I hope to answer some questions that people have about Christianity.
This post is written assuming the accuracy of the Christian faith,
because it is solely intended to answer questions about the Christian
faith. Please do not take this post as an insult to your personal
beliefs. All views are my own and not necessarily the views of
Christians as a whole. I', sorry that I have to write a paragraph long
explaination before I type the actual post, but I want to avoid any
hostilities.

==============================================================

Genesis 4:16-17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the
land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain had relations with his wife and she
conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the
name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most common questions asked about the Christian (and Muslim
and Jewish) creation story is where did Cain get his wife? Some people
answer that there were other people living on earth before Adam and Eve,
but this isn't supported by scripture. I hope to show that Cain could
have married his sister and produced perfectly normal and healthy
children.

============================================================

Science has determined that human mutations happen 175 times per
generation.

http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/156/1/297

Many of these mutations are caused by UV radiation. Prior to Noah's
flood, the earth was surrounded by a canopy of water, which is described
in Genesis 1:9. This canopy would have blocked most of the UV radiation
from the Sun. So before Noah's flood, the mutation rate would have been
significantly lower. Add to this that the earth had a world-wide
temperate climate (because of the canopy), no precipitation (Genesis
2:6) and no mountains (no reference here, but moutains are not mentioned
until following Noah's flood), humans would have had no need to adapt to
various climates.

For a harmful mutation to occur, both parents must have the same harmful
gene. Since Adam and Eve were created perfect, they had no harmful
genes to pass onto their children. Adam and Eve's children married each
other and since they didn't share any harmful genes, they produced
normal children. The fact that they were perfect also explains the fast
development of technology that is described in Genesis; Adam, Eve and
their children were all probably Genius+ intelligence. This also
explains why humans lived so long back then, on average Adam, Eve and
their children lived about 13 times longer than we currently live. Many
generations later, God told Moses that close relatives could no longer
be married.

=============================================================

I would like now to expound on the reasons for the many different human
ethnicitys.

When Noah and his family left the Ark, it was the first time anyone had
seen a mountain (mountains formed due to rapid subduction of the
continental plates) and it was the first time humans had ever stood in
unfiltered sunlight.

Adam is described as "red earth" because he had a redish skin color.
Following Noah's flood and especially the Babel incident, humans
migrated to various areas, gradually adapting to their environment.
Studies have suggested that human skin variations could have evolved in
less than one thousand years
(http://www.answers.com/topic/human-skin-color), but that is assuming
white to black. Red being somewhere in the middle would have meant that
it would take considerably less time for the various ethnicities to
develop.

==============================================================

I hope that this post answered more questions than it raised. This is
all according to my understanding of scripture mixed with various
scientific theories.

Hi Spidey,

I take a different approach. There were many ppl living on the Earth
long before Cain. If we read Genesis literally - assuming that each
verse and chapter is in sequential order, then we read that God made
man, and women, (plural) in Chapter 1, verse 26.

Later, in Chapter 2, God made Adam personally, from clay. Adam was the
first man that God revealed himself to, and so he is "the First Man" in
that respect.

With that in mind, we read about Adam/Eve/Cain/Able, and Cain's
banishment from the Garden. He laments that he will be cast out by
EVERYONE ELSE - God marks him so that NO ONE else will kill him. He
marries, and builds a CITY for thousands of other people. Clearly Cain
and God were very aware that there were multitudes OF OTHER people.

Scripturally supported that there were other ppl besides Adam & Eve.

Genesis 4

13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can
bear.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth;
and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a
vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that
findeth me shall slay me.

15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain,
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

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

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.

Spider>

If mountains did not exist before the flood how then could the flood
have covered 'even the mountains'.

Could you guide me in a direction where I might investigate the canopy
of water you mention. Unless my thinker is broke such a canopy would
have made the surface tempeture of the earth quite close to venus norm
(what?900 degrees F). Not from sunlight but from the reflected natural
radiation of the earth.

MikeMontana,

Right, but I think you are adding to the Bible. Jesus taught that there
were originally just one man and one woman. Genesis says that God
created one man and then one woman.

You should ask yourself this, how old were Cain and Abel when Cain
killed Abel? How many children and possibly grandchildren did Abel have
when he was killed? The Bible doesn't say how many children Adam and
Eve had, but it does say that they had many children. How many
brothers, sisters, neices, nephews and other relatives could have wanted
revenge?

Without contradicting anything Jesus taught, my theory explains why Cain
was afraid of being murdered himself, his own extended family was the
source of his fear.

