In the spirit of friendly discussion I am calling it a possible contradiction to leave open the possibility that other interpretations may be correct (I.e. that it is inerrant and non-contradictory with itself).
I believe it is a contradiction but I am speaking with folks who don’t - so I’ll call it a possible.
I will say in a couple of the links I posted with the lists there are a number of contradictions they mention that I don’t feel are (as those links are mainly blog posts not scholarly).
With regards to looking upon the face of God before/after the fall, I couldn’t see any text that supports the fall causing the change to that particular thing.
That is a very reasonable question to ask. A very simple answer is that God that was walking with the Adams could have been Jesus. Before the Fall. It is quite possible that they had many interactions with God. IMO, God created man for the sole purpose to have fellowship.
@s_afsoc made an excellent point that there exists no sin that separated the Adams from fellowship with a Holy God. They were free to fellowship the God in all His glory.
If the Savior has now come and completed his mission, why does God not now return to fellowship with his creation as he did with Adam?
Hadn’t heard this thought before and I like the idea. That begs the question is the need for companionship a function of humanity only or imbued as a trait of God into humanity (and other creatures as many display social hierarchies and familial group behavior)?
For sure. God is working within eternity. It is difficult for me to get my mind around that thought alone. Man’s life in his body is merely a twinkling of an eye within eternity. I have been on earth for 75 years and a very short time when set beside eternity.
You recall being exposed to infinity in mathematics. Infinity plus 1 still equals infinity. It hardly made sense when you first learned it, did it?
So, to your question, how can I comprehend my time with God’s time?
I look at this as an honest thought. And I feel no reason to “defend God” of contradicting Himself.
(Note: I say that because I believe the Bible is actually how God worded it to His people. So, I ask you not to attack my axiom. I am not saying everyone must believe as I do.)
I really don’t want to use much time on everyone of the “contradictions”, especially the ones that you see as possible contradictions. I would much rather show that there is a plausible explanation to accused contradictions that you believe are contradictions. That said, if anyone else has a contradiction that they don’t believe is explainable, I will attempt to show a plausible explanation.
I am assuming this comment is concerning the article by Jim Goad. I got to the first one and then a comment that made me smile:
“Also: If Adam and Eve were the original humans, how did the world populate itself without incest?”
One thing we STEMs do is ponder such situations. We read that Adam and Eve had three sons mentioned in the Bible: Cain, Abel, and Seth. You don’t have to have much on the ball to realize that they are not going to grow the population of earth with three (if we include the one Cain killed) boys and no girls. So clearly the Adams gave birth to daughters. (not to mention any more boys they might have had.)
The next logical question that a person who has a multitude of potential spouses to choose and laws against incest that we have today. But incest is against the law. What law?
I would be interested in which contradictions that Jim Goad claimed that you believe are fairly solid. Surely you don’t want me to read them all and guess which ones.
I am also a STEM and I agree that you don’t have to have much on the ball to realize that the population of earth could not have grown from Cain, Abel, and Seth.
It’s a major plot hole, whoever came up with that story didn’t think it through.
You cannot make a doctrine on what the Bible doesn’t say.
Genesis 6:1, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,”
My little Bible text group posed the question: How many daughters did Adam and Eve have? Who knows? I guessed: maybe as many as 100 daughters. Cain took one of them:
Genesis 4:16, “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived…”
Just know that God calls the married couple by the name of the man:
Genesis 5:2, “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
When Cain went to the land of Nod, he had his wife with him.
This is why a couple when wed, were properly known as Mr. and Mrs. John Doe. I know this tradition has faded out, but it once was the formal name of the couple.
(You might ask why I thought the Adams could have had 100 daughters. Isn’t that a ridiculous number? Genesis 5:3, “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: 4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:” There was plenty of time to pull that off.)
I honestly don’t know what being a STEM has to do with analysing Adam and Eve populating the Earth as if it were an historical discussion.
Seems incongruent.
If anything, that kind of training makes it more difficult to believe in any one particular mythos as all of them have logical plot holes and some incongruities.
Honestly, if we are talking purely about congruity and completeness of story, plenty of other religions paint a more cohesive picture than the Bible.