Genesis 4-7
Feb. 9th, 2010 05:23 pmLots of begatting and an out of proportion flood from an ever vengeful God:
* Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and was cursed by God but lived on to have his own family, with a mysterious wife who came from where? And then lots of sons were born and had children with other women that appear from nowhere, hmm...
* Biblical people had ridiculously long life-spans, I'm talking 700-950 years or so, even those cursed to die (like Adam who ate from the tree of knowledge)
* God brings the flood because the Nephalim were causing the humans to be immoral and he regretted making humans, so he killed every living thing that wasn't in the 600 year old Noah's ark. Seems like a bit of an over reaction...
* Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and was cursed by God but lived on to have his own family, with a mysterious wife who came from where? And then lots of sons were born and had children with other women that appear from nowhere, hmm...
* Biblical people had ridiculously long life-spans, I'm talking 700-950 years or so, even those cursed to die (like Adam who ate from the tree of knowledge)
* God brings the flood because the Nephalim were causing the humans to be immoral and he regretted making humans, so he killed every living thing that wasn't in the 600 year old Noah's ark. Seems like a bit of an over reaction...
The "other" people
Date: 2010-08-23 07:20 am (UTC)There were questions about who Cain might have married. I had the very same question growing up, and still had as I started reading the bible on my journey. Any time I came across something that seemed to be a contradiction, or didn't make sense, I jotted information down and proceeded to see what I could find. This website helped explain it in greater detail, and makes a lot of sense.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c004.html
I took a look at the Skeptic's Annotated Bible that you mention in your resource. Though I didn't spend a lot of time looking at it, it appears that only a skeptics view is given. I looked at Genesis, and it seems to just point out inconsistencies, but does NOT give a Christian view on these inconsistencies.
I would challenge you to research some of the things you question, a little more indepth. Not only taking a Skeptics viewpoint into consideration, but also that of Christian's.
Most Christian's can't properly answer many of the questions you would have, just as I have received the ever popular answer of "That's where FAITH comes in!" when I asked such questions when I was a teenager. I'd rather get an in depth, quality, Bible backed answer, than the "you need to just have faith and not question things" answer that I'm accustomed to receiving. I think it would help your personal journey. I hope that you come out the other side of your journey as a Christian!
Please also keep one other thing in mind. The Bible was written by an imperfect being...Man. Though God gave the inspiration, Man has continuously translated the Bible, and things have been lost.
I'll post here again tomorrow, once I have an account so that there is a name attached to this post, and I can see any comments made.
Until then, Good night.
Robert
Re: The "other" people
Date: 2010-08-23 07:26 am (UTC)Re: The "other" people
Date: 2010-08-23 07:10 pm (UTC)If you wish to offer the Christian perspective at any time, then I will read it, the fact that you aren't willing to just blindly accept the 'just have faith' response is very heartening to hear.
Oh and I hope you won't be too disappointed when I don't come out from reading the bible as a Christian, I'm not exactly reading to find some sort of spiritual answer or anything. I'd say I'm very secure and happy as an atheist.
Re: The "other" people
Date: 2010-10-04 02:16 am (UTC)Re: The "other" people
Date: 2010-10-07 10:50 am (UTC)