Contradictions in the bible!?

Question

I am not digging at christians just seeking answers. i have asked these two questions to a number of priests and pastors over the years and they cannot answer them so i invite you to give it a try...
1/ if adam and eve were the first man and woman on earth. How is it that when caine was bannished after killing able he went forth and had children of his own. Either the bible lies about eve being the first woman on earth or caine commited adultary with his own mother?
2/ It is stated quite clearly that God only had one son. How then is it that later in the bible it says that the son's of god came down and took the daughters of men. indicating that god in fact had more than one son?
These are only two of a miriad of discrepancies in the bible.
Won't go into the now but would like to see how you go answering these two.

One should not abandon ones faith because a question is raised.
One should research and attain a higher level of understanding.
I was raised knowing only the king james bible but i do believe the statement in Q2 comes also from the jewish texts(from where the first five books of the bible came).
Good healthy debate, love the answers,
Keep it coming, Your doing well.

Answer 1

Read the bible CAREFULLY you will then notice it says the races or nations were created on the sixth day on the seventh day he rested. Only after that did he then create Adam and eve. Those days were 1000 year periods by the way . Just like the lord's day is 1000 yrs. More proof , Cain complained to god that if god kicked him out of the garden that everyone he met would try to kill him for murdering able. READ what god created on the sixth day investigate it yourself and you be the judge. It also says that Cain went to the land of nod and took a wife there. hope it helps . Please try to read the bible carefully instead of just trying to prove it wrong. Not you spooky ,I mean the other people who just want to pick it apart. Nobody can explain everything in the bible. Because God gives a person only as much understanding of the bible as that person is willing to accept.
love to ya all .

Answer 2

1/ if adam and eve were the first man and woman on earth. How is it that when caine was bannished after killing able he went forth and had children of his own. Either the bible lies about eve being the first woman on earth or caine commited adultary with his own mother?

Cain married his sisters. Adam and Eve were both created as genetically pure individuals. There would have been no risk of birth defects from the relationships.

2/ It is stated quite clearly that God only had one son. How then is it that later in the bible it says that the son's of god came down and took the daughters of men. indicating that god in fact had more than one son?

Adam was a "son" of God too (as God created Adam). In Gen 6:1, it is sometimes thought that the Sons of God are angels (I do not believe this as there is not anyplace in the Bible where it says angels can reproduce with humans). They are not the fallen angels, because they were captured and bound in Hell. But it can also mean the offspring of Adam and Eve.

If you accept Jesus as your savior, then you are also a "son of God" but not THE Son of God.

Answer 3

The only contradictions here are with literal translations and understanding of the Bible. Many things that are written are for our spiritual understanding and not meant to be a literal translation.

I know there are a lot of Bible Christians that take a literal view of the Bible. But that does cause discrepencies, because it wasn't meant to be literal.

The story of Adam and Eve is to explain that we were created and that we sinned and this caused a great chasm between us and God. It is the story of the fall of man.

2. The "sons of God" are angels. Just being referred to as the sons of God does not take away anything from the one Son of God who died for our salvation.

First you need to make sure you have a good translation of the Bible. Many times, if you go back to the real meaning of a word, you'll find that the translation is misleading.

Answer 4

I suspect you haven't asked many ministers or priests that question as they DO have the answer. The answer is that several years passed between when Adam and Eve were banished and the sons had children. In those days people lived very long lives plus their calendar was different than what we have today. But, to propagate the world God did allow marriage within one's own family. Eve had several children. And, you're mistaken using the word "adultery" as I think it's called "sodomy" today.

God only had "one" son. When that statement says "sons of god" it was referring to males in general. I don't recall the bible (at least not mine) where "the sons of god came down and took the daughters of men".

You need to know that there are many parts to the bible, written by different people, at different times, and even some were written way after the fact. People have different ideas and ways of seeing things one from the other, so things certainly would be different in each part of the bible, but we are to compare, study and remember the things written that are the "same".

Answer 5

There are none, Bible difficulties, or apparent Bible contradictions, exist. The opponents of Christianity often use them in their attempts to discredit Christianity. Sometimes these attacks undermine the faith of Christians who either don't understand the issues or don't have the resources to deal with them.

