 2

In the first biblical creation account (Genesis 1:1-2:4a), God made man (both male and female) together, as the final act of creation - there was no evident priority.

In the second biblical creation account (Genesis 2:4b-25), God made Adam, then all the animals, then finally made Eve out of a rib he took from Adam - so Adam was created before Eve in this story.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 3

According to The Bible, Adam was created before Eve. God created Adam from the dust of the ground and then created Eve from Adam's rib.

Answer 4

Adam came first! Eve was made from Adam's rib-bone. So, naturally, Adam came first.