Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?

Just because things aren't perfect on Earth, doesn't mean God doesn't exist. It doesn't mean He doesn't love us, and it doesn't mean He isn't watching out for us.

Introduction

Tuesday, I was all in my feelings about the mistrial in the Michael Slager case. I tried to make myself remember that only one of the twelve jurors seemed to think it was OK to shoot a fleeing man in the back, not once, but multiple times (side note: in my opinion, the black police officer who saw that the taser was nowhere near Walter Scott's body should be on trial as an accomplice). Of course, that doesn't ease the hurt of knowing that one person can halt the delivery of justice when a black man has been shot by a police officer. Meanwhile, 2 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump,^[1] but the man who ran a campaign that incited racial violence is our president-elect. Seems like in both cases the system is working against black people. That's why it didn't surprise me when I saw so many comments and responses to the mistrial on Facebook when I logged on.

One of my friends posted the beautiful response of Walter Scott's mother, a proclamation of her faith in God and her strength to continue on. The comments on the video reflected a sentiment I've heard all too much it my life. They all boiled down to rage against God for letting bad things happen. So many people lose faith, or never gain faith, because they don't believe a good God would let these things happen. In the "woke" black community I see an even stronger aversion to God, with people blaming God for the enslavement of our ancestors. Reading those comments, I was moved to speak on the issue.

The issue is basically a cake made up of three layers: false doctrine, confusion of good and evil, and a sense of entitlement. Now bear with me, because we all fall into these traps—this isn't an indictment on people, but an attempt to show how what we are taught and how we feel create this disbelief, and an answer to some of the question broached.
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False Doctrine

People seem to think God is a fairy godmother waiting for us to wish on a star so He can grant our wishes. People quote "ask and ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22) or "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13) so much, that our image of God is that He just wants us to have what we want. When someone dies, we are quick say God has failed us, because we asked for them to live and for Christ to help them survive. We totally neglect John 11:25: "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die." It's just another instance of picking and choosing what verses we want to believe and how we interpret them. If you believe the whole of the Bible, death isn't the end. Further, unless we live to see Jesus come back, we're all going to die some point; that's the price of sin.

We also tend to link sin with "bad people." If I say someone has sinned or is in sin, people assume I'm calling them a bad person. When a person like me says we're all going to die a first death because of sin, people are quick to talk about how good of a person the deceased is, but I'm not suggesting otherwise. We all sin. Abraham sinned, Moses sinned. David. Peter. Everyone in the Bible sinned (except Jesus). It doesn't mean we're "bad" people. The notion that because we haven't committed what we consider "major" sins, such as murder, give us a false sense that we aren't sinners so we should live long, healthy lives and reap the benefits of our "goodness."

Lots of preachers today are known as what has been dubbed "prosperity" preachers. They talk about all the great things that will happen if you follow Christ and stay true to God. According to them, life is a cake walk if you trust God: your bills will get paid, you'll find the spouse of your dreams, you'll be successful at whatever you do, and everyone around you will build you up...

Is that what happened in the Bible? Does the Bible not say that in the last days God's faithful won't be able to buy or sell (Revelation 13:17)—if you can't buy or sell, how do you pay bills (that's buying a service), how do you get paid (that's selling a service)? Was Jesus married? Paul? I'm not saying you won't find a spouse, but if the Bible were a Disney movie Christ would be the prince and the Church would be the princess, any other romance would be considered a subplot and likely not get a lot of air time.

Speaking of Disney movies, our society has us believing the good guy always wins in a triumphant victory, and then rides off into the sunset with his girl. We forget that Christ is the victor, not us. Most of the disciples ended up in jail or crucified. They weren't "successful" by the world's standard and they certainly weren't accepted by the world. So, why are people convinced that because Mr. Scott's mother (or anyone else) has strong faith, God will stop every bad thing from happening in their life? 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God won't let us be tempted by more than we can handle; notice that He doesn't say He won't tempt us at all...

Job is my go to guy, for almost every thing in life, and is a perfect parallel for this situation. Job was a righteous man. God loved Job, and Job loved God, but the devil thought Job only loved God back because God gave him favor. As much as I hate to play devil's advocate, the devil's point of view makes sense. I'm sure if I'd lived during Job's era, I would have thought something like "yeah, sure, it's easy to be all righteous when you're being fed with a silver spoon."

