I have something for you to ponder during your time off this summer (although there should never be a time off from God). How do we answer the claims of those that say the Bible contains errors and why it matters that it doesn’t?

When people say they believe the Bible contains errors, it’s a good idea to ask them to name those errors so you can open a Bible and look at them together. It helps to have a study Bible or Bible commentary handy also. Sometimes they will raise old and easily answered questions such as, “Where did Cain get his wife?” But usually they can’t name many supposed errors, if any at all. Often they’ve taken as truth the word of other people the Bible contains errors, without investigating themselves.

When you take the time to talk about their concerns, you can demonstrate you have investigated it yourself, you have done your homework and are convinced when God says all scripture is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), He means it is all accurate and reliable. Of course, if you haven’t actually done that, it’s time to start! Don’t be afraid, because God’s word will hold up under your scrutiny.

Remember if someone asks a question you don’t know the answer to, it’s OK to say, “That’s a great question. Let me research it and I’ll get back to you.” The Christian Research Institute gives this advice. “We should view these occasions as opportunities to search and explore the scriptures.”

Now let’s return for a moment to Cain’s wife. She is referred to in Genesis 4:17 as the mother of Enoch. The typical claim is Cain couldn’t have had a wife since only he and Abel were born to Adam and Eve. This fails to recognize that Genesis 5:4 specifically tells us Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Considering their long life spans, they likely had many childbearing years. But is there a problem since Genesis 4:17 precedes Genesis 5:4? Not at all. The narrative is not strictly in sequence. It’s very common for books of history to talk about a person’s life, tracing out what they did for decades, then move back to deal with another of the contemporaries. With Cain, the text of Genesis has fast-forwarded decades and by then he likely had a number of sisters of marriageable age. He obviously married one of them or if it was decades later, possibly one of his nieces. If in those days no one had children by a close relative,the human race would have quickly become extinct.

The problem of Cain’s wife is no problem to anyone but the most supeficial reader of the scripture. Just takes a little Bible study and/or research to figure it all out.

Good luck this summer if the occasion arises to help out another seeker.

Rev. Kathleen Coleman

Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eastern Salisbury Township