Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Must we justify incest among Adam's kids | Gen 1:1 | stjones | 74612 | ||
Hi, Steph; Allow me a belated welcome to the forum. I've read your profile and your posts and I think are a valuable addition to our little "club". I know that God will honor your desire to better understand his word and I am confident that you will help us to understand as well. I also "approve" (as if you needed my approval!) of your desire to know where people on this forum are coming from. If you have the time to spend here, you will come to recognize folks whose posts reveal wisdom and discernment and who seem to approach spiritual truths with "the mind of Christ". (1 Cor 2:16) But be a Berean (Acts 17:11). Sooner or later, you will disagree with every one of them. At least I have, but I may just be a curmudgeon. I am not convinced that incest is the only possible explanation. I try to be careful about assuming naturalistic explanations for supernatural events. Did Adam and Eve's children commit incest? The Bible is silent. Did God the Provider provide partners in some other way? The Bible is silent. As a part-time dabbler in theistic evolution, I could propose a quasi-naturalistic solution. But it would be pure speculation - and probably get me flamed. ;-) No one this side of Heaven knows who they married. I have come to the point where I don't spend too much time thinking about things God has chosen not to reveal (but I do spend some). And you noted in another post that it's not possible to derive a moral principle that permits incest. You have expressed an interest in Jesus' "testing" of Phillip. Perhaps God is testing your willingness to accept with certainty that his solution was right, holy, and completely consistent with his character and his truth as revealed throughout the Bible - despite possible evidence to the contrary. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
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2 | Must we justify incest among Adam's kids | Gen 1:1 | SteviM95 | 74619 | ||
Steve, Thanks for responding to my post. I too am trying to focus on the things God has chosen to reveal. When I saw these postings about Cain's wife, I was in no way searching for an answer to this question. To be perfectly honest, I never thought to ask it myself, and still don't spend a whole lot of time on it. If I am ever asked about it, I will be sure to say that "I believe" that Cain married a descendant of Adam and Eve, and if I am asked why, I will point to verse Gen 3:20 where Adam says that Eve is the mother of all the living. I simply wanted to know if it was then my duty, as a Christian, to be willing to defend the actions of Adam and Eve's children, since I believe that they committed incest. I am unsure as to whether there is a possibility of deriving a moral principle that permits incest. If incest was God's solution, then I would know, and accept with certianty that it was the right and Holy solution, completely consistent with God's character and His truth. But I do not believe that the Bible gives us evidence that it was God's solution. So now it seems that we are heading down the path of free will, election, and pre-destination (which most of the replies I have received to this question have headed, without actually going there). If I would have seen it from the beginning, I wouldn't have asked my question. I am too uncomfortable with all the implications some people take from election and pre-destination, and I just don't have a good enough grasp on it to muddle my way through all the controversies surrounding it. I consider it spiritual food that I am just not ready to digest yet. But, just for the sake of arguement, are you asking me to believe that God would pre-destine incest, or would He simply permit it (even though He abhorres it) because He knew that His creatures would exercise their free will and commit incest, and He could have the sole glory of working His miracles to bring to righteousness, a people whose only existence is derived from an abomination? Would He pre-destine such a scenario, or would He allow His creatures to create such a scenario? Is it pre-destination, or is it foreknowledge? Does God actually plan all the sin in this world, or does He allow it, and work through it? I'm reading the book of Job right now, so many questions, but I am not sure that I am ready for the answers that haven't already been fulfilled in Christ. Thanks for your welcome. I think this forum is pretty great, and I have noticed some consistently wise answers posted by the same people...but I cannot keep up with all the questions, so if I don't get the email in my box telling me that someone has replied, I just go to where I left off. Thanks again, Steph |
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3 | Must we justify incest among Adam's kids | Gen 1:1 | stjones | 74623 | ||
Hi, Steph; As I said, I don't know that incest is necessarily the answer. So, no, I'm not asking you to believe that "God would pre-destine incest, or would He simply permit it" for the simple reason that I don't know if there was any incest for God to have either predestined or permitted. I don't see any theological conclusions that can be drawn from not knowing where Cain's wife came from. Sorry I'm not pushing one view or another. Unless my view is that there's none to be pushed. ;-) Job is one of my favorite books. You can peel it like an onion and find worthwhile answers and new questions in every layer. I believe it reveals God's love for us in ways no other book of the Bible does. Although I'm a layman, I preached on this subject a couple of months ago. And, yeah, I'd be lost without the email notification. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
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