Where did Cain’s WIfe Come From?
Occasionally I hear questions like this or “Can God make a rock He cannot move,” or “If God made everything, who made God,” and others. Usually, the questioner is trying to stumble a Christian. He’s not looking for a real answer. But since we all hear these at one time or another, let’s look at some answers.
“Where did Cain’s wife come from?” The argument usually goes something like this: “All there were were Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able, right? Well, the Bible says after Cain killed Able, he fled to the land of Nod and knew his wife. How does that work?” This is pretty easy to answer. The questioner is just a Bible illiterate: The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died (Gen 5:4–5).
So, Cain married a sister. Now you might say, that’s terrible, marrying his sister, but remember there wasn’t anyone else around.
Incest was not a sin until the Mosaic Law (Lev. 18:1-18) probably because the gene pool was pure enough not to do damage until then.
Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister, and he married her. Remember Abraham feared death and told King Abimelech Sarah was really his sister. Then Abimelech almost had relations with Sarah before realizing she and Abraham were husband and wife. Abraham confesses to Abimelech and apologizes then sort of makes light of the situation “Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.” (Genesis 20:12) So, incest was not prohibited until Moses.
“If God can do anything, can God make a rock He cannot move?” Boy, they’ve got us there, don’t you think? There are a few things God cannot do. He can’t learn since He is omniscient. He can’t sin since He is holy. He also can’t do things that are logically impossible. Since God is omnipotent, there is no logical thing He cannot create within the boundaries of His nature. If God is omnipotent (infinitely powerful), then He can create a rock the size of the universe. Can He move that rock? of course. But, since we’re dealing with infinite values here, it is logically impossible for a rock God cannot move to exist. So, the problem is in the question, not in our faith in God’s power. The answer is “Logically, there can be no such thing as a rock God cannot move.”
“If God made everything, who made God?” I hear this most often. There are two good answers to this. I’ll give the short one first: No one made God, but if someone did, it wouldn’t matter because God made you. You are not responsible to God’s maker, but you are answerable to your maker.
The Second answer is a little more philosophical. In the law of cause and effect, everything that begins to exist has a cause. God did not begin to exist and so has no cause (no maker). So this is a category error. The questioner is confusing finite beings with an infinite being.
One of my favorite questions is “How can you be sure Jesus really died and really rose from the dead?” David Hume (18th century philosopher) said about this that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.” That seems to be at the center of the question. But, that’s not true, at least not in this case. All we need is a person trained in confirming the death of crucifixion victims to prove Jesus was really dead, and we have that in the centurion. And we need someone expert in knowing if someone is later alive. We all qualify in that regard as did the disciples:
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:36-39)
While Jesus’s resurrection was miraculous, the proof of it was simple.
Why is this important?
We get asked a lot of silly questions at times, and even though the idea is to trip us up, it’s best to answer the question when we can. That will make it more unlikely the question will be asked again by that person, maybe of some who might be stumbled by it.
Besides this, we are told to be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks (1 Peter 3:15).
Believers Armed and Dangerous 