A question of Adam and Eve

I think I just explained it but I guess I'll try again. Unless you can tell me that the first group of animals that evolved into humans were already many, and genetically diverse, then they had to inbreed. To say that the first group of humans were already many and genetically diverse would be making an assumption not backed up by scientific fact, just like the garden of eden "myth."
 
Why wouldn't they be? If they were able to breed for millions of years, biology would say that they had a stable and sufficiently diverse gene pool.
 
What on earth gives you that idea?

Even evolutionist believe that there is mitochondrial Eve, so that mean we had a start with just two parents somewhere in our past.
 
Even evolutionist believe that there is mitochondrial Eve, so that mean we had a start with just two parents somewhere in our past.

Exactly. What about before the millions of years of breeding. I don't understand how sexual reproduction would of evolved anyway since its so inefficient, but some species had to be the first to sexually reproduce and their children must've bred with eachother.
 
That's not what Mitochondrial Eve indicates at all. I know it's hard rationalising mythology with what modern science apparently teaches us, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't blatantly ignore what has been indicated.

 
Even evolutionist believe that there is mitochondrial Eve, so that mean we had a start with just two parents somewhere in our past.
Not at all. There was a race of proto-humans that could all mate with each other. Gradually changes occurred either withing the whole or within a subgroup of a species so that the very earliest proto-humans would not be able to mate with the newer humans. So we call the new group a different species, and find some arbitrary point to define when one species became the other. There was never at any point just two humans that could mate.

Mitochondrial Eve refers to the most recent matrilineal ancestor who is shared among all humans. It has nothing to do with founding the human race.
 
A better term would be that he is being zealous.

But about the topic in hand, the whole point of the tree was a simple test to see if they would obey God's law. It was not like it was a hard test for them to do, since there were many trees around for food for them, but God set this tree up to test their loyalties to him. In spite of what is normally said, we are not known was the actual fruit is, but since the Latin for evil is so close apple that the story stuck, but for some reason forbidden fruit seems to better.

That makes sense, but what doesn't make sense is why would God make this fruit one that would give them understanding of good and evil? and lead to their expulsion from paradise?

A better test would have been a tree with fruit on it that doesn't do anything.

edit: the misunderstanding of evolution by certain posters in this thread is makin gmy head hurt. Seriously, do some research before you post..
 
God is clearly a jealous, divisive, deceptive master, who accepts adulation above all else and will fling non-believers into eternal torment.

No, wait - that's the Old Testament God...
 
Why is it a bad thing to know about evil. If you know something is evil dont you want to avoid it.
 
Why did God destroy the Tower of Babel anyway? And if it was just because, then why hasn't he destroyed that sail skyscraper in Dubai? Did he just get bored of destroying large buildings?


Genesis 1 said:
28And God blessed them. And God said to them,(S) "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 11 said:
1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in(A) the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone,(B) and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower(C) with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." 5And(D) the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come,(E) let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech." 8So(F) the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore its name was called(G) Babel, because there the LORD confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

The emphasis is not on the destruction of the tower, but the destruction of the city. The purpose of the city was to keep the human species together in one place under one government (probably a wicked despot ruling in the name of a false god) for the glory of humanity. This was humanity pridefully defying the commandment to fill the whole earth. It left the majority of the planet untended, and threatened the survival of the human race as living so close together would increase the risk of contagious disease, make them susceptible to local environmental disasters, and not allow significant enough population growth.

Knowledge of procreation is in no way sinful. Procreation was the first commandment, and was of great importance in such an underpopulated world.


I don think "knowing good an evil" was likely used in a similar way as "knowing a man/woman" (i.e, having sex) is many times in the bible, in that probably refers to an experiential rather than merely conceptual knowledge. They may well have had a concept of right and wrong before, but until choosing to do wrong had no experience of evil and thus no understanding of guilt. The knowledge of good and evil likely came from the act of willful disobedience, not any special property of the fruit or the tree from which it came.



I read somewhere that rabbinical tradition teaches that God could have created a perfect world, but instead chose to leave the earth unfinished once he had done just enough to allow humanity to finish the job. Mankind was given the responsibility to perfect His work so as to give us a sense of purpose in this life as well as a way to demonstrate of our love for our creator. The garden was given not as a permanent home but as an example of how the whole world should be. Physical labor and childbirth are good works which were intended from the beginning, but were meant to be enjoyable before the curse made them difficult. The point of being exiled from the garden was to make man's task more difficult by depriving him of the example of what his goal was.
 
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