The story of Adam and Eve can be located in the Book of Genesis. From their actions we understand that man was cast out of the Garden of Eden and began to procreate on the Earth as we know it now. Here are some questions for consideration:
1. What would happen if Adam did not eat the apple?
2. Why would God give a commandment to multiply and replenish the earth if Adam & Eve were innocent?
3. Did the devil really appear as a serpent or was that just symbolic? If it is symbolic why does God use the serpent in other places to represent good or even God?
4. Whom did Adam & Eve's kids marry?
1. I believe that it was part of God's plan for Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit. The Fall was as necessary as the Creation or the Atonement.
2. I don't think that most of Christianity even considers the idea that Adam and Eve might not have been able to have children before the Fall. I think that one way to look at it is that since Adam and Eve were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, when Eve had eaten of the fruit, then Adam would know that he must also eat, or they would have been separated, and unable to reproduce.
3. I haven't really thought about this question before.
4. Obviously, (to me) Adam and Eve's children married their own siblings. Throughout the Bible, there are many instances of people marrying close relatives, with no social, medical, or genitic problems.
If we take as an assumption that the Bible is true, then Adam and Eve were almost perfect specimens. They, and their children, would have had little, if any, genetic abnormalities. This is shown by the lifespans reported for the first few generations. The societal ban on incestuous marriages came later in history.
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1. I believe that it was part of God's plan for Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit. The Fall was as necessary as the Creation or the Atonement. |
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2. Why would God give a commandment to multiply and replenish the earth if Adam & Eve were innocent? |
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3. Did the devil really appear as a serpent or was that just symbolic? If it is symbolic why does God use the serpent in other places to represent good or even God? |
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If we take as an assumption that the Bible is true, then Adam and Eve were almost perfect specimens. They, and their children, would have had little, if any, genetic abnormalities. This is shown by the lifespans reported for the first few generations. The societal ban on incestuous marriages came later in history. |
Throwing my two cents in...
There are many assumptions... but the Genesis account doesn't say that the sexual act was somehow the 'loss' of innocence. God just said be fruitful and multiply. The first indication that this process (having sex) may have immediately began was when Adam first saw her and went "Wow!"
2nd... According to the Bible... Adam and Eve were created immortal. They were perfect. 100% mental capability. They literally heard, walked with, and fellowshipped with God... communicated with animals... and much more.
God said... steal what isn't yours (eat of my tree) and you shall die... you'll lose it. It was after the 'disease' of sin they caught through subtrafuge and disobedience that their spirit got broke and their bodies followed over 500+ years later. This had devastating effects on the earth also. After the flood, further deterioration followed and humans now can't even break past 120 with the mean at 70 years. It's like post-diluvian progeria.
3rd... Satan had to get them 'infected' before they had their first child. How could death, sin, iniquity be effectively passed down (encoded) to succeeding generations if he had to go after a lot of uninfected offspring. So Satan got busy right away and used the same subterfuge of creating distrust for God and then tempting those two with the sin he was guilty of... saying 'You shall be as gods'
4th... Satan didn't care at all about Adam and Eve... He just wanted to get back at God... and still tries today using the same ol methods.
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Who did Adam & Eve's kids marry? |
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Obviously, (to me) Adam and Eve's children married their own siblings. |
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God lied to Adam. How can we trust a liar? God told Adam: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." GEN 2:17 This is a definite statement - a promise - that if Adam eats of the tree of knowledge, Adam will die "in the day thou eatest". Pretty much immediately. But Adam lived for over 900 years after he'd eaten the fruit of the tree. Why did God lie to Adam in the first place? If God can lie to Adam about something so important as life and death and the knowledge of good and evil, how can we trust him now? |