The Truth in Print Vol. 28 Issue 2, Mar. 2022

A Publication of the Valley church of Christ,

2375 W. 8th Street, Yuma, AZ 85364 (928-782-5058)

 

Website Address ~ http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com

 

A New Story – But Same Old Myth (I Tim. 1:3-4) --- i.e., Cain’s wife belonged to another people not descended from Adam and Eve

 

   Years ago I received a response to a reply I posted online titled “Questions On Witchcraft.” She wanted me to know where she thought she came from. She stated that she belonged with those whom she called the “Other People.” Here is her reply as it came --- you should be able to catch what she’s aiming at: 

in reference to the directory of articles

Specifically the one on witchcraft. It was quoted Exodus 22:18-20, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." It has come to the attention of many throughout the years that words have been mistranslated from the original texts of the Bible, this verse being one of them, the "witch" in reference was not to a group of people practicing the old ways, it is in reference to a group of people who worship satan. It was stated "practitioners of the occult have Satan as the source of their information not God" Satan is a Christian ideal, not ours. We are the "Other People"..allow me to quote from an article

"http://216.32.180.250:80/cgibin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=36459d24cc1866138a7033e43e465bd6&lat=995557974&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecaw%2eorg%2farticles%2fotherpeople%2ehtml"

Gen 4:16 Cain left the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. We can assume that the phrase "left the presence of Yahweh" implies that Yahweh is a local deity, and not omnipresent. Now Eden, according to Gen. 2:14-15, was situated at the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, apparently right where Lake Van is now, in Turkey. "East of Eden," therefore, would probably be along the shores of the Caspian Sea, right in the Indo-European heartland. Cain settled in there, among the people of Nod, and married one of the women of that country. Here, for the first time, is specifically mentioned the "other people" who are not of the lineage of Adam and Eve. I.e., the Pagans." and back on the mistranslation bit, here's another verse that when the proper word is used, makes everything change..quoted from the same article "Genesis 1:26 - The [Elohim] said, "Let us make humanity in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth." Elohim is a plural word, including male and female, and should properly be translated "Gods" or "Pantheon." I've not written this to start an arguement, nor am I looking for clarification on any bible quote. I am a preachers daughter, I am well versed in Biblical sense, and the various versions of the book. I have written this to right misconceptions. We, the other people, are peaceful, and nature-conscious. If we were truly evil, Yahweh would not have permitted the 'other people' to live correct? If the Other People didn't exsist then by all scientific knowledge the bloodlines from Adam and Eve would have been so crossed from inbreeding that life as we know it would not have exsisted. Have a Blessed Day..

 

   Man, what a tale! --- and just think, her “other people” saved humanity. She thinks we should all be grateful. She knows nothing about the bloodlines from Adam and Eve at the beginning of the human race. How would she know for she wasn’t around? Gen. 4:16-17 does not tell when Cain married. Chapter 4 does give the descendants of Cain (Gen 4:17-24). In Gen. 5:4 after telling the birth of Seth to Adam and Eve, it says Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth “and he had other sons and daughters” (Gen 5:4) --- “daughters” would be a source of wives in the beginning. Cain either married one of his sisters, or one his nieces or on down the line. There was “time for this” because people lived hundreds of years –- mighty good genes there! Gen. 3:20 tells us “Eve” is the mother of all living. To believe the Bible is to believe she is. Adam is “the first man” (I Cor 15:45).

   In Gen. 1:1 “God” is the same word as in Gen. 1:26 --- and God is the creator of heaven and earth. Is that a local deity? She knows so much about God that she has both male and female in the Godhead. Watch that “nature-consciousness” thing whenever you hear it – understand that God created nature -- nature is not God! She needs to remember that it was God who did not permit the others besides Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives to live. There’s the importance of Noah and his family – mankind continued with them alone – they served God at the time of the Flood (Gen. 6-9). 

