Adam and Eve

This only becomes a problem if "according to the Bible" is anything other than a bibliographic reference. Many Christian denominations do not believe in the literal truth of the Bible. It is a series of writings written over a long period (somewhere over one thousand years) it contains History, hymnody, wise sayings, poetry, an account of the end of the world, cultural rules and lots more!! It was also collected together by human beings (at the Council of Nicae) and then fiddled with later (Council of Chalcedon and during the reformation). It has been translated with various degrees of care (See: Treacle Bible and others). Adam (Hebrew for man) and Eve (Hebrew for life) are allegorical figures for the creation of humanity aside from any cultural/religious objections to their breeding the resultant in breeding of the human race would have caused our extinction long since were we the product of this tiny gene pool. So don't worry we're not the products of generations of incest. The fact is man live hundreds of years but is wasn't until The law of God came from God to Moses and Then it was all spelled out from the ten commandments to even as to go and say not to lie with animals and the same sex . The first 5 books in the new testament explains this. But as the law is unto death the new law(Jesus) is unto life.For he was before the foundations of the world. Okay, I don't actually believe in the bible, but accorrding to it, we all descended from Adam and Eve, then Noah, so according to it, yes, we are all very distantly related. I don't think it matters though. We'd be so distantly related that it truly wouldn't matter. The whole thing is silly. Adam and Eve begat Cain and Able. Cain killed Able. The Cain was banished to the "City of Man" Meaning quite clearly that others were already around and in cities when this happened. Adam and Eve were children of God. The rest were children of Man. But then God Created Man at first with Adam. It's nonsense. Any attempt to make it as anything else is wishful thinking by the brainwashed population. The Bible is an indpired work no doubt. But it is not meant to be a history book. there was a point in time were the earth wasn't populated, God allowed the marrying of relatives for a period of time, then that ceases. No Remember that God had a flood wipe out the whole earth to get rid of the sin and start over. srry u are wrong. God did not wipe out the whole earth, Noah and his family got on an ark. REMBER!!? I believe the best answer might be, "This particular story is best used as an allagory", that is, a story to which one can draw other conclusions from. Factual conclusions are usually in peril in the Book of Genisis. (Catholic response) reply-- 1.Does the Bible present Adam simply as an allegorical character representing all early mankind? answer no-- Jude 14: ?The seventh one in line from Adam, Enoch, prophesied.? (Enoch was not the seventh in line from all early mankind.) Luke 3:23-38: ?Jesus himself, when he commenced his work, was about thirty years old, being the .?.?. son of David .?.?. son of Abraham .?.?. son of Adam.? (David and Abraham are well-known historical persons. So is it not reasonable to conclude that Adam was a real person?) Gen. 5:3: ?Adam lived on for a hundred and thirty years. Then he became father to a son in his likeness, in his image, and called his name Seth.? (Seth certainly was not fathered by all early men, nor did all early men father sons at 130 years of age.) 2.--If ?the first man Adam? was simply allegorical, what about ?the last Adam,? Jesus Christ? 1?Cor. 15:45,?47: ?It is even so written: ?The first man Adam became a living soul.? The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is out of heaven.? (Thus denial that Adam was a real person who sinned against God implies doubt as to the identity of Jesus Christ. Such denial leads to rejection of the reason it was necessary for Jesus to give his life for mankind. Rejection of that means repudiation of the Christian faith.) 3.--How did Jesus himself view the Genesis account? Matt. 19:4,?5: ?[Jesus] said: ?Did you not read [at Genesis 1:27; 2:24] that he who created them [Adam and Eve] from the beginning made them male and female and said, ?For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh???? (Since Jesus believed the Genesis account to be factual, should we not believe it too?) The first boilogical thing you overlook is that none of Adam and Eve's many children were biologically closer than Eve was to Adam being created from his rib bone. It was Adam's sin against God that caused his condition to decline to the point of diing. Adam was not made defective he became defective by his sin (and passed these defects on to his children). Which is why it took him 930 years to die.By the time of Moses life expectancy was much storter than in the beginning. Biological defects were so prevalent that God pointed out in his Law a restriction on marriage or intimate involvement with close relatives. This was the start of the idea you've come to understand as incest Further, the marriage of relatives is not forbidden or particularly sinful according to the Bible. In fact, there are several examples of intermarriage and childbearing between close family members. In modern parlance, we discourage marriage between relatives any closer than second cousins because of the concern over inbreeding and genetic defects. Beyond that, there's no special reason to avoid marrying a distant relative--and whether you believe the Bible, evolution, or both, ultimately you have no choice! Whoever you marry is already related to you, however distantly. [Edited by: Iszi] As a matter of fact, incest is directly forbidden in the Bible. However, this is not declared until the Law is given to Moses, in Leviticus. Below are the majority (if not all) of the forbidden sexual acts, as stated in Leviticus 18:6-23, NIV.