Think about it: we are the bride of Christ, so you should always think about faith as a relationship between you and God. Love comes easy when the other person gives you everything you want and need. However, we know that men can get irritated with their wives because they talk through the football game and women can get irritated with their husbands because they don't want to spend 4 hours in the mall picking out the perfect towels. I know both of these are overly stereotypical; I'm exaggerating to making a point. The truth is, you're never going to be 100% satisfied with your spouse; they're going to do something you don't like at some point. That's the price of having free will and independent thought. What keeps people together is the fact that you're choosing to love the person (this applies to any relationship really). God doesn't want us to be gold diggers, claiming to love Him simply because He gives us everything we ask for. He wants us to choose Him. That's the whole point of Him letting Satan screw up Job's life; He proved that Job would trust and choose Him despite his pain and misfortune.

God knew that Job had done nothing to deserve the misfortune that befell him. God knew that Job loved Him, but He wanted to prove to the world what that love meant—that's why we know the story today. In the end, Job ended up with more blessings than he'd had before his trial, but people often forget that he still had to live through the trial. Do you think that just because God gave Job more children he forgot all about the children that died? Satan thinks that by wreaking havoc in lives of God's children, we will leave God, that's why he wanted to torture Job. Satan's goal is to steal as many from God as he can—even if you aren't joining a Satanic temple to worship the devil, the simple fact that you turn away from God is a victory in Satan's eyes. The easiest way to do this is to get you to question God's love.
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Confusion of Good and Evil

Let me ask you, how do you define a good person versus a bad person, and how do you assess a good action from a bad action? Right or wrong, some people in the country believe Micahel Slager was the good person, and Walter Scott was the bad person. Clearly, one the jurors believed killing Walter Scott was OK. We don't all have the same definition for these things, so who is right? Will we ever agree?

An Evil Guy

Most of us will agree that Hitler was a bad person; bad is an understatement. We feel this way because of what we know he did. Would we have felt this way in say, 1930? Would it have been a good action for someone to have killed him before he rose to power? Perhaps instead of outright murder, an illness claimed his life, would that have been better? If Hitler had died before he became the infamous murdering maniac he was, it would have been considered a tragedy and there would be absolutely nothing to make us say "he deserved to die." His mother would have felt the same pain that Mr. Scott's mother is feeling now.

I'm not suggesting Mr. Scott could have turned into a murdering machine later in life. I gave this example to remind you that how we view an action is completely relative to what we know. As humans, we have limited information. No matter how many different news sources we keep up with or how close to the victim/murderer we may be, our opinion of good and bad is based on biased information. God on the other hand knows all the information, that's why He's the only one able to judge good and evil in the end. The jury may acquit a murderer, but God will handle the final judgment. For all we know, God has an even worse fate lined up for Mr. Slager.

With the knowledge we have, it's easy to say what we think would have been a better outcome. Yet, we don't actually know how changing an event alters our current realty. Remember, if an event never happens, we loose every thing we learned from it. Now think, what did we learn from Hitler and World War 2?

Hitler didn't invent anti-semitism. He didn't even invent the idea of eugenics (the process of weeding out undesired genes to create a "superior" races of people). Had Hitler not shown the world the damage these ideas could cause, would California still be a hotbed for researching eugenics?^[2][3][4] Would someone else have picked up that torch? If the US hadn't bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no one would know the harm radiation from nuclear bombs does after the initial explosion. We may have seen nukes fly back and forth across countries, resulting in even more people dead, before anyone realized the danger if the weapons had been delayed for the next war.

I'm not saying these things are good—they're horrific moments in humanity that should bring shame and saddness—but everything happens for a reason. We can't see what would happen if different events had played out over history. We don't know if it would have been better or worse. God does. I choose to trust He took us down the best path, despite our subconscious determination to do as much harm to one another and the Earth as we possibly can. Outrage over the death of our black men is going to serve a higher purpose, you can believe that.

An Evil Time

Since the issue and the comments were more specific to black people, I want to address the issues brought up about God and slavery while I'm talking about the ambiguity of how life works. One of the commenters said slavery (assumably the enslavement of Africans in the Americas) was proof that God didn't exist. Really? Were the Israelites His chosen people? Were they not enslaved for 400 years? Interestingly, we too were enslaved for around 360 years (roughly 1503 to 1865^[5][6])—history has a way of repeating itself... Of course the same logic goes for slavery that goes for what I said about WWII... What would the world look like today if slavery had never occurred?

