8/7/2019 2011.02 Where Did Cain Get His Valentine?

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Section A22 february 2011

This isnt a gossip column, but here are

some juicy tidbits you wont nd onFacebook.

Did you know that Doug Schmidt is myrelative? (Im certain he has kept this complete-ly under wraps.) On the other hand, PastorSchmidt is also related to evangelist Billy Gra-ham. Woodsides ardent creationist GordonLonie is related to the inamous CharlesDarwin o evolutionary shame. Finally,Woodsides Get Realhost Mike Wendlandand entertainer Jay Leno are relatives.

The idea behind these tidbits helpsanswer what skeptics requently ask instriving to discredit Genesis: Where didCain get his wife?

monkey trial

This question fummoxed the unprepared WilliamJennings Bryan at the 1925 Scopes trial. Deense at-torney Clarence Darrow goaded prosecutor Bryaninto testiying as a Bible expert.

DarrowDid you ever discover where Cain gothis wie?

BryanNo, sir. I leave the agnostics to hunt or her.DarrowThe Bible says hes got one doesnt it?

Were there other people on earth at that time?BryanI cannot say.DarrowYou cannot say. Did that ever enter

your consideration?BryanNever bothered me.DarrowThere were no others recorded, but

Cain got a wie.BryanThat is what the Bible says.DarrowWhere she came rom you do not know.Darrow made Bryan look oolish. The public, lis-

tening to the trials nationwide radio broadcast andreading transcripts telegraphed worldwide, conclud-ed Christians couldnt deend Genesis. Where Caingot his wie has been vexing Christians ever since.

Cains Valentine

The question seems dicult to some because o evo-

view, its easy to answer.Jesus reply to Sadducees ts this situation per-

ectly: Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that youdo not understand the Scriptures, or the power o God?

(Mark 12:24)What is known about Mrs. Cain Adamson? Besides

her name, almost nothing. Yet she sparks more specu-lation than any other Bible woman. Who was she?

Answer: Cains wife was his sisteror possibly a niece.This is not bizarre. I married a relative. Everybody

does. There is nobody else to marry.Humans today are allrelated because we share

common ancestors. Everyone descended rom Noahssons, either Japheth or Shem or Ham. Thus our near-est common ancestors are Mr. & Mrs. Noah.

Adam through Noah comprises 10 men. Theirwives are also common ancestors, as are all the ances-tors o their wives. Thus all alive today have scores ocommon ancestors.

Genesis records Adam and Eve had many sons anddaughters(Genesis 5:4),as they obeyed Gods com-mand to be ruitul and multiply and ll the earth .

Adam lived to age 930, so he could have had hun-dreds o sons and daughters.

Many sons married sisters and others nieces to be-gin lling the earth. I brothers had not married sisters,mankind would have died out in one generation.

onlyone raCe

Some argue that Cains wie came rom an alreadyexisting race. Even i true, the underlying issue re-mains: where did that hypothetical race nd spousesoriginally?

Some claim Genesis 1 and 2 are contra-dictory accounts o mans creation. To resolvethis they posit the creation o a dierent hu-

man race in Genesis 1 beore God createdAdam and Eve in Genesis 2. They suggestthis pre-Adamic race produced Cains wie.Could this be true?

No, its not true. Genesis 1 and 2 are notcontradictory. Genesis 1 gives an overviewo Creation Week. Genesis 2 ocuses onmans creation on Day 6, feshing out thepreceding overview.

Jesus Himsel substantiated the harmo-ny o these two chapters. When questionedabout marriage, He applied quotationsrom both Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 to therst man and woman, thereby conrmingthe chapters harmony (Matthew 19:4-5).Jesus knew both chapters, yet saw no con-

tradiction, or He used both together. Jesus attestedthat both chapters speak o Adam and Eve.

