There is a ancient interpretive tradition that doesn’t have much traction with more fundamentalist Christians in the West. Probably shouldn’t get into that, but the idea deals with a pattern of God’s selection of a representative few with whom to work. Think of Abram being called out of the scattering of Babylon, Israel being selected out of the nations, Moses out of the Israelites, same with David. In the same way God selected humans out of a myriad of animals, and The Human (Adam) out of all humanity and placed him in the garden. For what it’s worth...

With regards to different races, supposedly these were descendants of Cain and were cursed because of his slaying of Able. This is why for the longest time the Mormons refused to allow people of color to be members.

There'd be no need. Their progeny would be a different story.

This interpretation was/is pervasive in some circles, but I don't think it's at all in line with the Bible and it has been used to support some serious evil. The Bible itself aside, one logical flaw is that we're somehow supposed to assume that Cain and Abel were white and the "other" races were cursed? Pretty sure this is ancient Middle Eastern literature. White people are the among the "other" races...

Since when does a religion need to make sense?

If we are all descendants of Noah and his wife; and his wife was from the last of the line of Cain then wouldn't we all have some of Grandma Noah in us and thus a trace of Cain and maybe a horse thief or two.

Feel free to correct me but somewhere I studied that when the Hebrews were keeping the lineage straight they only used the male line because they thought the woman was only like a incubator for the mans seed and didn't understand that a baby was half their mother. Actually each baby has feminine and masculine characteristics from both parents. In other words back kind of like Adam was before God took the woman out of him. Then they were not whole until He joined them back together in marriage.

Still we are either born a boy or a girl and up to us to play the hand we are dealt.

Seems plausible to me Foxpaw.

I've seen some people try to play their get out of jail card by saying it was past the 10th generation and thus was void, but so would anybody else living now.

If Adam and Eve were that old apparently immortals before they lost that status by sining. Dose that not seem to support the ancient aliens thing? Experiment to spread human race like couple old cockroaches? If Adam and Eve had all that time as immortals to spread the he human race? Does that mean Noah and his wife were also able to repopulate the earth. We're they and the creatures they loaded on the ark give immortal status for a period of time?? Was Noah an ancient alien?

Mac

According to the Book of Enoch, Noah certainly did not look like a normal human child when born.

I know where you're coming from, and I think I know what you mean. All I can say is that I think any worthwhile religion ought to make internal sense and make sense with the reality we experience in real life. If our religion doesn't do that, then we need to do stop and think about what we're doing because we're wasting our time. The problem is that most of us haven't done a lot of the necessary work. We haven't examined what we say we believe enough to know if it might be true. We blindly follow out of habit or tradition and we end up believing and professing things that don't make sense. I'm not saying I've got it all figured out. There's still a lot of work to do, but so far, I'm still convinced that the story of the Bible is the truth. I'm also very aware that people read and interpret the Bible in very different ways, and that makes this conversation a lot more difficult.

If we take a somewhat broader perspective, I think it's pretty easy to make the case that everyone has a religion. Simply put, religion is the body of ideas that we use to define or describe reality as we experience it (this may not be the etymological definition of religion, but it certainly works both philosophically and practically). It's what we use to make sense of the world and our life in it. It's the Grand Narrative: what is the story of the world and what role do I play in it? It's how we answer life's big questions, and the way you answer those questions will determine how you live your life. That's religion. And we all do this, consciously or subconsciously. We have a way that we perceive the arc of history, a set of core problems with the world, a notion of "the good life" or the "ideal" condition; and we try to set our lives on a course that leads us toward that "good life". Often this means we gravitate toward leaders, promoters, or examples of certain ideas or ideals; and we end up with cult-like religious followings around those people/things. At this time in the modern West, I think the most widely followed religious narratives are centered around one or more of the following: the idea of progress (moral or technological), politics, or the old standards of money, sex, and power. Usually it's combinations of these. I think this is true for people who consider themselves non-religious, but also for people who are traditionally religious (There are far too many Christians who act as though the world will be saved through American politics, and that's extremely concerning to me.). How many celebrities and politicians have cult followings? Kim Kardashian? Elon Musk? Tom Brady? Donald Trump? They are our priests: connecting us to the divine and transcendent. If we follow them (read the right books, follow the right twitter feeds, attend the right rallies, invest in the right companies), then we have hope for ourselves and the world. Heaven will exist on Earth and we can have a part in it!

Mark will be by shortly and answer all your questions. Maybe not Danny's, I have noticed it's been a long time since he's called Danny bro,

danny will always be a trapping brother

We'd all agree we're ALL fallen and from Adam if we're followers of Christ.

Blessings,
Mark

Adam and Eve had bellybuttons,and so did God,because God made us all in his image.
Race is just a tan or lack of a tan.

Why are the indians in the arctic almost the same color as the amazon indians if climate determines the color of humans? Why are the amazonians not dark skinned and the arctic indians white?

At what point did humans become white in northern Europe? Is white skin a result of breeding with Neanderthals? Geneticists say its Neandertal DNA that makes people redheads. Are Neanderthals descended from Adam and Eve? Who were the "others" that Cain moved in with? What about Denisovans?

I am at a loss how anyone could believe the bible is literal.