On 1st June we had a question and answer session in the evening service. Below are the questions asked along with their answers. The recording from the service can be found on the Sermons page.
Was Cain’s wife his sister? Where did she come from as from the narrative it appears that Adam and Eve did not have more children until later?
We don’t know if she was a sister – she could have been a niece or even great niece. What we do know is that she was a pretty relative! Biblically there is no other alternative since in his word God says that all people come from Adam & Eve!
- Wasn’t it risky?
- No because Adam and Eve would have had near perfect set of 130,000 genes. One from each parent goes to make up the new person.
- Most times a faulty gene will be recessive and so not apparent – thus unlikely for two near perfect people to have the same faulty gene when paired up. However, over time as mutations occur the likelihood of siblings or relatives carrying exactly the same fault greatly increases.
- Even so – in the majority of cases a faulty from one parent will be cancelled out by the good gene from the other parent. Most abnormalities are what are called ‘recessive’ – and will only come out if they pair up with a similarly faulty gene (so you get a pair of fault genes!)
So really not very risky
- Wasn’t it against the law?
- No – the law came 100’s of years and many generations later. And God gave the prohibition then not simply because it was wrong but because it was dangerous and unhealthy for humanity.
- This is another case where God understood far more than the people he was leading and was concerned only for their good.
The other part of the questions is about where his wife came from if Eve only had other children much later.
- Key verse for this is 5:4. Mentions birth of Seth and seems to suggest the others were borne afterwards. But it doesn’t actually say they were born afterwards! The focus of the Genesis narrative is on the genealogy lines and so shouldn’t surprise us that the male children tend to get mentioned more. There isn’t anything in the text that says that they didn’t have children before this – it just says they had some afterwards!
If God is with us all the time do we need Angels?
- The simple answer to this is ‘we don’t’
- But it then begs the question – so who/what are angels and what do they do?
- Angels are essentially ‘Messengers’ – that’s what the name means.
- They are not people who have died! They were created by God before he made the world – Colossians 1:16-17
- Do they have bodies? Not usually! Heb 1:14 – ‘ministering spirits’. Spirits don’t have bodies! But they do sometimes take on human form – if the occasion needs that.
- Hebrews 13:2 says we sometimes entertain angels ‘without knowing it’, how else would that be possible if they didn’t take human form?
- On other hand, their appearance is sometimes in dazzling white and blazing glory (Matthew 28:2-4).
- Sometimes they are invisible and sometimes visible! 2 Kings 6:17. (Elisha and army round the city!)
- What we do know is that never, ever appear like this – (picture of chubby, cuddly angel). Most times people were afraid when they saw one. Always male and always adult.
- Do they have wings? Well some do, (Seraphim- who in Is 6 continually worship God) but see answer above why we know they don’t all have wings. In fact we should probably think of them as without wings and most times the Bible speaks of them there’s no mention of wings or flying
- What about guardian angels? Clearly there are times when God sends an angel to guard someone – Ps 91:11-12 and some think Matt 18:10 ‘their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father …’ (when speaking of children), and Acts 12:15 ‘it must be his angel’(referring to Peter).
- But in my view there’s not enough here to be sure we each have a personal angels all of the time. If we did then they why in Peters case would we read ‘An angel of the Lord appeared’ (why not ‘his angel’?) and why would Peter later conclude ‘The Lord sent his angel and rescued me’? It reads as if Peter saw this as an extraordinary thing, that he didn’t had one with him all the time.
- Safer to conclude that the Lord sends his angels as ‘messengers’ to help, guard, watch over etc, on special occasions when it’s needed.
Basically – to answer the question – why do we need them if we have God with us all the time – because he uses angels in the same way as he uses people – to work with him to fulfil his work and purposes in his creation.
Do science and religion support each other?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np52hebADpw
You say that God does things for our own good; then why does he let bad things happen in the world?
i. Bad things were never God’s wish. Made everything good. Bad came as result of rejection of God’s right to rule. So must be careful not to simply blame God!
ii. Why not stop bad things? He will! It won’t always be this way. It will be punished and justice will be meted out on unrepentant perpetrators. This is the great comfort the Bible gives to followers of Jesus.
iii. Why doesn’t he stop it now?
- Partly I think because he’s got people he wants to save – 2 Peter 3.
- Partly because he treats people with dignity and not robots!
- Partly because Humans have an amazing capacity for good; often bad things turn out to be opportunities for people to show the good side in them
- Partly because much of the bad things are actually brought on by ourselves and could be avoided! Building on flood plains, earthquake zones, wars, famines because of deforestation, poor husbandry, war, etc.
iv. The genius of God is that he takes what would otherwise be pointless and use it for Good for his people. Romans 8:28 ,1 Peter 1 – trials test & refine; prodigal son; Job.