• "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations..."
• sexual relations with your mother
• sexual relations with your father's wife
• "Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere."
• sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter
• "Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister."
• sexual relations with your father's sister
• sexual relations with your mother's sister
• "Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have
• sexual relations..."
• sexual relations with your daughter-in-law
• sexual relations with your brother's wife
• "Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter... her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter..."
• "Do not take your wife's sister... and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living."
• "Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during... her monthly period."
• "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman..."
• sexual relations with an animal

Read Genesis chapter 6. The answer is very simple and does not require a huge explanation. In the beginning, God commanded Adam to be fruitful. In order to populate the earth at a time where only a few people were on the earth through Adam and Eve they would have HAD to sleep with brothers and sisters. This was not as filthy and was not considered incest at this time, it was required and necessary. When the earth began to increase in number God saw that man continued to do this even though the population was great enough to marry someone who was not a brother or sister. You have two parents who also have two parents and they both have parents. Already you have eight ancestors in just three generations. Carried back to Roman times (spoken of in the Bible I hear) over 2,000 years ago you will have more ancestors than people who have ever lived. So will everyone else have the same number of ancestors. That means that somewhere back whenever one of your ancestors will have had sex with some ancestor or other of everyone else. Ergo you are related to the whole of humankind even your spouse and are living in sin.

Answer: This is what I have to say. The law about marrying relatives came only in the time of Moses, therefore only in that time that it became a sin. God is the Maker of the Law and He is the Law itself. What He allows happens and what He forbids is a subject to judgment.

Answer I'm sure that the God who created all things has had it all worked out long ago.

As some have said here, we don't know how long God permitted that intra-familial marriages be conducted with His blessing, but they were, obviously, necessary in the early times.

What also must be remembered is that either the human body itself was 'superior' in those days OR the earth was in a more conducive state for thrival and long life, or BOTH, because we are told that those men lived for around 900 years in those days! This was the state of things right up until Noah's time. So there was clearly something regarding the condition of earth itself at that point that is just not familiar to our current state and therefore to current science, and humans were more able to thrive. Supporting these "thrival" and "different state of the earth" themes further, the Bible says that there were "giants in the land in those days". It also says that God changed things in the sky, by giving Noah and man, generally, a permanent sign in the skies, in the form of a "rainbow", which, in so saying, would deem it necessary that it had not previously appeared in the sky.

Current science cannot conceive of such things - certainly while it is limited to exploration of only 'the here and now'. Even anything found in the earth right now can only be interpreted from current understanding and present-day experience.

The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. (Genesis 5:4-5)

Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This was not a fruit known to us, such as an apple, but was knowledge - the knowledge of good and evil. By eating this fruit, Eve and Adam became like gods (Genesis 3:22: "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us..."), but had also become aware of their mortality. Knowing that they would now be tempted to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and gain immortality, God drove them from the Garden of Eden and placed cherubim (sing: cherub)and a flaming sword at the entrance to keep [block] the way of the Tree of Life. This story is an allegory and the fruit was symbolic of man's yearning for immortality.

Another Answer:

Many believe the 'forbidden fruit' was just that. A normal fruit. The fruit was not the issue. Obedience was the issue. The fruit of this one tree was not given to mankind; it belonged to God and represented God's 'right to make the rules'.

At Genesis 2:15-17, the Bible tells us that God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in perfect condition, with clear direction and only one restriction. They were to Cultivate and care for the garden (Genesis 2:15), Eat vegetation and fruit that grew on the trees (Genesis 1:29), Fill the earth with humans (Genesis 1:28), and NOT TOUCH ONE specific tree (Genesis 2:16+17)(Genesis 3:3) .