Well, for one, I doubt the United States of America would have ever existed. Part of what made America financially stable was the fact that it had a free source of labor. The ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of religion (albeit, only for white men at the time) would have never gained popularity, because America wouldn't have existed. The Catholic Church would probably still be torturing people who dared to disagree with them. Would Europe have relinquished the colonies in Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Americas? Would they have ever been inspired to lead a revolt, or would Europe still be greedily consuming these countries resources while decimating their people? If the US never grew in to a super power, what would have happened when the world went to war?

Another obvious consequence would be the erasure of most of our own existences. Let's face it, as black as we claim we are, African-Americans are, on average, about 20% white.^[7] Chances are, most of us wouldn't exist because ol' massa wouldn't have been able to rape our great-great-great-great-grandmother. Sure, she might have still had a child, but it would not have been the same the child. Furthermore, all of the inventions by slaves would probably not have been invented; why invent stuff you don't need?

We're so content to focus on one detail, we forget there's a bigger picture. Regardless of whether you look at our lives from a religious point of view or from an atheistic point of view, we are but a speck in the grand scheme of things.
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Entitlement

I know, I know, you still want to know why so much bad stuff happens on Earth. It isn't satisfactory to simply say God is providing us with a choice or that these things happen for a reason. It doesn't really make us feel better that the Bible clearly shows bad things happening to good people, either, does it? Why can't we just be happy?

³But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Well, have you ever stopped to think about who's running the show here on Earth, and why?

We've been taught to think in terms of black and white, not just racially, but for good and evil too. Good always wins, and evil always loses. Yes. In the end. But it isn't the end yet, is it? We're in the middle of the story! Right now Satan is the ruler of this world; that's why bad things happen. The world rejected God when they crucified His Son on the cross; the message was "we want to do it our way."

We want to tell God what we will and won't do, but expect Him to swoop in and save us every time the world plunges into chaos. We don't want prayer in schools. We don't want "In God We Trust" on our money. We don't want "under God" in our pledge. We don't want to take the whole Sabbath for rest and worship. We don't want to give up the things God has said were bad for us. Yet, suddenly, when tragedy strikes, we feel like God has wronged us because He didn't intervene. That's entitlement...

Like I said earlier, we all sin. I may not be a cold-blooded killer (or even a warm-blooded killer—does that exist?), or an adulterer, or a thief, but I'm not perfect. Therefore, I do not deserve a perfect life. Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit. Now, we're all born with the knowledge of good and evil and the freedom to choose. If I choose wrong, my actions don't just affect me, they affect everyone around me. Eve's choice affected Adam. Together, their choices affected Cain and Abel. Cain's choice to be jealous killed Abel. Could God have put a bubble around Abel to protect him? Sure. Could God have struck Cain dead the moment the idea crossed his mind? Sure. Of course, then we wouldn't have free will. If we had no choice in the matter, that would make Him an evil dictator. If you could make your spouse stay with you forever and only do what you wanted, but on the inside, they though to do differently, and you exercised your power over them, would you be a good person? Conversely, if you gave your spouse the freedom they deserve and they chose to betray you, are they entitled to your forgiveness? Do you owe them anything?
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The Battle Isn't Over

Just because things aren't perfect on Earth, doesn't mean God doesn't exist. It doesn't mean He doesn't love us, and it doesn't mean He isn't watching out for us.
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References

1. Wolf, Richard. "Clinton's popular vote lead surpasses 2 million". USA Today. November 21, 2016
2. Black, Edwin. "The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics". History News Network. September 2003
3. "Introduction to Eugenics". Genetics Generation. 2015
4. Cherney, Isabelle. "The History of Eugenics in the United States". Crieghton University. 2016
5. Adi, Hakim. "Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade". BBC. October 5, 2012
6. Wickham, DeWayne. "Wickham: Do you know when slavery began and ended?". USA Today. February 10, 2014
7. Gates, Henry Louis. "Exactly How ‘Black’ Is Black America?". The Root. February 2013

Abel

Abel was the first victim of murder and the second son of Adam of Eve. We don't know much about him, but we know he gave his best to God. If that's all anyone can say about me when I'm gone, I would think it's perfect. Abel was the first martyr.

Introduction

Disclaimer: Liberty taken with the depiction of Abel.
Please remember the Bible does not
specify a description for most individuals.