Jesus declared the rst marriage occurred at the Be-ginning(Mark 10:6). His statement allows no timeor a pre-Adamic race. From that rst marriage Jesusderived a marriage standard which He applied to allAdams ospring. Jesus words show He believed ev-eryone descended rom Adam.

When Adam looked or a wie among the animals,

no suitable helpmate was ound (Gen 2:20). No e-male existed; thus no other race could have existed.

(Gen 3:20). Thereore all humans descended romEve, including Cains wie.

Scripture explicitly says, He made rom one, everynation o mankind to live on all the ace o the earth(Acts 17:26). Each person all over the globe de-

scends rom Adam.In the beginning there was only one man Adam

and one woman Eve. There was no pre-Adamic race.Mankind is a single race, and Cains wie belonged tothat race.

Cains fear

Cain eared being killed when God exiled him or mur-dering Abel. Some say this indicates the existence o a

substantial human population o whom Cain was araid.Allegedly this population came rom somewhere besidesAdam and Eve; supposedly Cain ound his wie there.

First, such speculation contradicts Scriptures clearteaching that all men descended rom Adam.

Second, Adam and Eve were 130 years old at Sethsbirth (Genesis 5:3). Eve identied Seth as the replace-ment or murdered Abel. Thus over 100 years couldhave elapsed rom Cains birth to Abels death plentyo time or Adam and Eve to accumulate signicantdescendants, including women or Cain to marry.

Cains ears o revenge may have involved Abelsclose riends.

gene Pool

Today boys turn up their noses at marrying their sis-

ters. Cain did not have that luxury. No one existed orhim to marry except sisters or nieces.

Cain and his siblings were rst-generation ospringo Adam and Eve. For generations the gene pool wasrelatively clean. Enough harmul genetic errors had notaccumulated to make marrying close relatives unwise.

Today degeneration o the gene pool has intensi-ed; marriage between close relatives now risks severeproblems in the ospring when identical deective

genes occur in both closely related parents.Restrictions against marrying close relatives did not

come until the time o Moses, 2500 years ater Creation.The restriction was unnecessary in the early generations.

Certainly in the rst generation brothers needed tomarry sisters to continue the race. Adam himsel marrieda closer relation than anyone else ever has, or Eve wasbone o his bones and fesh o his fesh (Genesis 2:23). Eve

was practically a clone o Adam, having been made romhis rib. Noahs grandchildren married siblings or cousins.Abraham and Isaac each married close relatives.

The Creator established marriage; thereore, HisWord is the dening standard or marriage. Thosewho reject Scriptures authority have no grounds orcriticizing Cain or marrying his sister.

signifiCanCe

ibility can be undermined when questions like Wheredid Cain get his wife? go unanswered. Getting

history can be trusted and what cannot. Were Adamand Eve real? Did Noahs Flood happen? Did Jesusrise rom the dead?

Furthermore, rejecting the Bibles history eventuallyleads to rejecting the Bibles theology and morality.

Genesis is authentic history in its entirety pro-vided by One who was there. Understanding historybased on Genesis provides a solid oundation or Chris-tian aith, including dependable answers to otherwiseperplexing questions like Where did Cain get his wife?Cains wie was a sister(or niece). Soli Deo Gloria.

E-mail Dr. Pelletier at BibleScienceGuy@woodsidenews.org. Read the Bible-Science Guy blogat BibleScienceGuy.wordpress.com and ollow him attwitter.com/BibleScienceGuy.

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WILLIAM T. PELLETIERPH.D.

the bibLe and sCienCe BY WILLIAM T. PELLETIER, PH.D. [WOODSIDe NeWS COLUMNIST]Where Did Cain Get His Valentine?

Adam and Eve had many sons

and daughters (Gen 5:4)

2011William T. Pelletier

Yahweh then created Eve who was the mother ofallliving

Deending Biblical history is vital. The Bibles cred-

stumped here generates doubts about what Biblical

lutionary mindsets. Actually, rom a Biblical world-