Adam was not the only man (hell, Revelations, atheist, priest)
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I don't believe the bible is a written account of every day, event and moment in time. The fact that the bible does not state that something happened or did not happen would not eliminate the possibility of it happening for starters. Yes at the point that Cain left no daughter was mentioned, however it can be that it simply was not mentioned or that she was born after he left. How he came across her could be that she too left. Or, Cain's wife could have just come by way of a different fashion, a few posts up I posted a bit of a theory that has run through my mind on this subject of where others may have come from.
This is a question that has been going around for ages. I am not sure that anyone has found the precisely accurate response to it. I think answering the question of did Adam have a belly button is a far more easier question to answer.
Mari
How do you come to terms with the fact that there was at least an entire CITY of people out there other than Adam's family? You can't refute that, because your very bible says it was there. Not village, not town, not a gathering -- an entire city.
Also, from my understanding, if I recall correctly the law against close relatives marrying came into affect during the time of Moses and was not in place prior to that.
Eeewwww So the bible condones incest of the closest relatives - siblings. Really great for the gene pool
I don't think even the bible actually says this. Red's right. It is an inconsistency that can't be explained away without making it even worse. The fact is the priests that wrote the Torah were inconsistent and didn't think this thru very well. Like all the other fables and misappropriated history.
At least the pagan myths are consistent in their origin myths. They state outright that the gods made a man and a woman and the next generation married their sisters. Or claims the first ones were gods that made a mistake that later made them mortal.
How do you come to terms with the fact that there was at least an entire CITY of people out there other than Adam's family? You can't refute that, because your very bible says it was there. Not village, not town, not a gathering -- an entire city.
I guess the same way as I put it in my previous post. If the possibility exist that by replenish, God basically implied that there was something there previously that needed replenishing then, like with the time of Noah, when God flooded the world, yet spared Noah's family and a pair of each animal, something existed before and God possibly spared that city. Or, as in the time of Lot, when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by way of fire, yet he spared Lot and his family (except his wife who looked back at what they were leaving behind against God's command) as well as the rest of the cities.
I don't claim to have the answers to these questions. I do try to seek them and try to reason it in my mind in a fashion that is in line with God's word and character. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If there is something that is documented as his doing, there is the possibility that it was done before or that it could be done again (short of the Flood where God gave a promise that he would never again flood the entire world again).
Trust me, I also feel ewwww at the thought of siblings marrying. However, once again, I believe that until Moses, there was no law against such.
At the time Cain married his wife, his choices in potential wives may have been very limited in order to obey God's command about "being fruitful and multiplying". Also, taking aside the moralist view on incest or what not is the birth defect issue due to the recessive genes. At the time of Cain, recessive genes would not have had much time to develop. Children born during that time were far healthier than today, hence the longer lifespans.
The bible is not clear as to how many children Adam and Eve had or the time frame in which they were born. There are many places in the bible where a person is mentioned for purpose of the story and significance but yet other members of that same family are not mentioned by name or perhaps even referred to, doesn't mean they didn't exist. The only thing that we can be clear upon is that Adam and Eve had many children during hundreds of years. At some point these children had to have married among siblings themselves and then eventually marrying among nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.
The bible does not state how much time elapse between when Cain left Eden and when he came to know his wife. I also do not believe that it is clear as to where he found his wife either, whether it was in the city of Nod or not. In fact, when the bible speaks of "knowing" your wife, it related to having intercourse with her. When Cain left there was no mention as to whether or not he left alone or with someone. For all we know he was already married and the reason his wife is mentioned later on is for the purpose of explaining the conception of Enoch. Notice the scripture says "Cain knew his wife" it does not say Cain met his wife.
Genesis 4:16
[ The Family of Cain ] Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. Genesis 4:15-17 (in Context) Genesis 4 (Whole Chapter)
Genesis 4:17
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. Genesis 4:16-18 (in Context) Genesis 4 (Whole Chapter)
Also... as to the "Land of Nod".... this is from Wikipedia...
Nod" (נוד) is the Hebrew root of the verb "to wander" (לנדוד) and is possibly an etymological etiology intended to explain the peripatetic lifestyle of Cain and his descendants, the Cainites. One interpretation of Genesis 4:16 is that Cain was cursed to wander the land forever, not that he was exiled to a "Land of Wanderers", otherwise absent from the Old Testament.
Wow! Many good points. However, I'd agree with RoaminRed, in that Cain didn't find his wife at a family reunion, but left alone. There were other stories not published in the Bible. Just as if you read a quick book about America... You'll hear about George Washington, Ben Franklin, Henry Ford, John Wayne, and a few others. Not the 300,000,000 other people who are nameless, but are still there. I believe there were other people. You just can't start world population with a family tree that has no branches.
At the time Cain married his wife, his choices in potential wives may have been very limited in order to obey God's command about "being fruitful and multiplying". Also, taking aside the moralist view on incest or what not is the birth defect issue due to the recessive genes. At the time of Cain, recessive genes would not have had much time to develop. Children born during that time were far healthier than today, hence the longer lifespans.
So I guess Cain couldn't go hang out at the mall and try to meet an attractive young woman so he married his sister!! Can't you hear how that sounds? All animals have an instinctual thing about interbreeding. The lifespans of people living today are by far the longest in human history. It's truly preposterous to talk about 900 plus year old people, that's mythology. An offspring of a brother and sister is likely to have a head the size of a watermellon and the IQ of a radish.
So I guess Cain couldn't go hang out at the mall and try to meet an attractive young woman so he married his sister!! Can't you hear how that sounds? All animals have an instinctual thing about interbreeding. The lifespans of people living today are by far the longest in human history. It's truly preposterous to talk about 900 plus year old people, that's mythology. An offspring of a brother and sister is likely to have a head the size of a watermellon and the IQ of a radish.
yet you have no proof it did not happen...
how about someone that has never died, like Enoch, Elijah, Moses, John the beloved.
its not a history book, its literature with moral lessons, good ones.
if you, in fact know the true history of man, please do share
a whole lota people wana know.
Adam was the first man. He called Eve the mother of all living, because she was the mother of all living. Cain got his wife from one of his sisters (the bible says that Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, but only 3 sons are specifically mentioned). The bible says that when Cain went to the land of Nod he knew(sexual intercourse) his wife and she gave birth to thier son Enoch. It does not say he went to the land of Nod and "found a wife there". So, he brought his wife with him. The bible is clear, we just have to look at it, but no one wants to.
All the races come from the separation of the children of Noah after the flood. When they built the tower of Babel, God came down and confused the language. They all then stopped building the tower and went their separate ways. This is why there are different races. Everyone living today are just decendants of Noahs three sons, Shem, Ham and Jasepth.
its not a history book, its literature with moral lessons, good ones.
if you, in fact know the true history of man, please do share
a whole lota people wana know.
The bible is not a history book, but where it touches on history it is true. If you want to know the history of man, just read the bible.
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So the bible condones incest of the closest relatives - siblings. Really great for the gene pool
