Adam and Eve the only two people on earth at that time ?

[Guest shiloh357]

  On 4/11/2013 at 8:56 PM, ibldcars4u said:

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on what they might believe on the topic that Adam and Eve was the only 2 people on the earth at that time.I am newer to this forums and noticed a very old (closed) post on this. I am just curious on if I might be missing something when I read Genesis,am always open to learning,and see if there is something I am missing. In my opinion Adam and Eve were not the only 2 people at that time. It states that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4 vs 17 it states Cain knew his wife,and she conceived and bore Enoch. Where did Cain get his wife if they was the only 4 at that point (Adam,Eve,Cain,Abel who was killed at this point) ? In Genesis 4 vs 25 it states And Adam knew his wife again and bore Seth for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel,whom Cain killed. So we are brought back into the 4 (Adam,Eve,Cain and now Seth) Its written the generations of Cain from Gen 4 vs 18-22 to how Cain's seed started,but nothing in between about Adam and Eve having more children,multiplying at all, before or after Cain and Abel, untill Eve bore Seth. Then in Genesis 5 vs 4 it states After he begot Seth,the days of Adam were 800 yrs,and he had sons and daughters. Why wouldn't this verse be after Cain and Abel was born, or even before they was born,to then prove Adam and Eve were the only 2 people on earth and everyone came from Adam and Eve. Your thoughts ? There is no wrong answer,would like people to post what they think without anyone questioning them,to see how they take this part of Genesis.

It is important to realize that conditions were different and people lived longer into the hundreds of years and much of how the Bible relates issues is telescoped.

Take geneaologies for example: Geneaologies don't give us every single person in a given family line. They only give us the highlights. It's called "telescoping." So when it says that so and so begat this person, they may have actually been several generations apart.

Where did all of the other people come from? How did Cain find a wife in nod if Adam and Eve were the first parents and Cain was their direct son? The answer is lies in the fact that we cannot simply project our experience on to the Scriptures. They lived longer and thus could have more children. The Bible doesn't tell us how long it was between events. We tend to read thse stories as if they events were really close together, when they were not. Plenty of time had elapsed for cities to be built and civilization to be established.

[~candice~]

  On 4/12/2013 at 1:26 PM, shiloh357 said:

  On 4/11/2013 at 8:56 PM, ibldcars4u said:

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on what they might believe on the topic that Adam and Eve was the only 2 people on the earth at that time.I am newer to this forums and noticed a very old (closed) post on this. I am just curious on if I might be missing something when I read Genesis,am always open to learning,and see if there is something I am missing. In my opinion Adam and Eve were not the only 2 people at that time. It states that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4 vs 17 it states Cain knew his wife,and she conceived and bore Enoch. Where did Cain get his wife if they was the only 4 at that point (Adam,Eve,Cain,Abel who was killed at this point) ? In Genesis 4 vs 25 it states And Adam knew his wife again and bore Seth for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel,whom Cain killed. So we are brought back into the 4 (Adam,Eve,Cain and now Seth) Its written the generations of Cain from Gen 4 vs 18-22 to how Cain's seed started,but nothing in between about Adam and Eve having more children,multiplying at all, before or after Cain and Abel, untill Eve bore Seth. Then in Genesis 5 vs 4 it states After he begot Seth,the days of Adam were 800 yrs,and he had sons and daughters. Why wouldn't this verse be after Cain and Abel was born, or even before they was born,to then prove Adam and Eve were the only 2 people on earth and everyone came from Adam and Eve. Your thoughts ? There is no wrong answer,would like people to post what they think without anyone questioning them,to see how they take this part of Genesis.

It is important to realize that conditions were different and people lived longer into the hundreds of years and much of how the Bible relates issues is telescoped.

Take geneaologies for example: Geneaologies don't give us every single person in a given family line. They only give us the highlights. It's called "telescoping." So when it says that so and so begat this person, they may have actually been several generations apart.

Where did all of the other people come from? How did Cain find a wife in nod if Adam and Eve were the first parents and Cain was their direct son? The answer is lies in the fact that we cannot simply project our experience on to the Scriptures. They lived longer and thus could have more children. The Bible doesn't tell us how long it was between events. We tend to read thse stories as if they events were really close together, when they were not. Plenty of time had elapsed for cities to be built and civilization to be established.

Shiloh, I agree. Though (and I hate to take this off topic) telescoping permits creation to be much earlier than 4000 BC, right?

