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tally Christian milieu , and human
beings are incapable of living totally
according to God's laws. So when
choosing a mate, we realize that we
must find as compatible a partner
as possible-one who shares our
background , our educat ion, and
our basic beliefs. Otherwise conflict
is almost inevitable.
Religious compatibility is an ex–
tremely importan! factor in marital
success. Even though ahusband and
wife may not themselves argue about
religion, problems with in-laws may
bea factor. And thequestion of which
religion toteach thechildren may?liso
present sorne difficulty. Although
many interfaith marriages have
worked out well , a great many others
have ended in misery.
When Christ carne on the scene,
His religion was a new one. And
wh ile sorne households were called
to the faith together (Acts 16:30-
34) , other individuals were called
alone. Since true Christianity entails
a turning away from false or pagan
religion , such households were
bound to be divided in their prac–
tices and loyalties.
Today sorne newly converted
Christians face the same conf lict
with their unconverted families and
friends. Whi le they are committed
to love these individuals, they
st i ll must turn away from their
former unchristian pract ices, and
this change will probably offend
some.
So while a Christian who truly
lives by Christ 's teachings might in
principie make a wonderful spouse,
in reality religion can be a barr'ier
to a good relationship with some–
one who believes differently.
W
" In the December 1977
Plain
__1
Truth
1
was surprised to read
about trees being 8000 years old .
1
thought that before 6000 years ago
the world was 'without form and
void .· So how do you explain 8000-
year-old trees?"
George M. ,
Daly City, California
11
The article you refer to stated
that living bristlecone pines
are known to be nearly 5000 years
old, not 8000 . However, the article
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1978
did explain that by matching the in–
ner tree rings of a living tree with
the outer rings of even older dead
stumps or logs, a sequence of over
8000 (presumably annual) rings
can be established. lf such tree-ring
chronologies are accurate, they
seem to imply that there was at
least sorne continuity of lite over the
past 8000 years or so. This in turn
would indicate that if the words
" without form and void" (Hebrew
tohu
and
bohu)
in Genesis 1:2 refer
to a period 6000 years ago, then
they cannot mean that lite totally
ceased at that time. This should not
be too surprising, since the ex–
pression
" tohu
and
bohu"
need not
mean total destruction and the ces–
sation of all life. In Jeremiah 4:23, for
example, the land of Palestine is
describedas
"tohuand bohu.
" In this
passage, Palestine is destroyed and
desolate; yet lite continues and men
are said to flee from the cities into the
thickets (verse 29). The bristlecone
pinedoes indeed pose a challenge to
certain religiousconcepts,especial!y
the belief in a 6000-year-old uní–
verse. But for those who accept the
scientific and biblical evidence for a
much older creation, such tree-ring
chronologies can be welcomed as a
valuable tool to better understand the
past.
1
"lf only Adam and Eve and
their two sons were alive on
the
tace
of the earth, why was it nec–
essary for the Lord to set a mark
upon Cain? And when was his wife
born or created? lt would almost ap–
pear that there were people living on
the earth before God created Adam
and Eve."
C.N .,
Basom, New York
I
R I
Genesis 5:3-5 reads: " When
111
Adam had lived a hundred
and thirty years, he became the
father of . . . Seth. The days of
Adam after he became the father of
Seth were eight hundred years; and
he had other sons and daughters.
ThusallthedaysthatAdamlivedwere
nine hundred and thirty years. ..."
Adam and Eve conceived Seth after
Cain ki lled Abel , so between the time
Adam and Eve were created and the
time of that murder approximately a
century had elapsed . This provided
plenty of time for severa! generations
of human beings to spring up from the
' 'other sons and daughters' ' that Eve
bore during this period. The Genesis
account names only Adam's domi–
nan! children-those who had a
profound effect on history.
lt is obvious that Caín married
one of his sisters. There simply
weren' t any unrelated females for
him to marry. Adam was the first
man
(1
Cor. 15:45), and Eve was the
mother of all human beings except
for Adam (Gen. 3:20).
Perhaps because of modern laws
concerning marriage to near blood
relatives, many have not seen this
obvious solution. But it was not
wrong for brothers and sisters to
marry at that early time in human
history. Abraham married his half
sister Sarah (Gen. 20:12), and his
brother Nahor married his brother
Haran 's daughter (Gen . 11:27, 29).
However, by the time of Moses,
marriage between close relatives
was prohibited (Lev. 18). (Such
marriages should not take place
today. They greatly increase the
danger of passing on inherited dis–
eases or birth defects to any chil–
dren that are conceived .)
So there were many people on
the earth when Caín slew Abel , but
they were all descendants of Adam
and Eve. For more on this and re–
lated questions, send for a free
copy of our booklet
Answers from
Genesis.
lml
"Would it be possible to print
lKt
the times of the holy days this
spring?"
L.W. ,
Friendship, New York
l
This year the Passover is on
April 21, the Days of Unleav–
ened Bread run from April 22-28,
and Pentecost is on June 11. Festi–
val dates for severa! years in ad–
van({e and other vital information on
these annual occasions is available
in the free booklet
Pagan Holi–
days-or
God's
Holy Days- Which?
Request yours by writing to the ad–
dress nearest you (see inside front
cover).
o
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