Abel was the younger brother of Cain and Adam and Eve's youngest son when he died. Abel was herdsman who tended flocks of sheep. He gives the better offerring to God, for which his brother Cain becomes jealous. In his jealous, Cain kills Abel, cutting his life short. Since it is not mentioned that he had a wife chances are high that he never married, however if is possible that he married but hadn't had children yet making it pointless to mention. We do know that he did not have children and thus his lineage died with him. The name Abel is from the Hebrew word Hevel or Havel, which means breath^[1].
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Character

Abel is portrayed as a man of faith in New Testament references, though we do not glean much about him in Genesis. Verses in the New Testament confirm that God preferred Abel's sacrifice to Cain's because of Abel's faith.
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Bible Verses

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.Genesis 4:2 KJV

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.Hebrews 11:4

Other Verses on Abel

• Genesis 4:4,8-10, 25
• Matthew 23:35
• Luke 11:51
• Hebrews 12:24

Other Posts About Abel

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References

1. Campbell, Mike. "Abel". Behind the Name. 2015

Genesis 4 & 5: The Progeny of Adam

A review of the descendants of Adam leading to Noah, as well as the story of the first murder.

Introduction

Genesis 4 and 5 trace the lineage of Adam and Eve to Noah. One of the major concerns in the Old Testament is tracing the lineage of God's people. Whether it's to establish that all people come from Adam and Eve, the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, to the lineage of Christ, the Old Testament details the lineage of every major person in Biblical history. This trend begins in Genesis 4 and 5.
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Cain & Abel

Some time after Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, they give birth to Cain and Abel. We are told that Cain becomes a tiller of the ground (or a farmer) and Abel a keeper of the flock (or a shepherd). Much of Genesis 4 centers on these two brothers.

¹And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. ²And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.Genesis 4:1-2 KJV

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Twins?

Some scholars believe Cain and Abel were twins. This assumption is usually rooted in either an assumption made from the rapid pace of the of the text, which does not mention any time between Cain's birth and Abel's birth, or the original root of the word again, which is yacaph in Hebrew^[4]. Yacaph means to add to or to continue to do something^[2]. There is nothing that particularly supports this idea, nor is there anything that conclusively tells us they were not twins. From the information given, the only conclusion we can make is that Cain was born first.

An even wilder attachment to the idea of Cain and Abel being twins, is that they are fraternal twins with different fathers^[11]! Some believe that the sin of eating from the tree is symbolic of lust (and adultery) and that Eve's true sin was sleeping with the devil—how do people come up with this stuff? One contradiction with theory off the bat is that God tells the serpent that his seed and Eve's seed will be at odds with each other. While Cain clearly had a problem with Abel, we see no evidence of Abel having a problem with Cain. On top of that, if one son were actually fathered by the serpent (or the devil), the seed would be both Eve's and the serpent's... That doesn't make any sense at all. Another piece of conclusive evidence that this is not what happened is that Adam also eats the fruit and is also punished by God; in Romans 5:12-14 the blame is placed solely upon Adam for the fall of man. If Eve committed adultery with the devil, why would anyone blame Adam? Furthermore, elsewhere in the Bible, when a man committed adultery and bore a child, we are still told of this. Why would God hide it in Genesis 3?

¹²Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.Romans 5:12-14 KJV

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What was the Difference Between the Offerings?

A better, and more relevant, question from the narrative of Cain and Abel is what made God accept Abel's offering but reject Cain's? We are told that Abel offers God the firstlings (or firstborn) of his flock plus the fat of said animals, while Cain offered fruit from the ground.

³And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. ⁴And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ⁵But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.Genesis 4:3-5 KJV

When God rejects Cain's offering, Cain gets angry (wroth^[1]) and God tell him that if he does well he will be accepted—implying that Cain has not done well so far. God takes this opportunity to remind Cain that if he doesn't do well sin will rule over him. God tells Cain that "sin lieth at the door" and "shalt rule over him" if he doesn't do well. We know that sin attacks those who turn away from God, it overwhelms them because they don't have the power of God to over come it. So in this passage, God is essentially telling Cain that if he turns away from God he will be drawn to sin.

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.Genesis 4:7 KJV

Some may assert that God preferred the blood offering provided by Abel, citing Jesus' blood as the ultimate offering/payment to God, however there is a lot more that can be seen in this passage. The first thing to be noted is that we are told that Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat. From this we know that Abel brought his best, and possibly most prized, to offer God. We are not told anything of Cain's offering. Did Cain offer him rotten over ripe fruit, or fresh fruit? Did he offer the juiciest, plumpest fruit he could find or small, disfigured, and blemished fruit. In other words, what was the quality of his offering? Another question to be asked is where was his heart? Was he happy and excited to give this offering to God or was he already a little irate at having to give some of his crop away?
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Murder and Punishment

As God warned Cain, sin did rule over him, and Cain killed his brother out of jealousy. Just as Adam and Eve were unable to admit their sin to God, Cain refuses to admit to killing his brother when God asks where Abel is (just Adam and Eve did not confess their own sin). God gives Cain a chance to confess, just as we are given a chance to confess, however when Cain refuses to admit guilt and repent, God punishes him. Cain's punishment was to be a vagabond and to lose his ability to harvest crops from the Earth.