The Bible clearly states that Adam had no other children until Seth...
God finished his work of creation in six days and rested on the seventh
day (Genesis 1:1-2:3, Exodus 20:11). Adam and Eve were created on the
sixth day and God gave them and their offspring the ability to be
fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). There is no indication in the
creation account of any other human beings created before or after Adam
and Eve

(Genesis 1:27-2:24). Since every human being is descended from Adam
(Acts 17:26), can we conclude that Cain undoubtedly married a sister (or
perhaps a niece)?

Genesis 4 does not give us a complete listing of all of Adam and Eve's
children or a complete account of everything that happened in the years
following the fall into sin, but mentions only those people and events
that are pertinent to the purpose of the Book of Genesis.

Eve calls Seth a replacement for Abel (Genesis 4:25), but it does not
follow that she had no other children between the birth of Abel and
Seth. The birth of Seth is important for the account because he is in
the line of the Savior (Genesis 5, Luke 3:38).

first of all to someones quoting of Mike...gen 1:26... there is
nothing about got making man and women... and never through my academic
career has any professor ever offered up that there could be multiple "
women" but only one man....


then ... to someone else i think spider.. not sure.. you said
genesis says god made only 1 man then 1 woman.. not entirely correct
either Genesis 1 he makes "them" at the same time.. and you cannot
dispute this Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were written about 100 years apart
and put together by the priestly author later on.. and they were created
in different parts of the world.

and the only way technically that everyone could have come about is for
someone to sleep with eve as she had 2 sons.. and thus we are all
related

it is not adequate to say there were otheres there they just were not
mentioned, because if you do this then technically speaking anyone could
say anything ... you have a big problem then with what does the bible
not tell, and in the christian faith the bible is the word.. in living
flesh.. and you just can't say that suddenly theres others just not
mentioned or.. what else did the bible not include????

then.. spider... what in the world are you talking about UV rays and
the rainforest canopy bed... you are being a little far fetched with the
topic don't you think.. you really have no idea what the " garden"
looked like nor do you know what " earth" looked like since there is no
descriptive explanation of the Earth at this time

my, but we do know how to take a lot for granted. So how old is the
Earth and how long has humanity had an established existance on it?
And let's see, Jesus is considered to be approx, what, 2300 years old?
Now according to standard biblical interpretation, the Earth is approx,
oh, say 6,000 years old. Not a lot of time between Jesus and the
beginning to have gotten people to other countries, have an
environmental breakdown and then change the poeple into all the various
races that existed at the time of Jesus.

Of course, I do understand that some people view some things as simply
story, while other things like a genetic line from Adam and Eve to
Jesus, goes without question....

Spider, you are a patient person. You have apparently found something
that inspires you. And if you and I or you and another were having a
single one on one about what you believe and why, I might see something
of a consistancy that threads through your personal belief. I'am
looking though, so I hope you are not offended by my flippant remarks.
Just as you write to show your truth, I write to show it's falicy and
sometimes it's hypocracy. You have great spirit and I respect you for
that.

sororitygurl4life,

I didn't say "rainforest canopy", I said water canopy. Genesis 1:7 says
that God seperated the waters, placing one pooling of waters above the
other and dry land was in the middle. So there was a bubble of water
surrounding the earth.

Genesis 1:7
-------------------------------------------------------------
God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the
expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
-------------------------------------------------------------

In Genesis 2, we are told that there was no rain, but a mist can down
from the sky at night to water the land. This would explain why after
Noah's flood, God said he placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder. If
there had never been clouds or rain before Noah's flood, there would
have never been a rainbow either.

When I post something, if you don't understand, please just ask. I
included scriptures so that you can read the text yourself and see what
I was talking about.

Redykeulous,

Have you ever heard of Peleg? Peleg means "to divide" because during
his lifetime the land was divided.

In Genesis 1, we are told that all the lands were gathered together in
one place and later we learn that in Peleg's lifetime, the lands were
divided.

I don't doubt that early Bible scholars didn't understand what was being
described, but it's clear what was happening.

If you read about "Rapid Subduction", you will find that a group of
Christian geophyicists won an award for their theoretic model of plate
techtonics. Their model proves that the continents could have move to
their current positions in a matter of weeks or months. Their model
explained the magnetic anomalies that have plagued science. Please read
this article if you have time:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c001.html

Spider>

On the subject of rainbows. Mist creates rainbows when light refracts
from the water droplets. Clouds will not make a rainbow. Water vapor
and ice crystals in the atmosphere create the rainbow effect.

This is a well know fact of science. Are you claiming that physical
laws were different in the begining.

