Questions tagged [genesis]
Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament, a narrative starting with creation.
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What is the specific meaning of "die" in Genesis 2? [closed]
Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV):
16And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you ...
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What were the Nephilim, and what role did they play in the Bible beyond just being mentioned?
Did the Nephilim that are mentioned in Genesis 6:4 do anything beyond just existing?
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What is an overview of the main interpretations of "day" in Genesis 1?
In the Creation account in Genesis 1 (and 2), God's work of Creation is famously split into 7 "days". For example, the first "day" occurs in verse 5:
Genesis 1:5 (NLT)
God called the light "day" ...
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How can the sun be created after day and night? [closed]
"Light" was created on day 1 - Genesis 1:3-5. However the sun was created on day 4 - Genesis 1:14-19.
How can a day-night transition occur when the sun (which is the primary cause of this ...
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What was the light of the first day of creation? [closed]
In the Genesis account, the sun and stars are created on the fourth day:
Gen 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let ...
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What are the Biblical and theological problems with theistic evolution?
Theistic evolution holds that God used evolution to create mankind. It seems to follow then that this view must also hold the creation account in Genesis to be unhistorical. So, Adam and Eve may ...
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Who were the Sons of God who seem to have begat the Nephilim? [duplicate]
Genesis 6:1--4 tells about the "sons of God" marrying whomsoever they pleased, and the Nephilim---"the heroes of old, men of renown"---were begotten then. How is this to be interpreted?
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Can I believe in evolution and still be a Christian?
It would seem that the first part of the book of Genesis contradicts what science teaches about the origin of life on earth. If I am to reconcile evolution and Genesis, it seems that I have a number ...
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Did Adam and Eve's Progeny Commit Incest? [closed]
I have a multi-part question.
Did Adam and Eve's Progeny Commit Incest?
Genesis, Chapter 4 tells us about Cain and Abel.
Genesis, Chapter 5 tells us about Seth and "other sons and daughters".
I ...
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Was Onan really struck dead by God for masturbating?
Historically, Onan in Genesis 38 has been accused of masturbation, and for this supposed transgression was struck dead. The term Onanism (or in German Onanie) is still used to describe this practice.
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In Mormonism, how is the doctrine of Adam & Eve inability to have children prior to the Fall explained?
Inspired by this answer to a previous question, in which the answerer stated:
"For example, the Book of Mormon adds the belief that Adam and Eve could not have children before the Fall."
...
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In Theistic Evolution when do the genealogies in Genesis become real?
In Genesis there is the genealogy of Adam to Noah, then the account of the flood. After that is the genealogy of Noah to Abraham. The accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons then follow. ...
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Who documented biblical events before Moses? [closed]
From the creation until the time of Moses, who documented the events? Abraham? Prophets? Priests?
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How did all the animals fit into Noah's ark? [closed]
During the great flood Noah was ordered by God to fetch two animals of each species and put them into his ark.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of
every kind ...
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Why did people live so long before the Flood?
In Genesis 5, some of the descendants of Adam are listed with their ages. The people listed lived very much longer than anybody does today. For example, Adam lived to be 930. The oldest age, 969 years,...
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If God set the maximum age to 120, then how could Jacob be 130 years old?
At the time of Noah, God said:
Genesis 6:3 NIV
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans
forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and
twenty years.”
Now, ...
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Why does God command us to have children? [closed]
Genesis 1:28
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Have many children. Fill the
earth and take control of it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in ...
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How we do we know that Joseph wasn't Hyksos?
According to the ancient historian, Mantheo, the fifteenth dynasty of Egypt were a people known as the Hyksos, literally the "rulers of foreign countries" or, as sometimes been translated "the ...
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Where do Catholics believe the historical narrative of the Bible begins?
I heard on the Relevant Radio recently that the Genesis account of the deluge is prehistorical. Meaning, it wasn't really recorded in histories the way other more specific accounts of historical ...
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How did the world get populated according to Bible?
Adam and Eve had only three sons (Cain, Abel, and Seth), but no daughters: how did the world get populated?
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Are there any denominations that accept the gap theory?
Some Christians have expressed doubt about a literal 24 hour day, before the sun and moon were created in:
Genesis 1:16 KJV And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and ...
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Why did God wrestle with Jacob? [closed]
Sorry for asking a question kid in my Catechism class asked, but I didn't know the answer and she is an expert level 7th grader.
Why did God wrestle with Jacob if they're both good?
Was God ...
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Why do OEC discount the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis?
This is to rephrase the question Are scientific findings a test to Christians' Faith?
It seems to me that, without any outside interference, the Bible itself gives no suggestion that the Book of ...
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Why did God make garments of skin for Adam and Eve when they had already made clothing for themselves? [closed]
Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, we are told that they made clothing for themselves.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together ...
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Is the commandment to multiply, and replenish the earth in effect today? [closed]
Adam and Eve were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth.
