Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Gramps,

My Mother-in-law is Presbyterian and they are using a version of the Bible that I had not heard of. It is in paperback and says there were other people on earth when Adam and Eve were here, so when they left the garden it was with those people their sons had children with. They were trying to get around what they saw would be “incest” otherwise. The question needs to be answerable from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible if possible, so she can relate to it. She is 83 and doesn’t want to change so doesn’t want too much truth to muddy her waters, but she is a choice woman who needs to understand this to get on with more important things.

Christine, from Highland, Illinois

 

Dear Christine,

I know of at least 33 different English translations of the bible. But I doubt that the version you refer to that implies that Adam and Eve met other people when they were expelled from the Garden is among them. This is undoubtedly a version developed by some recent individual or group who have been writing their own beliefs into the bible.

The bible is the recorded word of God spoken to his prophets in Old and New Testament times, starting with Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. If one wants to find what God actually said to his servants it would seem logical to go to the most primitive sources rather than to the most recent. None of the standard versions of the scriptures give any hint that Adam and Eve were not the first two people to inhabit the earth and the progenitors of all the human family.

To attempt to talk about “incest” and gene pools as being reasons for objecting to the written word of God is ludicrous. By so doing, we make God subject to the man-made “laws” of our current modern science. By the way, a scientific law is nothing more than a scientific theory that has gained general acceptance. We cannot begin to assume that all the conditions that scientists can measure today were the same six thousand years ago. Further, there are many areas in modern science that do not concur with the recorded word of God. It would be well for us to have the faith necessary to understand that where such differences do exist, science is wrong in every case. God does exist. He is more real than the scientists. He is the source of all true knowledge and wisdom. We come to know the truths of God by living in accordance with the principles that He has revealed to mankind. By doing so, we may receive the influence of the Holy Spirit that teaches us and confirms to us eternal truths. The best way to get your elderly friend to accept the truth would be to help her live the principles of the gospel first, and then ask her questions later.

Gramps

Copyright © 2024 Ask Gramps - Q and A about Mormon Doctrine. All Rights Reserved.
This website is not owned by or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. The views expressed by individual users are the responsibility of those users and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church. For the official Church websites, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org.

Pin It on Pinterest