Answers – To Difficult Questions (Genesis)

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Genesis 1 and 2 – Does it present contradictory creation accounts?
Genesis 1:1—How can the universe have a “beginning” when modern science says energy is eternal?
Genesis 1:1—How could the author of Genesis know what happened at creation before he was even created?
Genesis 1:1- Does the Bible teach that God created the universe or just the Planet Earth?
Genesis 1:1 – Does the Bible teach creatio ex nihilo (or a creation out of nothing)?
Genesis 1:3 – How could God create light after the creation of the Earth?
Genesis 1:6 – Does Genesis teach a three-story universe?
Genesis 1:14—How could there be light before the sun was made?
Genesis 1:14 – Does Genesis teach that the sun and moon were created after the Earth?
Genesis 1:21 – Why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs?
Genesis 1:26 – Does this passage prove the Trinity?
Genesis 1:26—Why does the Bible use the plural “us” when God refers to Himself?
Genesis 1:26 – How many Gods are there, one or many?
Genesis 1:27—Were Adam and Eve real people or just myths?
Genesis 1:26-27 -Were Adam and Eve the first two literal people on Earth?
Genesis 1:29-30 – Does this passage claim that lions and tigers were vegetarians?
Genesis 1,2 – Does Genesis 1 contradict Genesis 2?
Genesis 2:1—How could the world be created in six days?
Genesis 2:2-3 – Why does God need to rest?
Genesis 2:4—Why does this chapter use the term “Lord God” rather than “God” as in chapter one?
Genesis 2:4 – Why does the creation story repeat itself?Genesis 2:8—Was the Garden of Eden a real place or just a myth?
Genesis 2:10-14 – Are these mythical rivers?
Genesis 2:17—Why didn’t Adam die the day he ate the forbidden fruit, as God said he would?
Genesis 2:17 – Did death really begin at the fall of humans?
Genesis 2:18 – Are women merely a “helper” for men?
Genesis 2:19 – Were animals created after the first humans?
Genesis 2:19 – How can we explain the difference in the order of creation events between Genesis 1 and 2?
Genesis 3:1 – Did Adam and Eve really talk to a snake?
Genesis 3:5—Is man made like God or does he become like God?
Genesis 3:8—How could Adam and Eve go from God’s presence if God is everywhere?
Genesis 3:9 – Is God all-knowing or not?
Genesis 3:9 – Doesn’t God saying “Adam, where are you?” show God didn’t know something?
Genesis 3:15 – Does this passage support the Roman Catholic view of Mary as co-redemptrix with Christ?
Genesis 3:16 – Does this passage sanction men ruling over women?
Genesis 3:16 – God multiplies the pain of women in child bearing
Genesis 3:22 – How many Gods are there, one or many?
Genesis 4:3-5 – Was Abel’s sacrifice better because it was a blood sacrifice?
Genesis 4:5—Does God show respect to certain persons?
Genesis 4:12–13—Why wasn’t Cain given capital punishment for the murder he committed?
Genesis 4:17—Where did Cain get his wife?
Genesis 4:17 – Where did Cain get his wife? (2)
Genesis 4:17—How could Cain marry a relative without committing incest?
Genesis 4:19—Does the Bible approve of polygamy?
Genesis 4:26—Did worship of God begin here or earlier?
Genesis 5:1-31 – Did people really live hundreds of years according to Genesis?
Genesis 5:1 How can we reconcile this chronology (which adds up to c. 4,000 years b.c.) when anthropology has shown humankind is much older?
Genesis 5:5 – Did these people really live this long?
Genesis 5:5—How could people live over 900 years?
Genesis 5:24 – Did anyone ascend into heaven before Jesus or not?
Genesis 6:2—Were the “Sons of God” angels who married women?
Genesis 6:2,5 – Who were the “sons of God” in Genesis 6?
Genesis 6:3 – Do humans really live for 120 years?
Genesis 6:3—Does this contradict what Moses said in Psalm 90 about human longevity?
Genesis 6:4 – Who or what were the Nephilim?
Genesis 6:6—Why was God unsatisfied with what He made?
Genesis 6:6 – Did God make a mistake in creating mankind?
Genesis 6:6-7 – Does the Lord change or not?
Genesis 6:14 How could Noah’s ark hold hundreds of thousands of species?
Genesis 6:14—How could a wooden ark survive such a violent flood?
Genesis 6:19-20 – How many kinds did Noah bring into the ark, two or seven?
Genesis 7:1 – Have all people sinned or not?
Genesis 7:24—Did the flood rains last forty days or one hundred fifty days?
Genesis 8:1 – Did God forget Noah?
Genesis 8:1—Did God temporarily forget Noah?
Genesis 8:21—Did God change His mind about never destroying the world again?
Genesis 8:22—If seedtime and harvest were never to be interrupted, then why were there famines?
Genesis 9:3—Did God ordain the eating of meat or only plants?
Genesis 9:13 – Does this passage imply that rainbows began during the time of Noah?
Genesis 9:21-25 – Did Ham rape Noah?
Genesis 9:26-27 – Does this predict that the Messiah would come from the Semitic people (i.e. the descendants of Shem)?