Genesis 1:28-30
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: ...
user23
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Why didn't God send Jesus during Noah's time instead of The Flood? [closed]
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. - John 3:16
John 3:16 tells us that God loved us, so ...
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What is the very least a Catholic needs to believe about Genesis 2 and 3?
There have been a couple skeptical questions asked here recently based off of what some people think are either false premises or assumptions or something. But I am still confused as to what the ...
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Did Adam and Eve ever practice animal sacrifice?
Genesis 8:20 (NIV) Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking
some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt
offerings on it.
Noah sacrificed burnt offerings. What about ...
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What did the carnivores/predators eat on the Ark? [closed]
It's something that has stumped me since I was a kid:
What did the carnivores/predators eat on the Ark?
Did Noah also round up sufficient vegetation to feed all of the animals? Or did they somehow ...
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Why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's?
In Genesis 4, we read the following account of Cain and Abel:
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also ...
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Where did Noah find polar bears and penguins in Palestine, according to those who accept a global flood?
According to Christians who accept a literal global flood, how could animals accustomed to thriving in extreme temperatures be found in a common place for preservation aboard the ark?
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What is the case for interpreting the Genesis creation account literally?
I think we can all agree that the entire Bible is not meant to be taken literally. Consider the Song of Solomon (what would his lover look like if we take it literally?) or the book of Revelation.
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What is the significance of "seventy times seven"?
Twice in the bible, God makes reference to "seventy times seven" (or "seventy-seven times"). Once in Genesis 4:24 (dealing with Cain's punishment for his murder of Abel), and the other in Matthew 18:...
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What was the problem at Babel?
In the Genesis account of the tower of Babel a bunch of guys got together to build a really tall tower somewhere in the desert. God gets wind of the affair but it doesn't sit well:
Genesis 11:5–6 (...
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Was the cave of Abraham in Shechem or Hebron?
Genesis 23:17–20 says:
So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the ...
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What is the significance of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden? [closed]
If Adam and Eve were created perfect and without death (immortal), then what is the significance and purpose of the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Eden?
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Are there two different creation accounts in the bible? [closed]
There are two seemingly contradictory accounts of creation in the Bible.
The first is in Genesis 1:1-2:3.
The second is in Genesis 2:4-25.
Why are there differences in the accounts?
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Was the marriage between Abraham and Sarah incestuous?
In the comments to this answer to the question of why Abraham lied to Pharaoh about his relationship with Sarah, the following question which I am about to pose, appeared:
Was the marriage between ...
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Why did God need to plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden in the first place? [closed]
Why did God need to plant the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden in the first place?
I mean Mormons say that God was in fact having a hidden desire for Adam and Eve to disobey ...
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Why did God make it a sin to eat an apple?
Eating a fruit* is not even a real wicked deed like killing somebody or something. Why did this whole sin thing get started with something so innocuous that by today's standard it wouldn't even be ...
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Who is Lillith?
The character Lilith, while not mentioned in the Bible, turns up in Christian mythology as Adam’s first wife. (She’s mentioned, for example, in CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.) Where ...
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How did Moses write the events which happened ~2000 years before him?
Except the book of Genesis, I believe that it is possible to make some plausible possibilities on how the books of the Bible were written. Moses wrote about himself, Joshua recorded his conquest of ...
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Why did God create the Heavens and the Earth? [closed]
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Why ?
Does the Bible state a reason anywhere?
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Why is the line from Seth to Noah often called righteous?
The line of descendants from Seth to Noah is often called righteous, in comparison to Cain's descendants who are called evil. This comes up when discussing Methuselah who although he died in the year ...
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If Adam is an allegorical character, which Bible character in messianic genealogy is the first real human?
Whenever a question is posed about Adam, Eve, or other characters and events described in the book of Genesis, inevitably some answers state that these events are allegorical. So I would like an ...
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Why did human lifespans drop after the Flood?
In Genesis 5, a brief account of the lives of Adam's descendants is narrated. All of them had long lives, for instance, Adam lived 930 years, Seth lived 912 years, etc.
But in Genesis 6:3, God seems ...
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Did Adam and Eve end up getting saved? [closed]
After answering a recent question, it occurred to me to ask: Is there any biblical evidence regarding whether Adam and Eve have been redeemed in some fashion (and are thus going to Heaven/the New ...
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What is the basis for the belief that Eve was created on the sixth day, like Adam?
I have always thought that Eve was created on the sixth day, a bit later in the day than Adam. However, I recently discovered that some believe Eve was created on a later day.
What, then, is the ...
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What is the earliest known argument that John 1:1's 'beginning' refers to a new beginning?
Laelius Socinus argued in Brevis explicatio in primum Johannis caput that the "beginning" (arche) in John 1:1 refers not to a Genesis beginning, but rather a new beginning related to Jesus' ...
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Were all Nephilim evil?
The Bible speaks of the Nephilim as the offspring of the “sons of God and daughters of men” in books such as: Genesis, Enoch, and a couple others. It does explain that they bred from evil beings, but ...