¹¹And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; ¹²When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.Genesis 5:11-12 KJV

The Mark of Cain

People use to believe the mark (or curse) of Cain was dark skin—it was used to dehumanize Africans and justify slavery during the colonial era. No one knows exactly what the mark looked like, however the mark itself was not the curse but rather a mark of protection ensuring that no one would avenge Abel by killing Cain.^[5]

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The Second Sin

One question the come up amongst theologians is who the law applies to. Some assert that the law was written for the Jews and that they were the only ones bound to keep the law. As we continue to dive into the Bible, there will be many occasions when we see explicit instructions about the law but there is much to be pointed out even in Genesis 4. It is confirmed in Romans 5:12-14 that the disobedience of Adam and Eve allowed sin to enter the world and that it was a sin. These verses also define sin as disobedience of God's law/command. Even though we have not gotten to the 10 commandments or the laws of Leviticus, Cain and Abel are already presenting offerings to God and Cain is punished for killing Abel. The fact that Cain is punished and God refers to Cain's jealousy (coveting) as sin tells us that Cain had been command not to do either of those prior to that point in the story. It also means that the law of God also predates the Jews.

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Questions From God

In my History of the Old Testament class, the professor questioned God's omnipotence citing the fact that here in Genesis 4, God asks where Cain is and in Genesis 3, He asks where Adam and Eve are. The professor suggested that if God knew, He wouldn't have asked. However, in many cases, we give people a chance to fess up to their wrong doings—even in today's society the punishment is often less severe when we you confess what you have done (particularly if you admit remorse). God knew that Adam and Eve were hiding, by asking where they were He was giving them a chance to show themselves and accept their punishment. Similarly God knew that Cain had killed Abel, He says, just after Cain responds, that Abel's soul cries out to Him from the ground. God either wanted to see if Cain would admit to murdering His brother, or was simply beginning the conversation in a non-accusatory tone. If God didn't know where Abel was, why didn't He ask Adam, or Eve? He asked Cain because He knew Cain had killed Abel.
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Descendants of Adam and Eve

The Mysterious Wives of Cain and Seth

A question many ask is if Adam and Eve had Cain, Abel (who died), and Seth. Neither are given by name, but we are told that they married and had children. So, who are these mysterious women? First let's revisit the statement that Adam and Eve had Cain, Abel, and Seth. Genesis 5:4 marks the possibility that Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters other than Cain, Abel, and Seth. If you follow the passage into verses 5 and 6, along with examining the sentence structure it becomes obvious that Moses does not start talking about Seth's descendants until verse 6, thus the "he" in Genesis 5:4 must be referring to Adam, not Seth. This verse is telling us that Adam and Eve had more children, both sons and daughters.The pattern we see in the listing of lineage is that the first son is the only son mentioned, with notable exceptions (Abel, his brother Seth, the son's of Cain's descendant Lamech). Each of the sons mentioned outside of the normal pattern play an important role in the story (Abel is the first murder victim, Seth is the one to carry Adam and Eve's lineage, Lamech's sons are progenitors of particular crafts). Therefore it is possible that Adam and Eve had a daughter—possibly multiple daughters—between the birth of Abel and birth of Seth, and definite that they had daughters at some point. According to an endnote in The Works of Flavius Jospehus, Adam and Eve had 33 sons and 23 daughters^[9]

⁴And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: ⁵And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.Genesis 5:4-5 KJV

The answer to the question has two possible answers; each answer is contested by those who agree with the other, but each have plausibility.

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Cain & Seth Married Their Sisters?

Many who study God's Word will tell you that it is from the daughters of Adam and Eve that Cain and Seth probably chose a wife. Dissenters of this idea argue the problem of incest. In Leviticus 18, God commands that it is not right to have sex with close relatives (thus it is not right to wed close relatives either). The question then is was this law in effect at the time of Cain and Seth? There is much to be considered. The fact that Cain was punished for murder implies that some law was in existence at the time, but we are not told exactly what it is. Further in Genesis, we will learn the Abraham married his sister^[3].