Genesis 10 & 11 – Does Genesis contradict itself regarding when human languages divided?
Genesis 10:5 (cf. 20, 31)—Why does this verse indicate that humankind had many languages when Genesis 11:1 says there was only one?
Genesis 11:1-9 – Did ancient humans really build the Tower of Babel?
Genesis 11:8-9 – If God is not the author of confusion, what about the Tower of Babel?
Genesis 11:5—How can God “come down” from heaven when He is already here (and everywhere)?
Genesis 11:28—How could Abraham’s family be from Ur of the Chaldees when elsewhere it says his ancestors came from Haran?
Genesis 11:32—Was Abraham 75 years old when he left Haran, or was he 135 years old?
Genesis 12:10–20; 20:1–18—Why did God let Abraham prosper by lying?
Genesis 14—Is the account of Abraham’s defeat of the Mesopotamian kings historically reliable?
Genesis 14:17-20 – Does Melchizedek foreshadow the work of Christ as high priest?
Genesis 14:18–20—Who was Melchizedek?
Genesis 15:16—Did the Exodus occur in the fourth generation or in the sixth?
Genesis 15:17; 19:23—Why does the Bible use unscientific terms such as “the sun going down”?
Genesis 16:1-2 – Isn’t this odd that Sarai would want Abraham to impregnate Hagar?
Genesis 17:1 – Has anyone seen God or not?
Genesis 17:10 – Isn’t circumcision a cruel and unusual act?
Genesis 19:8 – Why did Lot give his daughters to the crowd of men?
Genesis 19:8—Was the sin of Sodom homosexuality or inhospitality?
Genesis 19:30–38—Does the Bible condone incest?
Genesis 20:12—If incest is condemned, why did Abraham marry his sister?
Genesis 21:32, 34—Did the Bible mistakenly place the Philistines in Palestine at the time of Abraham?
Genesis 22:1 – Why would God test Abraham if he is all-knowing?\
Genesis 22:1 – Does God tempt people or not?
Genesis 22:2—Why did God tell Abraham to sacrifice his son when God condemned human sacrifice in Leviticus 18 and 20?
Genesis 22:2—How could Isaac be Abraham’s “only son” when he already had Ishmael?
Genesis 22:2 – Why does Genesis 22 refer to Isaac as Abraham’s “only son”?
Genesis 22:2 – How many children did Abraham have, one or two?
Genesis 22:1-2 – Why did God tell Abraham to kill his son Isaac?
Genesis 22:12—Was God ignorant of how Abraham would respond?
Genesis 22:1-19 – Why did God command a human sacrifice?
Genesis 23—How could the sons of Heth have been in Hebron in 2050 B.C. when their kingdom was in what is now modern Turkey?
Genesis 25:1—Why does Genesis 25:1 call Keturah Abraham’s wife, while 1 Chronicles 1:32 calls her his concubine?
Genesis 25:1–2—How could Abraham have children naturally here when years before he needed a miracle to have Isaac?
Genesis 25:8 – Did the Hebrews have a concept of life after death at such an early point in their history?
Genesis 25:31–33 – Did Jacob purchase the birthright or get it by deception?
Genesis 26:4-5 – Is the Abrahamic Covenant still operative today? –or Did the Jews forfeit these blessings because of their rejection of Christ?
Genesis 26:33—Was Beersheba named by Abraham or later by Isaac?
Genesis 26:34—How many wives did Esau have?
Genesis 27:42–44—Did Jacob return to Haran to flee Esau or to get a wife?
Genesis 27 – Why would God bless Jacob, rather than Esau, when Jacob lied and deceived to get the deathbed will?
Genesis 29:21–30—When was Rachel given to be Jacob’s wife?
Genesis 31:20—How could God bless Jacob after he deceived Laban?
Genesis 31:32—How could God bless Rachel when she stole Laban’s idols and then lied to him about it?
Genesis 32:30—Can God’s face be seen?
Genesis 36:31 – How could Moses write this before the monarchy?
Genesis 37:28 – Who purchased Joseph, the Ishmaelites or the Midianites?
Genesis 38:9 – Why did God kill a man for spilling his seed on the ground?
Genesis 46:4—Did God bring Jacob out of Egypt or did he die there?
Genesis 46:8–27—Why does the Bible speak about the twelve tribes of Israel when actually there were fourteen?
Genesis 47:31 – Did Jacob worship at the head of the bed or leaning on a staff?
Genesis 49:5–7—How can Jacob pronounce a curse upon Levi here and yet Moses blessed Levi in Deuteronomy 33:8–11?
Genesis 49:10—Who or what is “Shiloh” in this verse?
Genesis 49:10 – Was Jacob predicting Jesus in this passage?
Genesis 49:10b—If Judah was to reign until the Messiah, why was Israel’s first king from the tribe of Benjamin?
Genesis 49:14–15—Why did Jacob predict slavery for Issachar here, but in Deuteronomy 33:18–19 Moses predicted blessing?
Genesis 37-50 – Is the story of Joseph a myth?
Genesis 37-50 – What are the parallels between Joseph and Jesus? Does this story prefigure Jesus?