Genesis 1:27-28 (Earth, translation, creation, hell, bible)

[reyjamiei]

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.


If Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth, created by God, why would he command them to replenish the earth? The word replenish means to fill up again or to restore to a former level or condition. So the word itself would denote that there were people before Adam and Eve, otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary to refill but to simply fill.

[michel]

Originally Posted by reyjamiei

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.


If Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth, created by God, why would he command them to replenish the earth? The word replenish means to fill up again or to restore to a former level or condition. So the word itself would denote that there were people before Adam and Eve, otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary to refill but to simply fill.

God's first command to man was that of producing abundant progeny sufficient to fill the earth (not replenish, a misleading translation of the Hebrew word male). Perhaps the animals had been created in large numbers of each kind, but the human population began with only two people. The function of subduing the earth and having dominion over it would necessarily require a long time--first, for the growth of a large enough population to fill the earth, and second, for the acquiring of enough knowledge and skill to enable man to bring it under full control and development.

[reyjamiei]

Originally Posted by michel

God's first command to man was that of producing abundant progeny sufficient to fill the earth (not replenish, a misleading translation of the Hebrew word male).

I don't doubt that it was a mistranslation but that doesn't help anyone reading the Bible in English who knows nothing about the original languages. I thought that it would be a mistranslation, that seems to be the stock answer. I wasn't trying to prove or disprove anything in the Bible, it was just an observation that I made while reading Genesis again.

[michel]

Originally Posted by reyjamiei

[/left]

I don't doubt that it was a mistranslation but that doesn't help anyone reading the Bible in English who knows nothing about the original languages. I thought that it would be a mistranslation, that seems to be the stock answer. I wasn't trying to prove or disprove anything in the Bible, it was just an observation that I made while reading Genesis again.

No Problem - I learned something new too!

[Ori]

I don't think the story is meant to be taken literally Reyjamiei.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by orichalcum

I don't think the story is meant to be taken literally Reyjamiei.

That's the thing though Ori, lots of people do.

If Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth, created by God, why would he command them to replenish the earth? The word replenish means to fill up again or to restore to a former level or condition. So the word itself would denote that there were people before Adam and Eve, otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary to refill but to simply fill.

You've got to ask yourself who the hell Cain and Able married - Cain apparently wandered into the desert and married a woman he met there, where did she come from? His sister perhaps, or maybe the creation of another God?

[SarahBeara]

Originally Posted by reyjamiei

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.


If Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth, created by God, why would he command them to replenish the earth? The word replenish means to fill up again or to restore to a former level or condition. So the word itself would denote that there were people before Adam and Eve, otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary to refill but to simply fill.

I once heard fossiles explained by a creationist and her answer works for this too. In the bible, it never says that we were his first creation. From the creationist point of view, this means that it is possible for God to have had other creations (which we see in fossile form) that are not mentioned in the bible and that it is possible that when those previous creations were gone, he created modern man and commanded us to replenish the earth. There is also the explanation of translation. Even if the bible was the literal dictation of God, that wouldn't mean that what we had the literal word of God, due to the translation.

[Stormygale]

I keep telling everyone, that the Bible is filled with sooo many errors and things that do not match up, that to read it in its literal form and take in everything it passes to us, is an idiocy. Don't do it. It has been written, and rewritten, transferred from language to language, and twisted and forged to fit certain religious expectations...I mean, really, it cannot be trusted as 'right' in its entirity...

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by reyjamiei

If Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth, created by God, why would he command them to replenish the earth? The word replenish means to fill up again or to restore to a former level or condition. So the word itself would denote that there were people before Adam and Eve, otherwise it wouldn’t be necessary to refill but to simply fill.

I wonder if "replenish" is meant in an agricultural extent?