Can we date the events in Genesis?

[AnthonySorensen]

I wondered if someone could tell me if we know approximately how long ago God created man?

Also I have an atheist telling me that marriage existed before God gave it to Adam and Eve. How can I argue against this? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Hokomai]

I wondered if someone could tell me if we know approximately how long ago God created man?

Also I have an atheist telling me that marriage existed before God gave it to Adam and Eve. How can I argue against this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Did God give it to Adam and Eve? When did this happen?

 

[someperson555]

man evolved from apes which evolved from micro-organism. the earth is 4.4 billion years.
the book of genesis is metaphor, do not attempt to treat it literally.

 

[prodigalson2011]

I wondered if someone could tell me if we know approximately how long ago God created man?

Also I have an atheist telling me that marriage existed before God gave it to Adam and Eve. How can I argue against this? Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve been plugging this guy like crazy, but I really think all Christians (and Jews) need to read the work of Dr. Gerald Schroeder. He’s an MIT educated (and tenured) physicist who’s also a Torah scholar.

I’ll come back and provide more detail later, but in short, Nahmanides, a Jewish Bible scholar of the 13th century, reported a long standing interpretation of Genesis that suggested “homo sapiens” (as we call ourselves today) existed as an animal, though a highly advanced one that made simple tools and practiced ritual burial, long before Adam, but that Adam was indeed the first “man,” and he truly lived about 6000 years ago. The subtleties of the written Hebrew language allowed the authors of the Old Testament to condense alot of information into a very small amount of words.

 

[LynJohn1023]

man evolved from apes which evolved from micro-organism. the earth is 4.4 billion years.
the book of genesis is metaphor, do not attempt to treat it literally.

Evolution (Specifically Darwinian which necessarily describes the origins of species through random mutation and natural selection) is less believable than Genesis in literal terms. However, I generally agree with your assessment which would seem to indicate that Genesis is a work in which God describes the nature of our relationship to him, to each other and to ourselves. He also explains in Gen 3 by what means he will save us from our foolish selves.

 

[LegoGE1947]

Evolution (Specifically Darwinian which necessarily describes the origins of species through random mutation and natural selection) is less believable than Genesis in literal terms. However, I generally agree with your assessment which would seem to indicate that Genesis is a work in which God describes the nature of our relationship to him, to each other and to ourselves. He also explains in Gen 3 by what means he will save us from our foolish selves.

If I dated the events in Genesis I would pick them up at about 8pm, take them to dinner, and then a movie.

 

[farpinho]

If I dated the events in Genesis I would pick them up at about 8pm, take them to dinner, and then a movie.

 

[patrick457]

If I dated the events in Genesis I would pick them up at about 8pm, take them to dinner, and then a movie.

Can we pin a date the events of Genesis? I doubt it. For starters the main surviving versions of the text (the Masoretic, Septuagint, and the Samaritan) do not even agree on how old the patriarchs lived to be, which throws any attempts at calculation out of wack. For one the Ussher chronology, which gives 4004 BC for the year the world was made, is based on the Masoretic text, while the traditional Byzantine Etos Kosmou, based on the Septuagint, begins at 5509 BC.

 

[Nimzovik]

I’ve been plugging this guy like crazy, but I really think all Christians (and Jews) need to read the work of Dr. Gerald Schroeder. He’s an MIT educated (and tenured) physicist who’s also a Torah scholar.

I’ll come back and provide more detail later, but in short, Nahmanides, a Jewish Bible scholar of the 13th century, reported a long standing interpretation of Genesis that suggested “homo sapiens” (as we call ourselves today) existed as an animal, though a highly advanced one that made simple tools and practiced ritual burial, long before Adam, but that Adam was indeed the first “man,” and he truly lived about 6000 years ago. The subtleties of the written Hebrew language allowed the authors of the Old Testament to condense alot of information into a very small amount of words.

Please do.

 

[buffalo]

The genealogies could put put Adam as far back as 10,000-12,000 BC.

 

[patrick457]

The genealogies could put put Adam as far back as 10,000-12,000 BC.

Source?

 

[Ron_Conte]

I date the Flood of Noah to 2807 B.C. (based on the work of W. Bruce Masse). The cause of the Flood was a comet impact in the deep ocean. This explains the many flood myths throughout the world. But the flood did not literally cover all land, nor kill all humans and animals outside the Ark. Those assertions in Scripture are figurative elements, not literal.

I don’t think that the genealogies in the Bible can be used to date the time of Adam and Eve. The lifespans given are figurative, not literal. Also, the genealogies prior to Abraham are probably not exhaustive; they may skip over a number of generations, giving only the names of the most prominent persons between Adam and Abraham.

 

[Julia_Mae]

Also I have an atheist telling me that marriage existed before God gave it to Adam and Eve. How can I argue against this?.

Never argue against - just ask for evidence to back up his claim. If he asks you a question in return, you say, “Wait, I asked a question, so after you answer me I’ll answer questions from you.”

He’ll say, “Well, my question is part of the answer…”

Then you say, “So you don’t have any evidence? You just have an unsubstantiated opinion you want to argue about?”

Then change the subject to the weather. Or sports.

 

[exoflare]

Researchers: Asteroid Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343674,00.html

I saw a TV program about this too, and instead of going into all the details I’ll just recommend you read the article and try to find the video if you can. Anyway according to the theory, the asteroid didn’t hit Sodom directly, but some of the super-hot debris arced up into the sky for miles and miles before landing on that area, possibly among other places.

If correct, it would provide enough evidence to date the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to exactly June of 3123 B.C.

 

[Julia_Mae]

I’ll come back and provide more detail later, but in short, Nahmanides, a Jewish Bible scholar of the 13th century, reported a long standing interpretation of Genesis that suggested “homo sapiens” (as we call ourselves today) existed as an animal, though a highly advanced one that made simple tools and practiced ritual burial, long before Adam, but that Adam was indeed the first “man,” and he truly lived about 6000 years ago. The subtleties of the written Hebrew language allowed the authors of the Old Testament to condense alot of information into a very small amount of words.

Right. The difference between h.sap and human being.

 

[exoflare]

Please do.

Agreed!

 

[patrick457]

I date the Flood of Noah to 2807 B.C. (based on the work of W. Bruce Masse). The cause of the Flood was a comet impact in the deep ocean. This explains the many flood myths throughout the world. But the flood did not literally cover all land, nor kill all humans and animals outside the Ark. Those assertions in Scripture are figurative elements, not literal.

I don’t think that the genealogies in the Bible can be used to date the time of Adam and Eve. The lifespans given are figurative, not literal. Also, the genealogies prior to Abraham are probably not exhaustive; they may skip over a number of generations, giving only the names of the most prominent persons between Adam and Abraham.

 

[CalCatholic]

I’ll look to science to give me a date as to the beginning of mankind, and I will look to the Bible for God’s covenant and relationship with mankind. All I need to know from Genesis is that God created the heavens and the earth and everything else!

 

[buffalo]

Source?

What are the max and min possible dates of creation according to all possible (liberal) interpretations of Septuagint genealogy?
No Masoretic LXX ONLY

 

[Spirithound]

Also I have an atheist telling me that marriage existed before God gave it to Adam and Eve. How can I argue against this? Any advice would be appreciated.

We may only presume “Adam and Eve” existed if we further presume that God exists. Then we are no longer dealing with an atheist.

You’ll need to discover how he is defining his terms here. What is marriage to him?