[Guest shiloh357]

  On 4/12/2013 at 1:33 PM, ~candice~ said:

  On 4/12/2013 at 1:26 PM, shiloh357 said:

  On 4/11/2013 at 8:56 PM, ibldcars4u said:

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on what they might believe on the topic that Adam and Eve was the only 2 people on the earth at that time.I am newer to this forums and noticed a very old (closed) post on this. I am just curious on if I might be missing something when I read Genesis,am always open to learning,and see if there is something I am missing. In my opinion Adam and Eve were not the only 2 people at that time. It states that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4 vs 17 it states Cain knew his wife,and she conceived and bore Enoch. Where did Cain get his wife if they was the only 4 at that point (Adam,Eve,Cain,Abel who was killed at this point) ? In Genesis 4 vs 25 it states And Adam knew his wife again and bore Seth for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel,whom Cain killed. So we are brought back into the 4 (Adam,Eve,Cain and now Seth) Its written the generations of Cain from Gen 4 vs 18-22 to how Cain's seed started,but nothing in between about Adam and Eve having more children,multiplying at all, before or after Cain and Abel, untill Eve bore Seth. Then in Genesis 5 vs 4 it states After he begot Seth,the days of Adam were 800 yrs,and he had sons and daughters. Why wouldn't this verse be after Cain and Abel was born, or even before they was born,to then prove Adam and Eve were the only 2 people on earth and everyone came from Adam and Eve. Your thoughts ? There is no wrong answer,would like people to post what they think without anyone questioning them,to see how they take this part of Genesis.

It is important to realize that conditions were different and people lived longer into the hundreds of years and much of how the Bible relates issues is telescoped.

Take geneaologies for example: Geneaologies don't give us every single person in a given family line. They only give us the highlights. It's called "telescoping." So when it says that so and so begat this person, they may have actually been several generations apart.

Where did all of the other people come from? How did Cain find a wife in nod if Adam and Eve were the first parents and Cain was their direct son? The answer is lies in the fact that we cannot simply project our experience on to the Scriptures. They lived longer and thus could have more children. The Bible doesn't tell us how long it was between events. We tend to read thse stories as if they events were really close together, when they were not. Plenty of time had elapsed for cities to be built and civilization to be established.

Shiloh, I agree. Though (and I hate to take this off topic) telescoping permits creation to be much earlier than 4000 BC, right?

I think so.

[~candice~]

Thanks Shiloh.

Telescoping is biblical, I believe. But I see it get used in some strange strange ways. I just want to be clear that all it does is stretch the years between events... it doesn't magically solve the oec problems of death prior to the fall or vegetarian diets prior to the flood etc.

Please don't think I'm strawmanning you. I'm not... I'm just using your post as a soapbox.

[Guest shiloh357]

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:06 PM, ~candice~ said:

Thanks Shiloh.

Telescoping is biblical, I believe. But I see it get used in some strange strange ways. I just want to be clear that all it does is stretch the years between events... it doesn't magically solve the oec problems of death prior to the fall or vegetarian diets prior to the flood etc.

Please don't think I'm strawmanning you. I'm not... I'm just using your post as a soapbox.

Actually, it compacts. Telescoping simply gives a compacted and abrigded geneaology. In Ruth, it appears to say that Rahab was the mother of Boaz, but we know from the historical timeline that Rahab didn't give birth to Boaz. She would have more likely been his great grandmother or great, great grandmother. Telescoping compacts a much larger geneaological line. That means that the line going back to Adam would very well exceed 4,000 years if we were given every generation from Adam to Christ

[~candice~]

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:14 PM, shiloh357 said:

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:06 PM, ~candice~ said:

Thanks Shiloh.

Telescoping is biblical, I believe. But I see it get used in some strange strange ways. I just want to be clear that all it does is stretch the years between events... it doesn't magically solve the oec problems of death prior to the fall or vegetarian diets prior to the flood etc.

Please don't think I'm strawmanning you. I'm not... I'm just using your post as a soapbox.

Actually, it compacts. Telescoping simply gives a compacted and abrigded geneaology. In Ruth, it appears to say that Rahab was the mother of Boaz, but we know from the historical timeline that Rahab didn't give birth to Boaz. She would have more likely been his great grandmother or great, great grandmother. Telescoping compacts a much larger geneaological line. That means that the line going back to Adam would very well exceed 4,000 years if we were given every generation from Adam to Christ

We are actually saying the same thing. Telescoping a sequence compacts it. I am reading a compacted sequence and pulling it back to a linear timeline. So it stretches the appearance of 4000 years to... who knows... maybe 20 000? (A guess here, we don't know, so please don't cite me.)

[Guest shiloh357]

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:22 PM, ~candice~ said:

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:14 PM, shiloh357 said:

  On 4/12/2013 at 2:06 PM, ~candice~ said:

Thanks Shiloh.