   Next up is a new story to tell --- but with the same old evolution line. Evolution is the theory that a biological human can have common ancestry with apes. Again, you will see that Cain’s wife was supposedly a biological human “outside of Adam and Eve’s family” --- supposedly shown by these scriptures:

   Gen 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 

   Gen 4:17 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. 

   What have you just read in Gen 4:16-17? You’ve read about the beginning of the family of the Cainites. Cain went out and dwelt in the land of Nod said to be on the east of Eden – there it says Cain’s wife bore Enoch. The text assumes (it is self-evident) that she was a daughter of Adam (Gen 1:28 “be fruitful and multiply) --- if not a daughter of Adam and Eve then one of the descendants on down the line. We see Cain’s family multiplying (Gen. 4:18-26). The marriage of brothers and sisters was inevitable in the case of the children of the first men, since the human race was actually to descend from a single pair --- this is long before the Law of Moses and its prohibition in Lev 18:9.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/christians-point-to-breakthroughs-in-genetics-to-show-adam-and-eve-are-not-incompatible-with-evolution

“CHRISTIANITY Published January 2

“Christians point to genetics breakthroughs to show Adam and Eve are not incompatible with evolution

“EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE IS MAKING SPACE FOR ADAM AND EVE, CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS SAY

“BY TYLER O'NEIL | FOX NEWS

 

“Many Christians have rejected the scientific theory of evolution in part because they think it rules out the existence of a historical Adam and Eve. Yet some scientists and theologians argue that recent breakthroughs in genetics make a historical Adam and Eve compatible with evolution, and that this development may help bridge what many see as a conflict between faith and science.

"For over 160 years, the societal conflict over evolution has been deep and stubborn. But now, in a surprise twist, evolutionary science is making space for Adam and Eve," S. Joshua Swamidass, an associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, told Fox News Digital. "It turns out that the theological questions are about genealogical ancestry, not genetics. In this paradigm shift, we are finding a better way forward, a better story to tell."

 

   Blood is mentioned in the New Testament as “the substantial basis of the individual life” (Acts 17:26).

 

   Act 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 

   Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 

   Here it refers to the human and not to animal blood as in Lev. 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood." Genealogical ancestry refers to descent from an ancestor or ancestors; genetics -- biology that deals with heredity i.e. the genetic transmission of traits from parent to offspring. Blood types are hereditary – A, B, O for example. Animal blood will be rejected if given to a human. I believe someone tried that back in the 1600s and it didn’t work out well for the recipients.

In his book "The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry," Swamidass argues that genetics and evolutionary theory do not conflict with the existence of Adam and Eve, universal ancestors of all humans whom Jesus died to save.

 

GENETIC ‘ADAM’ AND ‘EVE’ UNCOVERED

 

Modern genetics only captures a small sliver of the story of human ancestry, Swamidass writes. While your parents are both 100 percent your parents, you only get roughly 50 percent of your DNA from each of them, and only about 25 percent of your DNA from your grandparents. As you go farther back, you have more genealogical ancestors who each contribute less and less to your DNA.

While universal genetic ancestors are rare, universal genealogical ancestors are surprisingly common, the author noted. Each individual has four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on, but population size in past generations tends to get smaller, so overlap is inevitable. He argues that by 1 A.D., every person on Earth was descended from Adam and Eve.

Swamidass' model of a Genealogical Adam and Eve (GAE) claims that biological humans may still share a common ancestor with apes according to the theory of evolution, but God could have created Adam and Eve from the dust and a rib, without parents, and these two became the ancestors of all humans by 1 A.D. Swamidass claims that Genesis appears to require biological humans outside of Adam and Eve's family line because after Cain murders Abel and leaves his parents, he fears that he will be killed, he acquires a wife, and he builds a city. 

 

   So, here again is the myth that Genesis requires biological humans outside of Adam and Eve’s family line! One can simply make the same prior points made around the fact the Bible does not tell when Cain married, etc.