Once again I will ask you... Please show me the facts pertaining to a
water canopy above the earth. Such a canopy would have placed the
earths tempeture well above the range capable of sustaining life. (look
at the proof of venus) The earths own natural radiation would have
reflected from such a canopy and raised the surface tempeture into the
900 degree range.

I would offer a suggestion for anyone to google Tablets of Creation from
the Sumerian culture and compare it to the bible creation story...and
then remind yourself that the tablets of creation are older...someone's
borrowing info...

AdventureBegins wrote:

On the subject of rainbows. Mist creates rainbows when light refracts
from the water droplets. Clouds will not make a rainbow. Water vapor
and ice crystals in the atmosphere create the rainbow effect.

This is a well know fact of science. Are you claiming that physical
laws were different in the begining.

==========================================================================================
SpiderCMB replied:

The mists were described as decending at night, when there was no sun to
produce a rainbow. Mists can make a "moonbow" at night, but it's colors
would have been too weak to be seen by the naked eye, if it could be
seen at all. We don't know how dense the mist was. Too dense and you
couldn't see the moonbow. Not dense enough and you couldn't see it at
all.

==========================================================================================
AdventureBegins wrote:

Once again I will ask you... Please show me the facts pertaining to a
water canopy above the earth. Such a canopy would have placed the
earths tempeture well above the range capable of sustaining life. (look
at the proof of venus) The earths own natural radiation would have
reflected from such a canopy and raised the surface tempeture into the
900 degree range.

==========================================================================================
SpiderCMB replied:

The Average depth of the ocean is 12200 feet. The assumption made by
many creationists and scientists aren't nescessarily true.

1. The oceans were always at their current depth. Sea floor spreading
increases the depth of the ocean. The oceans are riddled with evidence
of seafloor spreading.

2. The earths total landmass was always the same.

3. All of the flood waters were contained in the vapor canopy.

If the sea floors were higher, then the earths total landmass would have
been lower. Assuming a mostly smooth earth surface with large caverns
filled with water under the surface (the Bible said there were streams
of water all over the land), the water canopy could have been only a few
inchs thick. Remember, stars were still visible through the canopy. A
geothermic event could have released a large amount of water vapor into
the air at one time. When this happened, it would have disrupted the
canopy, causing it to fall as rain. The geothermic events would
continue and increase due to the added weight of the water from the
canopy. More undergound pools of water would colapse under the added
weight and/or geothermic activity. This set into motion the rapid
subduction that caused the continental shift. The shift was incredibly
fast (taking only a about 30 days), but it powered the rains that fell
for 40 days, because huge areas of the seabed were molten rock. All
through it all, the worlds species were safe in the Ark with a buffer of
water between them and the shifting lands below. Do I have proof? No,
I have faith.

I will tell you one thing. Something happened a few thousand years ago,
that set in motion the end of the world. Our magnetic field has weaked
by 10% since the 1850's. We have recently seen that the weakening of
our magnetic field is causing solar winds to blow away parts of our
atmosphere. Read more about it here:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast08dec98_1.htm

Mars was once a wet planet, it isn't now, what happened was that Mars's
magnetic field weakened to the point that solar winds blew it's
atmosphere away. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast31jan_1.htm

You will see older articles that claim that the Magnetic field has
nothing to do with the atmosphere, don't waste your time linking them.
I have seen them, but they are old science that has been invalidated by
recent scientific discoveries.

AdventureBegins wrote:

On the subject of rainbows. Mist creates rainbows when light refracts
from the water droplets. Clouds will not make a rainbow. Water vapor
and ice crystals in the atmosphere create the rainbow effect.

This is a well know fact of science. Are you claiming that physical
laws were different in the begining.

==========================================================================================
SpiderCMB replied:

The mists were described as decending at night, when there was no sun to
produce a rainbow. Mists can make a "moonbow" at night, but it's colors
would have been too weak to be seen by the naked eye, if it could be
seen at all. We don't know how dense the mist was. Too dense and you
couldn't see the moonbow. Not dense enough and you couldn't see it at
all.

==========================================================================================
AdventureBegins wrote:

Once again I will ask you... Please show me the facts pertaining to a
water canopy above the earth. Such a canopy would have placed the
earths tempeture well above the range capable of sustaining life. (look
at the proof of venus) The earths own natural radiation would have
reflected from such a canopy and raised the surface tempeture into the
900 degree range.

==========================================================================================
SpiderCMB replied:

The Average depth of the ocean is 12200 feet. The assumption made by
many creationists and scientists aren't nescessarily true.

1. The oceans were always at their current depth. Sea floor spreading
increases the depth of the ocean. The oceans are riddled with evidence
of seafloor spreading.

