Problem: Because Sarai was barren, she told Abraham to impregnate her handmaiden, Hagar. However, this seems too bizarre to be believed! Why would Sarai willingly tell her husband to cheat on her?
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Problem: In chapters 5 and 7 of his book, the author of Hebrews argues that Jesus is in the high priesthood of Melchizedek.
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Problem: If God is not the author of confusion, what about the Tower of Babel? This isn’t a difficult issue at all.
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Problem: Critics often argue that Genesis 1-11 is simply a myth, and stories like the Tower of Babel are fictitious. Is this the case?
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Problem: Does Genesis contradict itself regarding when human languages divided? No, there is no contradiction in Genesis regarding the origin of human languages. Genesis 11 records the famous story of the “tower of Babel,” when God first divided human language by an instant, supernatural act. Critics, however, claim that this presents a contradiction because (so they say) different languages already exist in Genesis 10, before the episode at Babel. This accusation, however, is based on a simple misreading of the chronological relationship between the genealogies of Genesis 10 and the continued historical narrative in Genesis 11. There is, in fact, no conflict at all.
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Problem: This passage states that Shem will be blessed by God. Christian apologists often argue that God would bring the Messiah through the Semitic peoples (e.g. Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Arabians, etc.). Is this the case?
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Problem: Genesis records,
[Noah] drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.”
Some interpreters claim that this refers to Ham raping his father. In fact, as early as the Babylonian Talmud, Jewish interpreters held that Ham either raped his father or castrated him (Sanhedrin, 70a). Modern scholars like Hermann Gunkel, Gerhard von Rad, Robert Gagnon, and Martti Nissinen have also held to this view. Is this the case?
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Problem: Critics point out that rainbows have been around since precipitation occurred in the early Earth. However, this passage seems to imply that God created rainbows after the Flood. Which is true?
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Problem: This passage states that “God remembered Noah…” However, the Bible also teaches that God is omniscient (Ps. 147:5; Heb. 4:13). Why would an omniscient Being need to remember something?
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Problem: Have all people sinned or not? The Bible seems to suggest that some people never sinned. So, what is the answer?
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Problem: How many kinds did Noah bring into the ark, two or seven?
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Problem: Does the Lord change or not? God does not change His nature. But he does change in how he deals with people. They are different categories of change and present no contradiction.
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Problem: In Genesis 6:6, we read, “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” Boyd writes, “If the future is eternally settled in God’s mind and/or by God’s will, it is challenging to see how God could genuinely regret some of his decisions in light of how events played themselves out (Gen. 6:6–7; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35). How can you regret something that turns out exactly as you eternally knew it would?”[1]
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Problem: The description of the nephilim has plagued students of the Bible for centuries. Who or what were the nephilim?
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Problem: Who were the “sons of God” in Genesis 6? Genesis 6 is a cryptic passage of Scripture which precedes the historical account of the worldwide Flood. The event of Genesis 6:2-5 was one of the primary factors contributing to the wickedness before the Flood. Moses wrote that the “sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose,” (Gen 6:2). The offspring from this union became a race called the Nephilim.
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