Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls First Mankind

Don't get this wrong or anthing but I'm just curious to see everyone's response so I've posted this post.

What would you think God would do if Adam & Eve had children before they ate the forbitten fruit?

Well, I couldn't vote... my thinking is probably that they'd all be tossed out on their collective ear, as Eden was going out of business. Seems harsh, I know, but... so is much of life.

The way I look at it is, when Adam & Eve first sinned, imperfection entered the world, giving us mosquitos and thorn bushes and birth defects, which we all now have to deal with. I call it "sh*t happens" theology

PJ

OK, Kitty, this is kind of a strange question, but, since you asked, this is how I answered:

For Q1, I chose option A. My reasoning was based on the story of Noah, actually. Only Noah and his wife and kids were saved; his parents presumably drowned.

For Q2, I chose option B. If God made Adam a mate, I suppose he could easily enough make his daughter one.

- Vicki

Oh dear, I couldn't vote....

::tries searching for the most theologically sound and logical explanation::

IMHO, If only Adam and Eve sinned, I think they would still all have to leave the Garden. Sin was in the world, and if Adam and Eve had more children, those children would probably hate their 'perfect' sibling[s] so it's quite likely, somewhere down the line, there would be war. But then again, ::still thinking:: how could they stay in the Garden, because suffering (I don't think...) couldn't exist there, and I'm sure that the kids would be pretty upset that their parents had to leave. This is all my opinion and is by no means necessarily true. But this is a really interesting question.

I voted for option 1 in both questions (although, thinking it over, I would rather vote for option 2 in the second question).

Don't get me wrong, your question is very interesting, and I believe very much in God (I'm an Orthodox Christian), but we should not forget that Adam and Eve are just a story. For one, being a biologist's daughter, I think the scientific explanation of evolution etc. is more accurate, and for second, the two religion teachers I had the last four years agree that Adam and Eve never really existed (at least not as the first people on Earth), but they only symbolize things I'm not going to analyze here.

I hope I didn't offend anyone's beliefs. I know what it is like, you have no idea what I've been through defending my faith.
AnnaBtG.

I really hope this doesn't turn into an evolution vs. creation debate becaue there are very strong opinions on both sides and a lot of feelings could get hurt. Some people interpret the bible literally as truth, others interpret it as a group of stories that teach us how to live. Who is right? We all have our own opinions.

People that know me personally know my strong opinion, and you could guess by the fact that I am a scientist and Roman Catholic. I am really not sure if this is the place for that kind of debate. Believe me, I can debate about this subject -- ask Annie -- I think she was ready to kill me at one point .

- Laura

I can't vote on option one, after looking at it. I think God would have driven them all out of the garden. If you want to get all theological, sins of the parents pass to the children, etc. The same for question two. They would all be driven out. Luckily for us, history is already written, so we don't have to worry about what God would have done.

I fear I am probably in the minority, believing in the seven day creation. Don't want to debate it, just wanted people to know it still exists

Nqoire

Well, I have to base what I say on what I think the anonymous author(s) of the Pentateuch might have thought about since I personally believe that Adam and Eve is a universal myth (story with a universal truth) (ps I'm Roman Catholic). I think that God wouldn't separate family members. I think if one person sinned, no matter who it was, he's going to kick them all out.

JD

Just so you know, Nqoire, you're not the only one

PJ

I second Pam's statement.

I third Pam's statement.

I believe that they all would have been sent out of the Garden. Once sin entered the universe the universe became tainted.

I do believe in a real Adam and Eve, if for no other reason than Jesus's geneology traces back to them. I have other reasons, but this is not the place to list them.

James

Interesting topic though I don't think that Adam and Eve actually had a daughter they only had sons to best of my knowledge but my bible knowledge is rather limited (strange when you consider the fact that I am Catholic) but I don't really believe half the stuff the bible says especialy in regards to human evolution since there is so much evidence for the fact that we are related to apes. In fact our DNA is a 98% match to the DNA of the chimpanzee. However in regards to the story of The Garden of Eden Adam and Eve did commit the original sin of eating the forbidden frit and therefore were booted from there, but they actually didn't have any children until they had been booted out so even though I answered that Adam and Even and their son would be booted out for commiting the 'original sin' I personally don't think that would have been possible.

I was actually just re-reading this stuff the other day, so I figure I'll chime in again.

First, of course Adam & Eve had daughters -- otherwise there wouldn't have been any grandchildren and the race wouldda died out right there. Yeah, incest, icky -- my husband says that they all had "clean" DNA at the time, so inbreeding wasn't yet a problem. Only two of their sons are named but that doesn't mean they didn't have lots of other kids.

Second, it doesn't actually say if they had any kids when they were kicked out of the Garden -- the assumption is that they didn't, since none are mentioned, but then, when God was telling them the consequences of sin, he told Eve he would "greatly multiply" her pain in childbirth, which could indicate that she'd already been through childbirth at least once.

PJ

Actually is does state in the Bible that they had daughters.

GENISIS 5:4
After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

Like CrazyBabe, my bible knowledge is slim to none. When talking to some friends that are fundamentalist, they couldn't believe that I don't own a bible nor have I ever read it independently. And they don't understand my philosophy about going to church either . . . but that is another subject .

The "intellegent design" theory was a VERY hot topic in Ohio in 2002. VERY hot. I really only know the "Anti-intelligent design" side of the story because just about everyone in Cleveland that spoke up against it was from CWRU -- my MS advisor even helped organize a few protests and I did go to the (very biased) rally they had downtown against it.

The unbiased view:
CNN Ohio Debate
Associated Press

NY Times

The biased scientific view:

CWRU Article
CWRU article 2

Ohio CItizens For Science -- a lot of links to Newspaper articles
Lawrence Krauss\'s opinion -- Chairman of Physics and CWRU

And these are just what showed up on the first page of the CWRU Google search! I remember this being a VERY contrivercial issue 2 years ago . . . although I haven't heard much about it lately.

Even though I am a scientist and don't agree with intelligent design, I am also a liberal, and think that people should be allowed to learn both sides of the issue. I almost wish I would have instead of strictly evolution. That way I would have been better prepared for debates on the subject -- I was sort of at a disadvantage, only first hearing about it durring ALPS in grade school (and my parents wouldn't let me listen to the discussion because they are strict evolutionists) and then when I finally met people that are not Catholic or Orthadox (my suburb has 7 Catholic churces that I can think of off the top of my head), I was really surprised.

Just my 0.02

- Laura

Vicki: Regarding Noah. Actually, Noah's father died a few years before the flood. On the other hand, it appears that Noah's grandfather might have been killed in the flood.

When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech. Methuselah was 969 years old when he died (oldest man ever). When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of Noah. Lamech was 777 years old when he died. When Noah was 600 years old, the flood destroyed the world.

187 + 182 + 600 = 969 (which was how old Methuselah was when he died)

182 + 600 = 782 (which means that Lamech had been dead for 5 years at the time of the flood)

(I found that tidbit years ago and have never actually had a use for that little piece of math before. Thanks for giving me an excuse to share it )

On the main question posed, I didn't vote because I learned years ago that I'm not very good at guessing what God would do in any given situation.

ML (for sourses: Genesis 5:25-31; Genesis 7:11,12)