If Adam and Eve were the first people on earth, how did cavemen exist? I’m a Christian and don’t know how to answer people when they ask me that.<\/p>\n
Thank you!<\/p>\n\t
People have a strong tendency to assume that each prior generation lived more primitively than the current generation. It is true that our technology increased, but the assumption that men once lived in caves is exactly that — an assumption.<\/p>\n
From the Bible, we learn that men very quickly built towns (Genesis 4:17) and some chose a nomad life living in tents (Genesis 4:20). They had musical instruments (Genesis 4:21). They were able to forge bronze and iron (Genesis 4:22). This is not the primitive society that is typically claimed.<\/p>\n
That is not to say that some people over the years did not choose to live primitively. We know that native Americans used caves for hunting expeditions, so it would not be surprising to learn that other cultures did the same in the past, which would explain the drawings of various hunts on the walls of caverns. But there is a difference between temporary and permanent shelters and a difference between typical and emergency shelters. For example, Lot and his daughters lived in a cave for a while (Genesis 19:30), but they had been living in a large city prior to that. During a time of war, many in Israel live in caves (Judges 6:2; I Samuel 13:6).<\/p>\n
The problem is that people find evidence of primitive living and assume that this evidence must be older than living in buildings. Yet, there are people in American today who voluntarily leave their homes to live primitively for a week or two and we call it camping — a form of recreation. What is missing is evidence of pervasiveness and gradual development.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: If Adam and Eve were the first people on earth, how did cavemen exist? I’m a Christian and don’t know how to answer people when they ask me that. Thank you! Answer: People have a strong tendency to assume that each prior generation lived more primitively than the current generation. It is true that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[80,279],"class_list":["post-31714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-evolution","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-the-caveman-fit-in-with-the-human-race\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":0},"title":"How does the caveman fit in with the human race?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does the cave man fit in with the human race?\u00a0 I do not believe in the theory of evolution, but I have always wondered how the cave man fits with what the Holy Bible says. Answer: You need to remember that no one has actually observed cavemen in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-people-live-to-be-so-old\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":1},"title":"How could people live to be so old?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the Old Testament, when people lived to be hundreds of years old -- did they really live years as we know it or did they count seasons as years? How could anyone have lived to be 400 years old? Answer: The word used for \"years\" did not change\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3995,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/proof-that-israel-wasnt-afflicted-for-400-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":2},"title":"Proof that Israel wasn’t afflicted for 400 years?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been studying about the duration of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt, and I have found that most of them say there could be generation skip, such as \"How Long Was the Egyptian Bondage?\". The problem is Bible scholars don't take into account certain verses which are very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16260,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-people-did-before-marriage-was-invented\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":3},"title":"What do you think people did before marriage was invented?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I think you should revaluate your teaching kids that they should wait until marriage to have sex. There's nothing wrong with it! I've been having sex with my girlfriend for years. Besides what do you think people did before marriage was invented? Answer: The actual letter was vastly more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29829,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-no-such-thing-as-prehistoric-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":4},"title":"Is there no such thing as prehistoric times?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Bible times start from the beginning of time. The Bible is recorded history and prehistoric means before recorded history. Dinosaurs were in the Bible, and dinosaurs are often referred to as prehistoric, but they were recorded, so does all this mean that there is no such thing as prehistoric\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-create-other-people-besides-adam-and-eve\/","url_meta":{"origin":31714,"position":5},"title":"Did God create other people besides Adam and Eve?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, I have a question: Were there any other people on Earth at the time of Cain and Abel or at the time of Adam and Eve were created? Because the Bible says Adam and Eve were the first two humans created. However, in Genesis, after Cain killed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}