An argument for Cain and Seth being permitted to marry their sister, while later generations were not, stems from the concept of sin causing death. In the beginning, man and woman were created with the potential to live forever (even today our brains are said to hold enough memory to store 300 years worth of footage!^[10]), however upon sinning, they were condemned to die, and we inherited this curse. The Earth also inherited the curse. Theories such as gene decay stem from the idea that with each generation the human genome is decaying, which would also explain why we have much shorter lifespans that those that lived before the flood. Evidence for this theory is being researched by some Creationists^[12]. With perfect DNA, there would be no concerns over intermarrying as there would be no mutations or defects to be passed on to the child. It is only imperfect DNA that creates a problem. Therefore it is plausible that God allowed intermarrying between siblings until human DNA was no longer tolerant of such standards. Remember Romans 5:13 tells us that we cannot commit a sin if there is no law, thus in the cases where we are told incest occurred before a record of God commanding them not to commit incest, the fact that there are no reprimands from God for these acts suggests that God did not consider it a sin^[8].

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God Created Other People?

The second idea is that God created people other than Adam and Eve as well. It is obvious that the Old Testament is telling us the origin story of all mankind and the tribes of Israel, and connecting the dots that we are all descendants of the first family. If God created another couple or even several other couples after Adam and Eve there would be no reason to mention them as they were not the first family. If God created other couples, their children would have been among the candidates for wife for Cain and Seth. Those who are against this idea cite that it is through Adam that sin entered the world and propagated into mankind and that only a descendant of Adam can be saved^{[6], [7]}.

Adam was not only the first man created, but also the first person created. That would have made him the oldest, and the de facto leader if there were a band of people. He would have known God the longest and may have even been a "sheriff" type in terms of upholding the command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. If he agreed to eat the fruit himself, he would also have given permission to the others (if only implicitly) to partake of the tree as well. This would still make him the one to usher sin into the world. When speaking of descendants, adding other people to the mix does change the likelihood of someone being a descendant of Adam and Eve, however this is only true if multiple couples were created and still becomes void after the flood. As you will see in the discussion on Seth's line, Noah is a direct descendant of Seth, who is the son of Adam and Eve. This means all of Noah's descendants are descendants of Adam and Eve as well. Since only Noah and his descendants survived the flood, everyone who is alive today is a descendant of Noah and thus a descendant of Adam and Eve. Arguments that there couldn't have been other couples generally cite Eve being the mother of all (yet, she is not the mother of Adam) and the need for all men & women to be descendant of Adam and Eve to be saved. The biblical passage closest to contradicting this idea is in Acts, in which Paul tells us that of one blood God made all the nations—implying everyone all came from one bloodline.

²⁴God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; ²⁵Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; ²⁶And 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;Acts 17:24-26 KJV

Deciding Between the Two

Overall, I find the idea that Cain and Seth married their sisters to have less holes and less need for assumption (which is a dangerous act in both Biblical interpretation as well as daily life). The fact that there are two possible answers negates any arguments based on who Seth and Cain married to deny the plausibility of Genesis' creation account.
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Seth's Line

Genesis 5 gives us the progeny of Seth; his descendants are the only descendants we are also given ages for since it is through his descendants that we are all descended. Seth lives to be 912, and his line continues through Enos. Enos has Cainan and lives to be 905. Cainan had Mahalaleel and lives to be 910. Mahalaleel has Jared and lives to be 895. Jared has Enoch and lives to be 962. Enoch has Methuselah. He was such a righteous man that God took him to heaven and he did not experience death. Methuselah has Lamech and lives the longest out of all the people we are given ages for in the Bible—969. Lamech has Noah and lives 777 years (he may be the youngest to die, that we are told). It is Noah's son Shem, Ham, and Japheth re-populate the earth after the flood.
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Cain's Line

Cain gets married and has a son named Enoch, for which he names a city after. Enoch has Irad, and Irad has Mehujael. Mehujael has Methusael, and Methusael has Lamech. Lamech has three sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubalcain, and a daughter, Naamah. We are told several things about Cain's line; Lamech takes two wives, Jabal is the father of "tent dwellers" and cattle keepers, Jubal is the father of harpists and organists (possibly referring to musicians in general), and Tubalcain is an instructor of blacksmiths. It is also important to note that Lamech's wives, Adah and Zillah, as well as his daughter Naamah are the first women other than Eve to be named. It is a break from the typically patriarchal lineage we are given throughout the Bible, but why? The marriage of Lamech to both Adah and Zillah is the first record of a man having more than one wife in the Bible. Why is Naamah important? Is she mentioned again?