Humans were created to be in subjection to God and look to him for direction(Jeremiah 10:23). The "Tree of Knowledge" represented God's 'sovereignty' (his RIGHT to rule...to make the rules for his creation for their own good). When Adam and Eve ate from that ONE restricted tree, they were actually rejecting God's direct command, rejecting his rulership, in favor of what they thought was their OWN. Satan had promised them that if they ate from this tree, they would benefit from deciding right and wrong for themselves(Genesis 3:1-6). This was a lie, as mankind was never created to live independently of God(Jeremiah 10:23/Psalm 37:23/Proverbs 20:24). Adam and Eve's disobedience, took away their perfection, their everlasting life in their earthly paradise home(Genesis 1:28), and basically switched their allegiance from the Creator, to Satan(Romans 6:16), to whom they were now listening(John 8:44). In so doing, 'imperfection' eventually caused Adam to die (Genesis 5:5), and was introduced into all his human descendants causing sickness and death and all the problems we face today(Genesis 3:17-19)(Romans 5:12). Sin causes death, and all the suffering related to our inherited imperfection (James 1:14+15) (Romans 6:23) and was passed on naturally because you can't get something clean from something unclean(Job 14:4).

Other opinions from contributors:

No they weren't, Eve gave birth -each time- to twins: a male and a female. So, she gave birth first to Cain (Qaabeel) and his sister 'Iqleemaa' then Abel (Haabeel) and his sister 'Labodaa'.

Opinion: If the Bible is read literally (which it ought to be because if God didn't literally create us, love us and die for us, then the Bible doesn't help us at all), Adam and Eve are the only two humans, so yes their children did have to commit incest to continue growing the population. Adam lived over 900 years and had many, many children one can assume (be fruitful and multiply and all that). Even his children could have had children! This means that by the time Cain leaves he may have had a number of relatives, and the fact that a woman left with him seems very plausible. Long lifespans create the possibility for population explosions unlike anything we can imagine.

The fact that God used incest is not necessarily a contradiction to the law he later gives not to do it. If Adam and Eve were created to live forever (death entered the world for them after sin) then they would be thought to have perfect genetic compositions. If that is the case incest wouldn't be of any harm. Only later, after sin and disease and bad recessive genes come about would incest be capable of hurting the offspring. Exactly how long would it take before people could be harmed by incest? I would guess right around the time God forbade it to his people. A similar thing was done when God told the Israelites not to eat pork, as pork was hard to cook properly and made many people sick. Later, Jesus says that he fulfills that portion of the law and we can eat pork now that it was being cooked in a way that is not harmful. God watches out for us with his Word, its one way he shows he loves us.

Opinion:

It is not really true. The biblical story of Adam and Eve is considered by some to be mythical, and was not intended to be analysed too carefully. Our true early ancestors arose in Africa hundreds of thousand of years ago.

Opinion: If you hold the Bible to be true, then Adam was the first man (see 1 Corinthians 15:45) and since he is listed in the geneology of Jesus (see Luke 3:38), we can assume he is not mythical. That being the case, then yes, Adam and Eve's grandchildren would be the product of their sons and daughters marrying, which today would be considered incestuous, but back then it was not since the laws were different at that time, because early on there were no genetic defects to worry about. How else could mankind fulfill the command to be fruitful and multiply? (Gen. 1:28)

Opinion:

Notice that it states in the Bible that "...Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." (Gen. 4:16-17)

Now, how can there be a city if there are no people to live in it other than one man, his wife and their son? One household a city does not make. How could it be possible that there were no others in the world when Adam, Eve and their two sons, Cain and Abel, were driven from the Garden of Eden -- yet Cain finds his wife, who he "knew" before Eve gave birth to another child (Gen. 4:25)?

Well, the answer may lie in this: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." (Gen. 6:1-2)

It seems the Garden of Eden was not the only place where people lived. Yet, strangely, the Bible never reveals exactly where the wives of Cain, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, etc, etc, etc, actually came from. If the wives of Cain and Seth were the daughters of Adam and Eve, why not say so, instead of saying "the sons of God took the daughters of men as their wives"? So far, the only clue is that Cain ended up in the land of Nod, where he "knew his wife". But there is at least one more clue, and it occurs before Adam and Eve "know" each other again.

