the book of Genesis in the bible

[aquilotta]

OK folks, here's a query for someone out there... re., Genesis. IF we take it literally... can someone come up with a suggestion as to how explain the population growth in the first couple of chapters? I'm being serious here - would *genuinely* love to know if anyone has any suggestions, creative or otherwise, to explain how Cain was already building a city, explanations which still however remain true to what Genesis states GIVEN that the starting point is "for the sake of argument, let's take this literally and see where it takes us".... Can anyone help?
:-)
Many thanks!

[craft1948]

I remember they did an awful lot of begatting....

[coccinelle]

Maybe cities were little in those days?????????
Taking it literally as you say: people at the time lived for hundreds of years so could quite easily have hundreds of kids in a lifetime. maybe the women had twins, triplets... Cain must have slept with his mother or sister.
I'd try posting this in Religion they'll have a field day!

[coccinelle]

Ask a Jehovah's Witness, they always have the answer.

[Rollo]

Genesis is a litery work of fiction.

[jno]

there must have been an awful lot of incest going on. I can't speak for the American fundies, but I don't think many people in Britain, even archbishops, take the Bible literally. Many religions have creation myths and stuff about elephants standing on the backs of a tortoise etc.

[aquilotta]

*grin* I couldn't find the religion section on here, hence posting it here...
Thanks folks for taking the time & effort to reply!

[Buenchico]

I've tried looking at the mathematics of Genesis but I've decided that it just doesn't make any sense. Anyway, however you look at it, starting with just two people means that all of the early 'begatting' must have involved a great deal of sexual congress between close family members.

So I can't really answer your question but I can, at least, help you quickly find the relevant sections for any future questions you might want to post: If you click on the word 'Topics' (at the top left of this page) you'll find that the list on the left is expanded to show all of AB's sub-topics (such as 'Religion & Spirituality').

Chris