  Here again is the importance Eve being the mother of all living. Gen 3:20 “And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”

   Compare some definitions and explanations you can find on Eve: “Eve means ‘life’ --- the continuance and life of humanity were guaranteed through the woman.” From TCWSD [Eve, H2332 ḥawwāh]: A proper noun designating Eve. The name of the first woman created by the Lord God. Adam gave her the name Eve, meaning "living, making alive" (Gen_3:20). She was the wife of Adam (Gen_4:1). In Gen_2:23, she was designated as a woman (’iššāh [H802]), a female being apart from the male being, Adam, both sharing common humanity. As her name indicates, she then gave birth to the human race (Gen_4:1-2).

  “Was” in the Hebrew means: H1961 hāyāh: A verb meaning to exist, to be, to become, to happen, to come to pass, to be done. As her name indicates, she then gave birth to the human race (Gen_4:1-2).

 “Adam” H121 āḏām: The proper noun designating Adam --- 1Co 15:45 And so it is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING."

   So, Adam is the first man; Eve is the first woman and mother of all living! If you believe the Bible you believe this. Evolution teaches we share common ancestors with apes.

 

"Most readers of Genesis understood Adam and Eve to be (1) ancestors of us all, and (2) miraculously created without parents of their own," Swamidass told Fox News Digital. "In contrast, evolution teaches that (3) we share common ancestors with apes, and (4) we arise from a large population, not a single couple. This conflict of fact only seemed solvable by revising foundational Christian theological beliefs, or by rejecting evolution."

 

   So, evolution is added to what the Bible says about mankind.

 

"But now, clearing up some big scientific understandings, we know that all four of these things can be true at the same time," Swamidass said. "Even if Adam and Eve lived as recently as just 6,000 years ago, they would be the genealogical ancestors of everyone across the globe by AD 1. They could even have been created de novo, from the dust and a rib. Of course, at the same time, we would also descend from people outside the Garden, others whom God created by a providentially governed process of evolution. “

 

   What’s that old saying? --- Just keep repeating and people will believe! I can’t help but think, personally, that they have discovered something and they really don’t know what to do with it.

 

   The Bible says Adam and Eve existed the 6th day of creation (Gen. 1:27).

 

William Lane Craig, a Christian philosophy professor at Houston Baptist University and Biola University's Talbot School of Theology, published the book "In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration" in September. His book echoes Swamidass' arguments – although he places Adam and Eve further back in history. 

 

   Well, the Bible places them at the beginning of the history of mankind. Again, where does the Bible put Adam and Eve? On the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:27).

 

   A basic objection when accepting the Bible is pointed out in the article itself.

 

Nathan Lents, a secular professor of biology at John Jay College, told Fox News Digital that recent developments have made Adam and Eve more plausible.

 

"I would not say that there is any evidence, historical or scientific, in favor of the existence of Adam and Eve, as they are presented in the Bible," Lents said. "However, there have been developments in our understanding of ancestry and genetics that allow for the possibility of universal ancestors of the entire human population in the surprisingly recent past."

He noted that "there are important caveats" about the possibility of universal ancestors, such as isolated populations, and about the impact of the GAE model – it does not involve "sole progenitorship of the human race from just two people."

 

   That is most certainly a basic objection when accepting the Bible! And I keep thinking they’ve discovered something, and they really don’t know what to do with it.

 

Adam and Eve didn’t just plop in at some place along the way!

 

Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, a Christian biologist with the young-earth creationist organization Answers in Genesis, told Fox News Digital that Swamidass' "definition of Adam and eve is almost unrecognizable from a Young Earth perspective; it’s essentially the mainstream model with an undetectable supernaturally created pair inserted at some point."

 

A myth with the same old line on Cain’s wife!

 

Valley Church of Christ

2375 W. 8th Street, Yuma, AZ 85364

(928) 782-5058 ~ http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com

Sunday Services – Classes ~10:00; Assembly 10:50 am; Evening: 6:00 pm.

Wednesday evening – 7:00 pm

To learn more call, visit or visit our website at:

http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com

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