Did man have free will in the Garden before eating of the tree of knowledge? Before or after?
It’s worth asking: Do you actually have free will now?
Actually there is a lack of agreement in Christian circles today that we have “free will” even now. Certainly we have free will to make decisions such as what food we will eat and drink and wear, but when it comes to doing things that please God we have what Martin Luther called a “bound will.” Without the intervening power of the Holy Spirit, our will is bound to do things that are rebellious against God, harmful to ourselves, and lacking love toward those around us. What’s more, we don’t decide to be a believer in Jesus Christ, but the Holy Spirit enables us to call Jesus as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3), he “calls us by the Gospel,” as Luther writes in the catechism.
There is no real way to answer this question authoritatively, as the Bible does not clearly say what the situation was. The best we can tell is that Adam and Eve were content living within God’s will during their time in the Garden of Eden. They didn’t know anything other than God’s will prior to when the serpent deceived them, working confusion in their minds about what God actually said regarding the trees in the midst of the Garden. It was after they rebelled against God’s command and ate the fruit that their eyes were opened and they knew both good and evil.
What covering was removed from the ark? 8:13
Noah removed the covering from the ark. Noah removed the ROOF of the ark.
Who is “US” in Genesis 11:7?
This is not the first occurrence of “us” in Genesis. The first significant one is Genesis 1:26, “Let US make man in our image…”. Christians recognize these as pointing to the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, we believe that Jesus is eternally preexistent even before being born as a man. Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Spirit of God was hovering on the waters. Where exactly was Jesus and in what form in the creation account? When you put Genesis 1 and John 1 together you find that Jesus was the Word God spoke as He created all things. Jesus is that life-giving Word. While we don’t “understand” this in the strictest sense, it’s pretty mind-blowing and we believe it.
How were there “days and nights” before the sun was created on Day 4?
God himself was the light that lit up everything before the sun had yet been created. Actually this situation will happen again in the future. Revelation 22:5 tells us that when Jesus comes again and takes us to live with him in the new heavens and the new earth, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”
*Genesis 6:1-4. Who were the Nephilim? Who were the Sons of God? Who were the daughters of men?
Nephilim can be understood as thugs, tyrants, mighty men, or men of renown.
The “Sons of God” were likely descendants of Seth, godly believers through whom the promised Messiah would come. Some have actually understood the “sons of God” to be angels or demigods, on account of Job 1:6 and 38:7 where the word refers to angels.
The daughters of men could have been Sethite or Cainite women, godless unbelievers.
While we have to admit some uncertainty regarding what was actually going on and the identity of the various parties named in Genesis 6, we rightly understand that God’s good creation was increasingly, thoroughly, totally corrupt, and living in rebellion to God’s will prior to the worldwide flood.
Where did Cain get his wife?
During Noah’s time why were the people’s marriages not appropriate?
Cain’s wife may have been one of his sisters or a niece. The human race was still genetically pure, and there was no fear of side-effects from marrying relatives. This is the best guess we can make.
Dinosaurs on the ark?
We cannot know for sure, though it is reasonable that dinosaurs and human beings could have existed at the same time. Dinosaurs were created by the sixth day. Though there are some dinosaur bones that present them as being very large, based on fossil record, the average dinosaur was the size of a sheep, and thus could conceivably have fit on the ark. Likely through climate change and the flood many dinosaurs died off.
For more information on this topic, you can borrow a book from me, “Life’s Big Questions; God’s Big Answers.”
They did not eat meat before the flood. Where did they get clothes?
God clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with animal skins after the fall into sin. While people may have clothed themselves in animal skins, this does not mean that they were eating meat. Perhaps they took the pelts from animals that had died of natural causes; perhaps they used the skins of the animals that were sacrificed to God in order to clothe themselves.
Where in the bible is the phrase, “God will not give you more than you can handle”?
1 Cor. 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it,” which we have paraphrased, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”
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