"How were humans created?"

"How were humans created?"
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

According to the Bible, God created male and female in his image, fully formed as they still appear today. Genesis 1 is actually the first of two different creation stories in Genesis, but regardless of the differences, how well does either story comport with modern science and what we understand about human development?

Read More

"How old is the Earth?"

"How old is the Earth?"
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The Christian Bible tells us that the Earth is the first thing that God created, along with "the heavens". Why doesn't the Bible explicitly state when the creation occurred in relation to the time the Bible was written? What can science tell us about the origins of the Earth? Do our observations of the universe conflict with the Bible? How old do other religions claim the Earth to be and do their holy books support different conclusions?

Read More

"Why did God need to use a rib to create Eve?"

Genesis 2:21-22 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

When God creates Adam, the Bible says he created him from dust and then breathed life into him. Why then, when it comes to the creation of Eve, does God have to use a rib? Could he have used one of adams fingers, or his tailbone? Why did he need anything from Adam at all? 

There is also the biological question of how could Adam's rib, which contained Adam's DNA, have created anything other than a copy of Adam?

Read More

"Why did God need to rest after creation?"

Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

From God's actions in the creation story so far, we can assume that he is infinitely powerful. Why would an all-powerful creator choose to rest? Why would he need to separate creation into days at all?

Read More

"Why does the Bible refer to the moon as a light?"

Genesis 1: 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 

In the creation account the Bible lists the 2 great lights, the Sun and the Moon, but the Moon doesn't actually generate light. Why would the Bible refer to it as a light? And why is the creation of the stars mentioned separately if the Sun is a star?

Read More

"Why did God need a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden?"

Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

After Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden God places a guardian called a "cherubim" to prevent them from reentering. What is a cherubim? What is the significance of placing the cherubim in the east? There are no mentions of swords before this time, so did God introduce the concept of violent weapons to the world? Why did the sword need to be on fire? Why didn't God just hide the Garden from Adam and Eve?

Read More

"How was there night and day before God created the Sun and stars?"

Genesis 1:3-5 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

In the Genesis 1 creation story God "separated the light from the darkness" to form days and nights. Since days and nights are a result of the Earth's rotation relative to the Sun, how did God have a day and night on the first day of creation without the Sun? If the light mentioned in verse 3 was enough to provide night and day then why did he need to wait until the fourth day to make the Sun and other stars?

Read More