"And Cain said unto the Lord, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me'. And the Lord said unto him, 'Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." (Gen. 4:13-15)

The final clue is the fact that there is always such genetic mutation within three generations of the type of incest which must have been occurring between Adam's sons and his daughters. Therefore, had all humans alive today actually descended directly from Adam and Eve, we would all have severe mental and physical disabilities, all 6.8 Billion of us on this planet we call Earth (Office of Population Research, Princeton University) -- unless the Scientifically proven fact that such genetic mutations are the direct result of father-daughter/mother-son incest is something which came about only after the time of Adam and Eve. If that is the case, one has to wonder why the resulting mutation is not mentioned in the Bible as some form of punishment, as the suffering through the sweat of the brow is. (Gen. 3:17-19)

Given all the Scientific facts, and the clues provided in the Bible, as well as using logical reasoning, it can not be true that Adam and Eve's grandchildren were really the product of incest.

Opinion

This issue is only one of many contradictions in the Bible. There are only two possible explanations. Either Adam and Eve and their children had incestuous relationships in order to procreate, or, the creation story whereby a god created the first two humans on Earth is not true. Of course, that casts doubt on the basic Christian belief that a god created the first "marriage" and that it was between a man and a woman.

The contradictions in the Bible, especially this issue regarding Adam and Eve and the human race, provide compelling evidence that it was compiled as a collection of creation myths, moral lessons and monotheistic religious teachings written and rewritten by many authors over a very long period of time.

Different people have very different opinions about this. For some, the story is that God created people and wants a relationship with them because he loves them. The Bible gives us a guide to go by to have a good life. God even sent his only Son to come to earth to save people from their sins.

There were many other early religious writings, both of the Jews/Hebrews/Israelites, and of the early Christians. The decision about what to include in the Bible was made over the course of many centuries, and was not actually "finalized" until the 1500's and 1600's.

In reality, the Bible did not begin as a single book. The portion known as the "Old Testament" consisted of religious writings by a large number of different authors over many centuries by the Hebrew people -- the Israelites (descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel) and a subset of the Israelites, the Jews (descendants of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob.) The first 5 books of the Old Testament are basically what is recognized as the Torah in today's Jewish religion. The book of Psalms is a collection of poems/songs, many written by an early king of Judah, David. Some books of the Old Testament contain historical, or pseudo-historical accounts, of the trials and tribulations of the Israelites and the Jews. Other Old Testament books include the teachings of specific prophets in the period from about 400 BCE to about 100 BCE. The New Testament, by contrast, was apparently written over a period of less than 150 years -- between 33 AD and about 175 AD. It too consists of multiple books by different authors. The first 4 -- the Gospels -- tell of the life and times of Jesus, who is viewed as the Christ (the Redeemer) by Christians. The remaining New Testament books are largely letters from various Apostles (early followers of Jesus or Christ) to individuals or churches. The book of Acts is a history of the evangelizing efforts of those Apostles (its full name is "Acts of the Apostles", and the Book of Revelation -- the last book of the Bible -- is a highly allegorical story of the predicted "end of time."

The Bible was not always known as the Bible...in fact the first Bible was only printed for issue in the 14th or 15 th century. Prior to that I believe it was text from various historical text which was written in Hebrew. The first ever translator of the Bible in it's current form was a Protestant in the years of the Reformation. This caused the only Christian church known (Catholic) to panic as it bought to light that salvation was achieved through Jesus and not the church and so many false doctrines the church practiced. The Catholic Church actively pursued anyone who had a copy and charged them with heresy and were burnt at the stake. That is how much of a threat the Bible was to the Catholic church and still is today in that they don't like anyone interpreting their Bible.

The exile from Egypt is just like a Christian leaving the world for the first time, as it is a vast desert at first, and depending on the person, the desert can be considerably longer or shorter, but God parts the massive waters, and creates water from a rock, and leads them to the land of milk and honey, that is the magnificent grace and peace and prosperity of the Christian life within the will of God.

God called out a Arab, Abraham, as he was the only righteous man in the Ur of Chaldees (modern day Iraq, I believe), Abraham became the father of the Jewish nation, for he was called out first, and given the promise of having a nation come forth from his children.

The purpose of the Bible is for the salvation of mankind, so that man recognizes his sin and need for salvation from it, and once he admits that he needs God's help, God forgives him of his sin, and he gives him new life and a new nature, as all things, through Christ, become new again, as those who are saved are born again, spiritually.

