The Only True Adam of Genesis, Part 2: ADAM in the Hebrew in Genesis
The Only True Adam of Genesis, Part 2: ADAM in the Hebrew in Genesis
It never ceases to amaze me, how many times I may state something that is based upon at least two or three witnesses in Scripture, along with studies of word meanings in the original languages, along with contextual support, and often even historical support, yet people simply dismiss it because it goes against something which they were taught in the past. They are so confident in their supposed knowledge that they absolutely refuse to consider the possibility that they may be mistaken. They are so emotionally attached to their teachers, who are only fallible men, that they will not even examine the facts which underlie a contrary opinion.
Nowhere in Scripture do I see this phenomenon more often than in discussions of the creation of Adam which is described in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Many people who learned their Christian Identity from Bertrand Comparet, Wesley Swift, or Sheldon Emry are so certain that there was an 8th-Day Creation of Adam distinct from the explicit 6th-Day Creation that they simply refuse to listen to any contrary evidence whatsoever. There is nothing wrong with being loyal to our teachers, but real loyalty would require studying behind them, and being able to prove everything which they told us for ourselves. For this Christ Himself never said “just take My word for it”, but rather He always said “search the scriptures”. Real loyalty would also require a dialogue when different results are obtained through that study. This is why there are science labs in high schools, so that students can prove through demonstration the things which they hear in the lectures, rather than merely taking those things for granted. If you are the only student whose metal rod did not expand when it was heated, you might have some great new discovery, or perhaps you only made an error in your measurements, and that is much more likely to be the case.