Why are there two conflicting creation accounts in Genesis?

marianna86

Chapter one, man and woman was created at the same time from the dirt and the breath of God Man was created first, than woman from his rib bone later on. that is a contradiction

no…IT’S THE ORDER…it’s not written chronologicaly…

In chapter 1 GOd said he made man and woman…it was explained in detail in chapter 2.HOw he made woman from man.So the first was an overview and the second chapter was a more detailed version.

It is true the God made animals before man.

How do I know this?

In the first chapter:And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image… SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE.

In the second chapterAnd the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

You can see here that MAN was the intended purpose of WHY God created the universe.The second chapter DOES NOT STATE THAT GOD MADE MAN BEFORE ANIMALS.All it is trying to say is that GOD had us in mind and THAT WAS THE REASON he created animals.THen there is an interval where he created man which IS NOT STATED IN THE SECOND CHAPTER BUT THE FIRST.THEN he brought the animals to ADAM to name.IF MAn was made before animals then the bible would have said And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. SO GOD MADE MAN.And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

But it didn’t SAY SO GOD MADE MAN AFTERWARDS!..God always KNEW HE WAS GOING TO MAKE MAN…he ALWAYS KNEW THAT and FOR THAT PURPOSE HE considered which companions would best suit MAN EVEN BEFORE HE MADE THEM!That’s why MAN WAS MENTIONED…because GOD WAS THINKING ABOUT MAN when he made animals.

This whole universe was made to accomodate man’s needs.Even from the different kinds of creations,light,day,night,sun,moon,stars,oceans..etc…so having MAN in mind doesn not mean that man has already been made.

For example if a womans 4 weeks pregnant and she thinks about her child in her womb then opens a savings account for her child’s future finances.THE CHILD ISN”T THERE YET.But when people ask her she’ll say Oh thats for my son/daughter.YOu’ll assume right away that SHE ALREADY HAS A SON OR DAUGHTER.Then you meet her again in 20 years and see her son/daughter withdrawing the money.YOU don’t realize that there was an interval in which THE CHILD WAS BORN!.

Juts like chapter 2 NEVER STATED THAT MAN WAS MADE!they skipped that INTERVAL which can be found in CHAPTER 1!

Both chapter 1 and 2 complement each other.

The Bible does not have contradictions. There is a pattern in the writing of the Bible. I do not know if the questioner is going to accept what I am going to put down, but for anyone who is interested here is the why these passages look like contradiction.

For example it says in Gen 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Then in the coming passages we see that earth is created first and then the sun and other heavenly bodies were created. Is this a contradiction? No. The first verse is a statement and it just lists out what were created. The list contains two items and they are not (and need not) be in order. For example if someone asks me what I bought from the shop yesterday I will just give his a list of items I bought but that might not necessarily be in the order in which I purchased them. Verse 2 onwards goes into the details of creation and there we see the order in which things were created which is how it ought to be when someone is giving details.

This same thing happens in Genesis 1:25-27. This verse just lists out the things that were created on the sixth day. It is a mistake to assume that this list is in order . Then Genesis Chapter 2 zooms in on the creation of man and other animals and gives us details. In these details we can find the order in which they were created.

So there are no two accounts of creation as some assume and believe.

The Bible does not have contradictions. It is a mistake to assume that this list is in order

That in itself is a contradiction… a perfect book is listing things in the WRONG order… so much for perfection.

Did you notice something between the two? In Genesis 1, the references are to “God”, while in Genesis 2, they are to “Lord God”. In Hebrew, there is apparently very little difference between the words “lord” and “ram”, such that one can be a play on words with the other, and the ram god is the Egyptian ram god Amun, which is where “Amen” comes from.

According to this (gnostic) idea, Genesis is intended as a test to see who can sort out the real god from the phony “Lord God” (who is also the serpent), and avoid the deception so many of the “blind” fall for by failing to recognize the clues.

I don’t totally buy this, but there may be some merit to the idea.

Your forgetting the (had) between God and formed..

That’s how it reads out of my Bible anyway. I’m using NIV. I’m not sure if it reads differently in your version?

That one word which was taken out of context can make all the difference on how its reads.

Then it could be just a question of if he’s implying where they came from.

And the (suitable helper) God is referring to is (Women). Rather not the beasts of the field.

Hope this made things more clear.

As far as I’ve heard, this can be because of the translation and also a matter of chronology. There are a lot of words from older languages, that have multiple meanings and they aren’t always translated well. Maybe they weren’t sure what’s the tense - at one point there should be used past of the past - when an event is already further in the past…something like this. BUT the Bible is not inffaillible - it has been changed multiple times, chapters have been taken out and there are more contradictions, other than this.

Christians…some can find a way to explain anything if it relates to the bible..no matter the evidence.