Shortly after introducing Cain's descendants we also learn that Lamech has murdered someone (just like Cain). Lamech kills not just one man, but two men and Lamech suggests that he should be protected from vengeance even more so than Cain was! As a polygamist, Lamech also violates God's law for monogamous marriage (see the description of marriage by God in Genesis 2:24 KJV and Mark 10:6-8 KJV).

If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.Genesis 4:24 KJV

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References

1. Church of the Great God. "Strongs #7107: qatsaph". BibleTools.org. 2015
2. Church of the Great God. "Strong's #3254: Yacaph". BibleTools.org. 2015
3. Genesis 20
4. Gilkerson, Luke. "All the Twins in the Bible". Intoxicated On Life. October 15, 2012
5. "What was the mark God put on Cain?". GotQuestions.org. 2015
6. Ham, Ken, Sarfati, Jonathan, Wieland, Carl. "Where Did Cain Get His Wife?". Edited by Don Batten. Creation Ministries International. 2000
7. Ham, Kenneth. Cain's Wife: It Really Does Matter. Acts & Facts. 1993
8. Jackson, Wayne. "Does the Bible Conflict with Itself in the Matter of Incest?". Christian Courier Publications. 2015
9. Josephus, Flavius. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston. pg 361. 1737
10. Reber, Paul. "What is the Memory Capacity of the Human Brain?". Scientific American. April 1, 2010
11. "Who was the Father of Cain, Adam or Another Source?". Let Us Reason Ministries. 2010
12. Wood, Todd Charles. "Genome Decay in the Mycoplasmas". Acts & Facts. 2001

Adam

Adam is both the first human and the first man to walk on Earth. God's creation of him is revealed in Genesis 1 and 2. The story of his life spans from the beginning of Genesis through Genesis 5. Adam marries Eve, and fathers at least three sons: Cain, Abel, and Seth. We all descend from him.

Introduction

Adam is both the first human and the first man to be created by God. His creation is told in Genesis 1 and 2 and the story of his life spans to Genesis 5. Adam marries Eve, and fathers three sons: Cain, Abel, and Seth. Adam lived to be 930 years old^[2]. The name Adam is also the Hebrew word for man. It is thought that name could be derived from a Hebrew word meaning "to be red" or the Akkadian adamu which means "to make."^[1]

Disclaimer: Liberty taken with the depiction of Adam.
Please remember the Bible does not specify a description for most individuals.

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Character

We are given much less information about Adam than Eve. We know that he named the animals, that he was lonely (hence God creating Eve), and we know he went along with Eve's plan to eat the forbidden fruit. However, we are not told anything distinguishing his character. We are told of Adam's initial disobedience to God, because that is necessary part of the narrative, but we aren't told much about his reaction after the fact. Does he ever sin again? Does he blame himself or does he continue to blame Eve?
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Progeny

Adam has many sons and daughters, according to Genesis 5:4, but his named (or important) descendants are Cain, Abel, and Seth. We know that Cain kills Abel, so Abel does not produce a line. Cain's line goes on to advance worldly knowledge, culminating in another murderer. Seth's line traces down to Noah, producing the only survivors of the flood, as well as, Enoch, one of the few men to never die. It is interesting that the offspring of the couple are often referred to as the seed of Eve (Genesis 3:15, Genesis 4:25), but never directly as the seed of Adam.
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Discussion

While there are lengthy passages dissecting the importance of Adam, it seems that most people spend a most of their energy discussing Eve and the ramifications of Eve's actions than Adam.

Adam as a Type

Paul said the following about Adam:

⁴⁵And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. ⁴⁶Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. ⁴⁹And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.1 Corinthians 15:49 KJV

It is obvious that this passage has more to do with Jesus than it does with Adam, but the contrast and similarities are very interesting. Paul defines Adam as a type, with Jesus being the last of his type. Russell Grigg from Creation Ministries has an entire article dedicated to the parallels between Adam and Jesus. One of the most interesting comparisons he makes is that Adam brought sin in the world, he brought the curse of death upon the Earth while Jesus conquered sin and through Him, the curse is lifted.^[4] The parallels are poetic in a way that only God can manifest; we see that we inherit our sinful nature from Adam's failure but we inherit redemption and grace through Jesus' triumph. Both are condemned to death, but it is Adam who lives a full and "happy" Earth life the way society imagines. It is Adam who marries, has children, and ages to see his grandchildren (probably great-great-great grandchildren too at 930!). In doing the right thing, Jesus is the one who is persecuted, ridiculed, and eventually murdered for His obedience to God. Yet, it is Jesus who will rule God's Kingdom after judgement day.
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Race

