Featured Cain's Wife - [On Trial]

Where did Adam get his wife? Eve was made from Adams flesh/bone, and therefore was genetically identical to him. (Genesis 2:21-24)

Cain obviously married his sister. And Seth either married his sister or his niece.

Abraham married his sister.

In Genesis 3:20 we read, “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” In other words, all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—she was the first woman.

Also, in Genesis 2:20, we are told that when Adam looked at the animals, he could not find a mate—there was no one of his kind. All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Adam's wife, at the beginning. There were never any other women who were not Eve's descendants.

If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extra-biblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to have married sisters or there would be no more generations! We are not told when Cain married or any of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that some brothers had to marry their sisters at the beginning of human history.

Some people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve's sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister intermarriage. Some say that you cannot marry your relation. Actually, if you don't marry your relation, you don't marry a human! A wife is related to her husband even before they marry because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of “one blood.” The law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided marriage was one man to one woman for life (based on Genesis 1 and 2), there was no disobedience to God's law originally when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other. Remember that Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God blessed this union to produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob. It was not until some 400 years later that God gave Moses laws that forbade such marriages.

Some people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve's sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister intermarriage. Some say that you cannot marry your relation. Actually, if you don't marry your relation, you don't marry a human! A wife is related to her husband even before they marry because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of “one blood.” The law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Provided marriage was one man to one woman for life (based on Genesis 1 and 2), there was no disobedience to God's law originally when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other. Remember that Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God blessed this union to produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob. It was not until some 400 years later that God gave Moses laws that forbade such marriages.

For an excellent article (the source of much of the above) and how a denial of the bible fact that Cain married his sister, and how that rejection of the Truth destroys the Gospel see: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c004.html

 

I understand what you are saying, but something in me admires Bryan's answers - not only for their simplicity but also because they strike at the heart of the matter. There is much revealed in Scripture about what God did, but not as much about how He did it. If we are in need of understanding the "how" before we can accept God's Word then we are in a precarious situation.

 

The word which seems to have been eliminated from the average Christians vocabulary is "believe."

"Where did Adam get his wife?"

I don't know as the bible doesn't say, but I BELIEVE the vast preponderance of the evidence suggests he married his sister.

"When did God create the heavens and the earth?"

I don't know, the bible doesn't say, but I BELIEVE the vast preponderance of the evidence suggests the heavens preceded the earth and the earth was subsequently formed in 6 24 hour days.

 

Maybe you should start a thread on that.

 

Having read the transcript, I can't find too much fault with Bryan's answers. He pretty much stuck to affirming the Bible. What I do fault him for is agreeing to testify: really, what defense attorney agrees to testify? The judge should have forbidden it, as well. No one looking at the case from a modern perspective can fail to wonder what in the world Bryan's religions beliefs have to do with the facts of the case.

I think it was hubris: He considered himself Darrow's superior and thought he would vanquish him. In one sense, he was correct; he won the case (decided by a sympathetic jury), but the trial really became a trial of the historicity of Genesis. On that count, his testimony was inadequate given the national news coverage.

Some leeway probably should be allowed: Bryan died just days after the verdict, so he may not have been himself during the trial and his testimony. Again, hubris may have played a part: He was intent on smashing Darrow, not on trying the case on the narrow grounds upon which he would have won a conviction anyway. And why in the world did a three-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state step in to prosecute a case that the local prosecutor could have won?