GENESIS FOR BEGINNERS (August 12, 2009)

God made Adam from earth (Genesis 2:7) and Eve from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:21-22). Today this would be called cloning, which means that Adam married himself, or at best an identical twin of his. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2), but Cain killed Abel (Genesis 4:8). God thus banished him to the land of Nod, east of Eden, where he and his wife had a son, Enoch (Genesis 4:16). As Adam had other sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4), Cain must have married his own sister, but it remains a mystery why she was banished to the land of Nod ahead of him. And all this from the very first few pages of the bible. Now, who would not get hopping mad upon reading a narrative so hopelessly befuddled?!