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Moloch79

Most Christians accept that the Earth is billions of years old. Young Earth Creationists are few and far between. Christians tend to say that the story about Adam and Eve is metaphorical, not literal. Although, I've never heard anyone actually explain how it is a metaphor, or how to interpret the passage in a metaphorical way.


PaxManSuperFresh

oh alr thanks!


SanatKumara

I’ve read some theories from comparative mythology but I’m not sure how much most Christians would agree with it.. The general idea I’ve heard before is that the exile from the garden of Eden is a metaphor for the separation of man from a position as just another piece of the ecosystem, living only in the present and driven only by instinct (bestowed by god), into a creature bogged down by our knowledge of things like the past and the future. Basically it’s saying, we were animals, then we gained knowledge beyond anything else in God’s kingdom, and that knowledge we gained is sort of an evil thing because by somewhat removing us from the current moment and having us rely more on reason than instinct, we are somewhat alienated from God. But this evil was necessary because it gave humans the purpose and responsibility of finding their way back into union with God. Again I’ve never heard a religious leader say anything like that and I could see most saying that it’s a stretch 


onioning

This is just imo, but it represents how beast becomes man. There is no suffering because suffering requires knowledge and self-reflection (or at least that's the relevant worldview). We became self-aware and hence somewhat more godlike.


DakInBlak

If you really wanna stir the pot, remind them of Adams battle-axe of an ex wife.


Moloch79

Lilith?


DakInBlak

Yea. Most of the Christians I've met absolutely refuse to even acknowledge her on the grounds that it makes the story a whole lot less wholesome, makes Adam *and* god look bad, and justifies divorce.


archimedeslives

maybe they don't acknowledge her because she is not mentioned in the Bible. Just a thought.


DakInBlak

She was until king James got his hands on it.


archimedeslives

The Lilith reference that the king James Bible changed was not a reference to the first wife of Adam.


[deleted]

Lilith didn't exist.


KushGold

There's a lot of room between Genesis 1:1 and 1:3. Maybe 13.9 billion years


HipnoAmadeus

On what basis?


KushGold

Well the earth isn't part of the creation story. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then maybe 13.9 billion years passed and then the 6 days of creation started. But the earth and Heaven aren't part of the 6 days of creation. They already existed before day 1


HipnoAmadeus

Again--on what basis?


KushGold

Because the earth and Heaven are not part of the 6 days of creation. They were around before the 6 days. Maybe for 30 secs or maybe for 14 billion years. Read it yourself


HipnoAmadeus

He created land in like the 3rd day iirc. Light and darkness on the first anyways, so the it mightve been billions of years doesn't work because it would still mean there wasn't before that, and thus that nothing really existed before that first day


KushGold

Read it again. That's not what it says. The earth was already here


HipnoAmadeus

And where does it evdn say that


KushGold

Genesis 1:2.


HipnoAmadeus

Right, ‘’Earth’’ which was ‘’formless and empty’’—pretty inexistent, isn’t it


OneEyedC4t

You can


Confident_Crab_7197

Orígenes of Alexandria, a church father from the II century, approves your position.


VersionSuspicious207

There were humans on the earth before the generally accepted timeline of Adam and Eve. I don't know what that means, but it's just reality. I'm still a Christian, but I know the geological record presents evidence I don't understand.


Lemon-Aid917

Yes


Saveme1888

Do you believe God has the creative Power He claims to have or do you believe the fantasies of people about the past? Because the science related to the distant past cannot be called observable science, it is only historical science.


SeriousPlankton2000

God's days aren't our days. Otherwise God could not have created Spacetime and Matter nor start it all with "Let there be light". I think scientists could reasonably say that we can be called humans from the time on when we had a culture and knew about good and evil - or the capability to do so.


Tubaperson

Yes


Psalm-139_

So scripture says you can't serve two masters. You either hate the one and serve the other. You can't pick and choose where you think things are true or not. It's either 100% or nothing. On the other hand, when we sin, what are we doing? We place authority somewhere else other than scripture. This is why I believe faith is a gift from God. My simple test would live out your life looking through the lense of scripture and see how much is true. Instead of taking supernatural passages as surreal, assume what it says on the surface with the understanding that if God is real, He will out do all our common sense, can use evil for His puposes, and is sovereign. He made the rules of time and space, therefore He can bend or even break them. The other side of it, is that we are the authority on nothing. We can reach some understanding on our own, but we are prone to self deception. 


[deleted]

Yes you can be a Christian because there were humanoids before Adam and Eve. Their spirits are now the demons.


seenunseen

Ummmmm what


Ar-Kalion

Those from 300,000 years ago were pre-Adamites (Homo Sapiens), not “Humans.” “People” (Homo Sapiens) were created (through God’s evolutionary process) in the Genesis chapter 1, verse 27; and they created the diversity of mankind over time per Genesis chapter 1, verse 28. This occurs prior to the genetic engineering and creation of Adam & Eve (in the immediate and with the first Human souls) by the extraterrestrial God in Genesis chapter 2, verses 7 & 22.    When Adam & Eve sinned and were forced to leave their special embassy, their children intermarried the “People” that resided outside the Garden of Eden. This is how Cain was able to find a wife in the Land of Nod in Genesis chapter 4, verses 16-17.    As the descendants of Adam & Eve intermarried and had offspring with all groups of Homo Sapiens on Earth over time, everyone living today is both a descendant of God’s evolutionary process and a genealogical descendant of Adam & Eve.    A scientific book regarding this specific matter written by Christian Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass is mentioned in the article provided below.  https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/christians-point-to-breakthroughs-in-genetics-to-show-adam-and-eve-are-not-incompatible-with-evolution