Opponents of Christianity will cite what they consider a Bible contradiction or difficulty by comparing one verse to another (or more) that seems to disagree with the first. In doing this, several verses are often referenced as being contradictory or problematic. Therefore, to make this section of CARM easy to use, it is arranged by verse for easy lookup. Since many of the same "difficulties" deal with one verse in opposition to another or even several others, I have listed all the verses addressed in the same answer. This makes the initial list look larger than it really is. For example, how many animals did Noah bring into the ark? Genesis 6:19-20 says two while Gen. 7:2-3 mentions seven. Therefore, both verses are listed and both links point to the same answer.

http://carm.org/introduction-bible-difficulties-and-bible-contradictions

If we read the Bible at face value, without a preconceived bias for finding errors, we will find it to be a coherent, consistent, and relatively easy-to-understand book. Yes, there are difficult passages. Yes, there are verses that appear to contradict each other. We must remember that the Bible was written by approximately 40 different authors over a period of around 1500 years. Each writer wrote with a different style, from a different perspective, to a different audience, for a different purpose. We should expect some minor differences. However, a difference is not a contradiction. It is only an error if there is absolutely no conceivable way the verses or passages can be reconciled. Even if an answer is not available right now, that does not mean an answer does not exist. Many have found a supposed error in the Bible in relation to history or geography only to find out that the Bible is correct once further archaeological evidence is discovered.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-errors.html

The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation
By: Norman L. Geisler, Thomas Howe
http://www.christianbook.com/difficulties-clear-concise-answers-genesis-revelation/norman-geisler/9780801071584/pd/071584?event=AFF&p=1011693&

Answer 6

1. Adam had children other than Cain, Abel, and Seth. Gen. 5:4
2. Apparently; the asker is equating god = God. They are not the same. Further, keep in mund, the English term God; in the original Hebrew has (about 10) many terms; some singular, some plural. I know that may not answer things 100% throughout the Bible, but I have much to learn about God and his thoughts and ways presently.

Answer 7

You call these contradictions? Sheesh, gimme a break will ya. The bible never claims to tell us EVERYTHING. Obviously Adam and Eve had bunches of other kids. Who knows how much time elapsed before Cain killed Abel. And NOWHERE in the bible does it say that God ONLY created Adam and Eve. Just that they were the Father and Mother of the human race. And ANGELS are also called "Sons of God" in the bible. There is much that God doesnt tell us. He only tells us what we need to know, as far as it concerns US. You critics are all alike. You "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel". This is sunday school stuff. I love how you guys just search and search to try to find "mistakes" and then when someone gives you a reasonable answer, you just go on looking for more "mistakes". You guys are pathetic. Ive never seen one SERIOUS problem yet from you guys. Just juvenile stuff.....theBerean....NOTE ADDED: to SPOOKY--its so nice to know that YOU think we are "doing well". Well la-da-dee. Its soooo nice to meet with your approval. Every so-called "discrepancy" you folks find in the Bible has already been examined/studied/researched and answered by some of the finest minds of the last 2000 years. But the real crux of the matter is whose word is a person going to take: the "nitpickers or the Lord Jesus Christ'? Jesus said (speaking specifically of the O.T.) that Gods Word is TRUTH, and that the scripture cannot be broken. In other words, its ABSOLUTE. So if it comes down to listening to the Son of God, or some "Johnny come latelys", I dont think THATS a tough choice....theBerean

Answer 8

I have a theory, which you can take or leave, but is based on fact (see the Discovery Channel's program "The Real Eve.");
150,000 years ago man's ancestors had dwindeled down to less than 5000 on the entire planet. Had things kept going we would have become exstinct. DNA has proven that every person on this planet today, black, white, yellow or red, can be traced back to ONE woman. We owe our exsistance to her.
This means when Caine took a wife, there were other females around, not many, but enough.
In my opinion Adam and Eve were the first of our ancestors to discover self-awareness; to contemplate that maybe there was a creator higher than themselves. "I think, therefor I am." And once aware of this, there was no going back. This is what seperated them from the other animals; this is what made them the 'first' human beings.
I believe this squares with the written text, does not step on the toes of evloutionsists, and explains a lot of seemingly award text.
Your opinion?

Answer 9

Great question!

Around the time of the Tower of Babel, God gave a decree that it was no longer good for "incest". It's creepy to me also brother but I taught a class on it last semester and dug into it with the help of a science major friend of mine.

Adam was created when sin did not exist, therefore his offspring would not have mutations like victims of incest would today. Once the gene went down a few generations sin was imputed. So God stopped it.

Questions like these are ones that really put faith into perspective and make you really dig deep for answers, but when you find them you will ALWAYS reach God at the end!

The sons of God were nephalim. I have heard them explained as a tribe of Annekites (it means Huge) or demons that came to earth. The tribe makes more sense to me.

Hope this helps.

Answer 10

I'll answer the second question first. The terms "sons of God" is simply referring to created man.
It is often asked where Cain got his wife. Genesis, chapter 5, gives the written account of Adam's lineage. From that chapter, we learn that Adam had sons and daughters; also, that he lived to the age of 930 years. No doubt Cain married one of those numerous daughters or granddaughters of Adam. In other words, Cain married either his own sister or niece. In the dawn of history, such marriages would have been necessary and would not have been accompanied by the dangers which would result today. God later established laws to prohibit marriage within close degrees of kinship (Leviticus 20:17-20). Intermarriage of closely related persons such as brothers and sisters today, according to doctors, would result in serious physical deterioration of the race.