One thing I find interesting is that despite the meaning of his name, people still depict him as white. This is one of the major criticisms of Christianity. Many African-American's are turned off from "the white man's religion," citing it as the source of oppression and white supremacy. In this, the discussion of white Adam and white Jesus often come into play. Like many things in Christianity, tradition is seen as "fact" turning people away from truth. While Europeans of the renaissance era may have depicted Biblical people as white, whether to promote white supremacy ideas/concepts or simply to make the faces more familiar, the Bible does not talk about race at all. The closest descriptions we are given about race are nationalities (e.g. Moses wife is Ethiopian and thus she is likely black) or distinguishing characteristics (e.g. Esau is described as red).

It seems odd that a word meaning "red" would be ascribed to the first man if he were not "red" in complexion. An alternate meaning for the word "adam" has been shown to mean Earth, suggesting a connection to Adam's formation from the dust of the Earth. However, in a fertile climate, such as the land where the Garden of Eden was placed, the dirt would be dark in color. The closest thing to "white" dirt that I've seen is the sand found at the beach. Likely the soil was a reddish brown, which is probably why the word was also associated with the color red. This lends to the idea that Adam would have been reddish in skin color.

Was Adam Black?

Although I have depicted Adam as a black man in cartoon above, this still does not mean Adam was in fact "black." The interpretation that Adam had reddish skin could place him into a myriad of races or ethnicities that we recognized today. When Europeans first came to America, they described the Native Americans as red (evidence for this can be seen in the racial slur still being used for an NFL football team). In black culture red or "redbone" is a black person who has red under tones in their skin, usually this person is also lighter-skinned. Likely, this terminology stems from the same origin as the terminology for the Native Americans, and perhaps these blacks are the ones who also have significant Native American ancestry. Yet, this skin color can also be found in Arabs, people of South East Asia, people from India, and even in parts of Africa. Thus, even if we could conclusively determine that Adam was red, as his name suggests, we can't pinpoint a "race" without further information. The reason I depicted Adam as a black man is because of the diversity in African genes; it stands to reason that the first man must have contained genes that would give rise to those we see today which makes it unlikely that he would have been white with blonde hair or blue eyes. Since the Africans are the most genetically diverse group of people today,^[3] I chose to depict Adam with African features; however, as I said, this is no more "correct" than the depictions of him as a white man, because at the end of the day, we will never know what Adam actually looked like.

God's View of Race

God created all races and no where in the Bible does it say one race is better than the others. The fact that people try to cite the Bible to promote racial supremacy or hatred is deplorable. While it may seem that proving Adam and/or Eve (I say or because it's possible that Adam and Eve were not the same "race") belongs to a particular race proves that race "special," this is wishful thinking. When God said He created male and female in His image, He meant humanity in general. God didn't specify physical attributes, likely because He knew racism would be a problem, but also because that wasn't His point of reference. Think about this: Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, their children were made in the image of Adam and Eve, and their grandchildren in the image of Adam and Eve's children, etc. Thus all of humanity, regardless of "race" are made in the image of God.

When God talks about people, it is based on nationality, and He speaks of each nation based on their righteousness. In every case, when God finds someone righteous in an unrighteous nation, that person is spared (e.g. Rahab and Lot). Skin color is mentioned only in terms of leprosy (turning white) and Edom being red in color. This makes it obvious that God didn't care about color, so why should we?
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Bible Verses

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.Genesis 1:27 KJV

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 2:7 KJV

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.Genesis 2:19 KJV

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.Genesis 2:23 KJV

¹⁷And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ¹⁸Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. ²⁰And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.Genesis 3:17-20 KJV

³And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: ⁴And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: ⁵And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.Genesis 5:3-5 KJV

Other Bible Verses on Adam

• Genesis 4:1-2
• 1 Chronicles 1:1
• Job 31:33
• Luke 3:28
• Romans 5:14
• 1 Corinthians 15:22
• 1 Corinthians 15:45
• 1 Timothy 2:13-14

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Other Posts About Adam

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References

1. BehindTheName.com: Adam
2. Genesis 5:5
3. Highfield, Roger. "African DNA Has More Genetic Diversity". Telegraph. February 2008
4. Grigg, Russell. "First Adam—Last Adam". Creation Ministries. 2011