2. The earths total landmass was always the same.

3. All of the flood waters were contained in the vapor canopy.

If the sea floors were higher, then the earths total landmass would have
been lower. Assuming a mostly smooth earth surface with large caverns
filled with water under the surface (the Bible said there were streams
of water all over the land), the water canopy could have been only a few
inchs thick. Remember, stars were still visible through the canopy. A
geothermic event could have released a large amount of water vapor into
the air at one time. When this happened, it would have disrupted the
canopy, causing it to fall as rain. The geothermic events would
continue and increase due to the added weight of the water from the
canopy. More undergound pools of water would colapse under the added
weight and/or geothermic activity. This set into motion the rapid
subduction that caused the continental shift. The shift was incredibly
fast (taking only a about 30 days), but it powered the rains that fell
for 40 days, because huge areas of the seabed were molten rock. All
through it all, the worlds species were safe in the Ark with a buffer of
water between them and the shifting lands below. Do I have proof? No,
I have faith.

I will tell you one thing. Something happened a few thousand years ago,
that set in motion the end of the world. Our magnetic field has weaked
by 10% since the 1850's. We have recently seen that the weakening of
our magnetic field is causing solar winds to blow away parts of our
atmosphere. Read more about it here:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast08dec98_1.htm

Mars was once a wet planet, it isn't now, what happened was that Mars's
magnetic field weakened to the point that solar winds blew it's
atmosphere away. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast31jan_1.htm

You will see older articles that claim that the Magnetic field has
nothing to do with the atmosphere, don't waste your time linking them.
I have seen them, but they are old science that has been invalidated by
recent scientific discoveries.

Spidey,

You wrote that I was "adding to the scripture", I summarized Genesis
Chapter 1, thats true. But, I accurately summarized it as "God made
men/women [1:26]" in the plural. Genesis 2 speaks of Adam/Eve only. Cain
and God discuss his punishment, speak of multitudes of OTHER ppl
existing.

Jesus spoke of Adam, in the context as the first Man to know of God. I
dont dispute that.

No Mike, they discussed that Cain could be killed in retribution for his
sins. Not all of Adam and Eves children's lives are described. Was
Abel married? If so, wouldn't his wife want revenge for what Cain had
done? Abel could have had kids who might want revenge. Cain and Abel
could have had brothers and sisters who also had children, who aren't
mentioned in the Bible. Any of Cain's brothers, sisters, neices or
nephews might have wanted revenge. Why would a stranger who had nothing
to do wtih Adam and Eve want revenge on Cain for killing Able?

Spider>

The earth is 75% water at the surface. I don't buy your hypothise.

Water at such concentrations as that would reflect the earths natural
radiation to the point that the tempeture at the surface would have been
to high to support life.

Also in order for no rainbows to have been ever seen before there would
have to have been no atmospheric phenomana. (i.e weather). Without
weather the earth would not have had life. Weather drives the closed
system that is our atmosphere. Weather includes things like clouds. If
there were many rivers then there would have been waterfalls.
Waterfalls make rainbows. If as you have claimed there were no
mounntains then how the heck could the flood have covered 'even the tops
of the mountains'.

Mars does not have a suficient gravity to sustain an oxygen/nitrogen
atmosphere for long solar wind or not.

The earths magnetic field is not weakening it is changing. It also,
like the earth, goes through a cycle where it changes polarity. (he he
he I can read also). There is only an appearent weakning of the field
in LOCAL measurements. The general (overall) field remains as it has
been for since they started recording it. There are also places in the
south pacific that have allready started shifting north for south.
(makes it hard to navigate by compass alone). There is geological
evidence of a magnetic field shift at several times in the past.
Google it or whatever search engine you use. You may be suprised.

AdventureBegins,

If you won't quote anything, I am not going to discuss anything with
you. I worked a 13 hour day today and I took the time to give links.
You make assertions of scientific fact without any evidence. Links or
the conversations over, I'm not trying to be rude, but I think it's rude
for you to expect that I will research every claim you make.

AdventureBegins,

Also, you didn't read my post very well. I specifically said that the
vapor canopy could have been very thin. At any depth, it wouldn't have
kept in all of the heat.

1. Read my posts and address the arguments I make, not the ones you
assume I am making.
2. Post links for any scientific assertions that you make. When you
say "There is only an appearent weakning of the field
in LOCAL measurements", why don't you link an article that says that?

Here are some that say that the magnetic field is weakening.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0909_040909_earthmagfield.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/about.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3693932/

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,837058,00.html

Google: "earth's magnetic field weakening" - 691 hits
Google: "earth's magnetic field not weakening" - 0 hits