The main person of the Bible is Jesus Christ, as He is the fulfillment of all of the OT prophesies about a Savior and a Messiah (the first prophesy was Genesis 3:15), and all throughout the OT, Jesus' main ancestors were a picture of His holiness and leadership, starting with the first man, Adam, all the way to Christ's precursor, the one who prepared the way of the Lord, John the Baptist, the one who baptized Christ Himself.

The Bible can also be viewed as allegory for the concepts we, humans, struggle with. Beginning with the creation myth, in which we wonder about our origins as a separate and distinct species, and moving through monumental changes, such as floods and droughts, then culminating in issues such as self-governance, laws, dualistic concepts of right versus wrong, good versus evil, and redemption versus damnation, finally coming full circle into understanding our mortality, death and the unknowable beyond, the Bible challenges us to conceptualize our lives in a meaninful way.
God created His son, Jesus Christ, His holy angels, then the Heavens and the Earth. He then created and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they'd live forever, as long as they acknowledged that God has the right to decide what is good and bad for His entirecreation. God created all of His intelligent creatures with a 'free will'. (Satan was a 'good' angel, but he used his 'free will' to get other creatures to worship him. As an honest person can make themselves into a criminal, he made himself into Satan the Devil, lying about God, and resisting God's purpose for a peaceful universe.) God put "The tree of the knowledge of 'good and bad'" [which was a symbol of God's right to 'be God'] in the Garden. He told them not to eat from the tree, or they'd die. Satan lyingly told Eve that eating from the tree would 'make her like God, and she wouldn't die'. She later talked Adam into eating from the tree. Man lost Paradise.We all die because we're all Adam's descendants. The Messiah had to give his perfect human life to replace what Adam lost.God became friends with Abraham, a very righteous man. God promised that the Messiah would come as one of Abraham's descendants. The Old Testament tells of Abraham's descendants and waiting for the 'Messiah'. Many persons were faithful, and there are beautiful prophecies that led people to Christ.The Law of Moses, was a 'tutor' for the Jews until the Messiah came. The New Testament tells of how Jesus came, cured many and taught thousands about God's Kingdom, He suffered death so that we all can live in Paradise, on Earth, with Jesus Christ as our King. Paradise is regained by men. That is what the Bible is all about!

As lab rats - fighting over "god" - yes, yes we do fight the most over him/her - we are failures. America being the example of what "can" happen when all the people accept one another, sadly also becoming corrupt.

If aliens do return - it will not be to reward us. In fact if you believe in only 10% of the sightings, we are being observed - probably measured - and maybe even evaluated for consideration to continue the experiment.

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another point to make about religion is: if extra terrestrials came to earth religion would be destroyed because they will lose faith in God

A: It is possible that aliens were responsible for life on earth -directly or indirectly, so long as you believe in aliens! Current scientific theory suggests that given the size of the universe you would be mad not to believe in them ( there is a very nice scientific formula for this)- as to weather they have visited earth is another question altogether!

Before i continue i must comment on the first answer given! HaHa' if aliens were responsible for creating life on earth why would they be a threat! that is like saying because god created life on earth he's the threat! Religion! - maybe we need the aliens to protect us from what god is planning!!

O.k' back to your question! --- Here's a little story for you-- Lets assume man carries on ruining the earth (it could be because of pollution ,nuclear war etc..) and it soon becomes apparent that life on earth can not continue, to continue life we would have to look for a planet that could support life - and when we get there we can't live there ourselves as humans but we can give life to the planet then we would! And maybe now and then we would pop in to say hello or effect the evolution of life on that planet and maybe now and then introduce our genes to the mixture!! I guess we would.

Also the human imperative is to go forth and multiply and the earth can only feed a finite amount of people - so i guess at some point to continue we would have to look for other places to live!

Some people believe that alien visitation and abduction ( if you believe in such things) is a way of effecting the human race to a point were cross breeding would be viable- i guess with the effect of breeding us out of the picture! --

A book on this subject is available called "The threat" by David m, Jacobs PH.D ( copyright 1998) He is considered the foremost scholar on this subject and is a resident at temple university in Philadelphia.

you can contact him at Djacobs@VM.Temple.edu

So i hope that answers all hypothesis!