Alpha wrote:a.) Did God create the Earth before the rest of the Universe, as Genesis implies?
If you believe Genesis implies that He did, then why ask? But my response would be that maybe He did, maybe He didn't. It will only be speculation from the text. I personally believe He created the Universe first, but the Bible is about the fall of man and our redemption, which has nothing to do with the rest of the Universe. That's why when the Bible says in the beginning, in its context it might be only referring to the earth. But this is just conjecture on my part. Nonetheless this has nothing to do with salvation. But as the Bible says:
holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. (1 Timothy 3:9)
it actually seems from the text that He may have created both in the beginning, possibly simultaneously. He created the "Heavens and the Earth", and since it ends with there being "evening and there was morning, the first day", there must've been some "space" for earth to orbit in.
b.) Light comes from the Sun, but if God created light prior to the Sun or the rest of the Universe, where was light coming from at this point?
Actually, light
originally comes from God. In Revelation it says that when we dwell with Christ, there will be no need for a sun, because the glory of God will be our light. (Rev 21:23, Rev 22:5)
this is correct. God IS the source of light and could easily produce it prior to a physical sun.
c.) The passage of day and night is produced by the Earth's rotation round the Sun. Genesis implies that this is not true, as God created day and night prior to creating the Sun and the stars. Is this so?
Same logic as previous question. Also take a look at Genesis 1:14 >
Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
i don't understand the answer given. the actual answer is that all that is needed for a day and night to be achieved is a fixed direction of light, and a rotating earth. and since the earth doesn't need to orbit the sun (the sun AND the earth both orbit a point in space), then this could easily be accomplished without the sun.
d.) The two great lights being referred to are presumably the Sun and the Moon. But the Moon is not a source of light, it merely reflects light from the Sun. Is this not so?
It doesn't say that the moon generates the lesser light on its own. It just says that there are two lights: a greater for the day and a lesser for the night. It this true or not?
yeah. the text isn't saying that the moon PRODUCES its own light, but merely says that it GIVES light, or governs the evening light.
e.) If God had already created a source of light as well as night and day, why was there any need to create the Sun to give light upon the earth?
Why do we have two eyes instead of one or three ? (those will be sufficient). Why aren't keyboards in alphabetical order, but are in numerical order?
Perhaps God was bored and just wanted to create it. But then again, God might never be bored.
probably about a million similar questions could be raised like that in the Bible. the sun is the most powerful source of energy that we have, and our Creator holds it in the palm of His hand and spoke it into existence. a great attestation to the power of our God.
f.) There is no mention here of Dinosaurs. God appears to create only those creatures which inhabit the world today. Are Dinosaurs a myth as Genesis infers? If so, where does all the overwhelming fossil evidence come from?
sure there's mention of dinosaurs. the text talks about LAND ANIMALS. any animal that dwelled on the land is included. and Genesis doesn't "infer" anything. it's only certain unbiblical pressupositions that force that kind of inferrence (such as millions of years, or naturalism)
Maybe dinosaurs were created before man or dinosaurs lived with man. The book of Job (chapter 41) mentions creatures that have the characteristics of our prehistoric friends. Or dinosaurs might be a myth cleverly created by man. But the Bible is mainly about man and our redemption from sin.
this answer is false. while dinosaurs were created "before" man (earlier that day) and man did live with dinosaurs (as the text implies); dinosaurs aren't "a myth created by man", and the Bible is also about truth in ALL areas that it speaks in, including HISTORY. so saying "But the Bible is mainly about man and our redemption from sin." doesn't dismiss the fact that the Bible must be accurate in EVERYTHING it talks about.
g.) Again, the passage of days is caused by the earth orbiting the Sun. Other planets in the solar system have days of a different duration as they have different orbits and are further to/from the sun. The seven days mentioned in Genesis commence prior to the creation of the Sun however. Were these days measured in 24 hour periods?
Remember, God does not need the sun. But Genesis can start off with a general creation account, then tells you the specifics when the sun, moon, (etc) were created.
sure they were 24 hour days. anytime the rest of Genesis talks about days with such qualifications, it's ALWAYS a 24-hour period. there's no reason to assume otherwise in the first verses of Genesis. and it's not the "seven days" that had no sun, since the sun was created on day four. if the sun is needed to make this 24-hour cycle, then the first three days might've been any period of time, and the following four days would've been 24-hour days. extremely confusing for us as readers if we were trying to understand this process, not to mention silly of God since we are the audience whom He's addressing and that we're supposed to understand this. not to mention the fact that this thinking goes directly against how Moses understood creation (Exodus 20:8-11).
h.) How was Serpent able to speak? Why was it put in the Garden to tempt Eve in the first place?
In Numbers 22:28, God used a donkey to speak. Why do you therefore say how was a serpant able to speak? I've also heard arguments that the serpant was not literal. In other words, it is used to show you what Satan
is like not what he looks like. Because Satan is a spiritual being. Sort of like 1 Peter 5:8 referring to Satan as a "roaring lion", but he is not actually a lion. Also sort of like calling Christ "the lamb" but He is not an actual lamb, but a man (God in the flesh).
Many will say God wanted to test Adam and Eve, that's why He allowed the serpant to tempt them. God gives us free will and without free will, there is no love. God not only wants to love us, He wants us to love Him.
i) It is implied that Adam and Eve were both immortal prior to eating the Forbidden Fruit. Is this so?
Perhaps.
j.) God was so displeased that they had eaten of the Forbidden fruit that he cursed Eve with the pain of Childbirth, and ensured they both would need to work hard to feed and clothe themselves from now on, and would one day die and return to the soil from whence they came. So death is the price we pay for Sin. If this caused God so much displeasure, why did he create Adam and Eve with the capacity for weakness in the face of temptation? Indeed, what was the point in tempting them at all? The fact that there was a talking snake in Eden, suggests that God deliberately wanted to test them. But why, if God as the Creator would have known the likely outcome anyway? If this whole account is taken literally, it doesn't appear to contain any logic.
Some of this is responded to in the last question. But the fact that God knows the outcome does not mean He should not have allowed it. If God prevented it from happening then how can we choose willingly to love God? But we chose to disobey Him and He offers us redemption that we don't even deserve. If we cry for true justice, we would all be in hell right now. So just be happy that God offers Christ as a gift for us if we follow Him by faith.
k.) Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain had a wife who bore him a son. Where did Cain's wife come from? This implies that Adam and Eve were not the first humans upon the Earth for if they were there's no explanation for the existence of Cain's wife. What should I believe here?
In those times it was not unlawful to marry a relative. Before the time of Moses we see people marrying their relatives (Abraham married his half-sister Sarah).
this is correct. and this does NOT imply that "Adam and Eve were not the first humans upon the Earth" only the questioner's biases force that understanding.
another interesting thing is that, since they were the first people ever created, their DNA and bodies were created perfectly, and thus no possibility for deformed children or mental or physical disabilities would've been a problem. only later in human history did mutations and things like that start becoming a problem and close breeding between relatives became a serious health issue.
all of these questions have been answered numerous times before in many different places by many different people. any more questions, feel free to ask.