Telescoping is biblical, I believe. But I see it get used in some strange strange ways. I just want to be clear that all it does is stretch the years between events... it doesn't magically solve the oec problems of death prior to the fall or vegetarian diets prior to the flood etc.

Please don't think I'm strawmanning you. I'm not... I'm just using your post as a soapbox.

Actually, it compacts. Telescoping simply gives a compacted and abrigded geneaology. In Ruth, it appears to say that Rahab was the mother of Boaz, but we know from the historical timeline that Rahab didn't give birth to Boaz. She would have more likely been his great grandmother or great, great grandmother. Telescoping compacts a much larger geneaological line. That means that the line going back to Adam would very well exceed 4,000 years if we were given every generation from Adam to Christ

We are actually saying the same thing. Telescoping a sequence compacts it. I am reading a compacted sequence and pulling it back to a linear timeline. So it stretches the appearance of 4000 years to... who knows... maybe 20 000? (A guess here, we don't know, so please don't cite me.)

Oops, sorry I already cited you. Put it on wikipedia and several creationist journals. I guess I need to call them back.

[The_Patriot21]

  On 4/12/2013 at 1:33 PM, ~candice~ said:

  On 4/12/2013 at 1:26 PM, shiloh357 said:

  On 4/11/2013 at 8:56 PM, ibldcars4u said:

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on what they might believe on the topic that Adam and Eve was the only 2 people on the earth at that time.I am newer to this forums and noticed a very old (closed) post on this. I am just curious on if I might be missing something when I read Genesis,am always open to learning,and see if there is something I am missing. In my opinion Adam and Eve were not the only 2 people at that time. It states that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4 vs 17 it states Cain knew his wife,and she conceived and bore Enoch. Where did Cain get his wife if they was the only 4 at that point (Adam,Eve,Cain,Abel who was killed at this point) ? In Genesis 4 vs 25 it states And Adam knew his wife again and bore Seth for God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel,whom Cain killed. So we are brought back into the 4 (Adam,Eve,Cain and now Seth) Its written the generations of Cain from Gen 4 vs 18-22 to how Cain's seed started,but nothing in between about Adam and Eve having more children,multiplying at all, before or after Cain and Abel, untill Eve bore Seth. Then in Genesis 5 vs 4 it states After he begot Seth,the days of Adam were 800 yrs,and he had sons and daughters. Why wouldn't this verse be after Cain and Abel was born, or even before they was born,to then prove Adam and Eve were the only 2 people on earth and everyone came from Adam and Eve. Your thoughts ? There is no wrong answer,would like people to post what they think without anyone questioning them,to see how they take this part of Genesis.

It is important to realize that conditions were different and people lived longer into the hundreds of years and much of how the Bible relates issues is telescoped.

Take geneaologies for example: Geneaologies don't give us every single person in a given family line. They only give us the highlights. It's called "telescoping." So when it says that so and so begat this person, they may have actually been several generations apart.

Where did all of the other people come from? How did Cain find a wife in nod if Adam and Eve were the first parents and Cain was their direct son? The answer is lies in the fact that we cannot simply project our experience on to the Scriptures. They lived longer and thus could have more children. The Bible doesn't tell us how long it was between events. We tend to read thse stories as if they events were really close together, when they were not. Plenty of time had elapsed for cities to be built and civilization to be established.

Shiloh, I agree. Though (and I hate to take this off topic) telescoping permits creation to be much earlier than 4000 BC, right?

if you follow the Biblical timeline, no, it puts creation anywhere between 4-6000 years before Christ, with 6000 being the most liberal number you can come up with, and its all dependent on how long adam and eve were in the garden, which most scholars put at less then 150 years (how old they were when they had cain and abel I do believe)

[Bold Believer]

4000 BC is the 'Ussher date', named for an Episcopal bishop by the surname of Ussher who did research. If I recall, he came up with 4004 BC as the age of the earth. That may or may not be correct.

As far as the original question, it is answered in Scripture but not directly. If we read the Cain/Abel account, we find that they were grown men at the time of the incident, not mere boys as it is often suggested. They have chosen life-pursuits. Boys don't do that, they learn from their fathers. So then, we have no idea just how old they were, but we do known from Genesis 5 that Adam had other sons and daughters. We also know that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, so the incident of Abel's death happened at least 9 months (given modern human gestation) prior. We also know that it was not a sin to marry inter-lineally at that time, so Cain most likely married a cousin/niece well before the incident.

[~candice~]

Pat, you haven't taken into account telescoping at all if you claim 4000 years.

Ussher is demonstrably wrong.