Atheist's Attacks
Answering Humanist's Accusations Against the Bible
Words are important, and to understand scripture you need to pay attention to what the words actually say.
Words Are Important
Did God forget He had already created fruit trees?
HUMANIST QUESTION: Chapter 1 reports that the fruit trees were created before the man, while chapter 2 indicates they were made after him.
If you read what scripture says, without adding other ideas to it, it is easy to see there is no contradiction. Genesis chapter two does not say God is creating fruit trees. It is talking about God making a place for Adam and Eve to live... the Garden of Eden. Let's start our study with Genesis chapter one:
Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. ...and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. - Genesis 1:11-13
From the above we see that fruit trees were spoken into existence by God on day three of creation. So what does chapter two say?
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. - Genesis 2:7-9
What does chapter two say God did? He planted a garden for Adam and Eve to live in. He did this by causing plant life... and specifically "every tree that is pleasing to sight and good for food "to grow there. The context is that of creating Adam and Eve and then providing for their needs (food in this case).
BTW, is this something God could do today? Could He pick a place on earth and make "every tree that is pleasing to sight and good for food" to grow there?” Yes, of course He could. Would that be a new creation? No. Those same kinds of trees already exist in other places. What God is doing is supernaturally making a functional place... “planting” a garden that is suitable for people to live in and that provides everything they need to live.
So there is no contradiction.
Next accusation:
Genesis 1:20 says the fowl were created out of the waters; Genesis 2:19 alleges they were formed from the ground.
THE GOOD NEWS
Before you get the good news, you need to know the bad news. It's about you. God says:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23
Sin means disobeying God, aka breaking God's law. God is perfect and perfection is required to enter heaven. It's a standard none of us can achieve. We all fall short. For example, compare yourself with just one of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a lie?
All liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. - Revelation 21:8. Or what about:
Have you ever taken something that does not belong to you, no matter how small? Have you ever looked at another person with lust? In Matthew 5 Jesus said:
Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' Have you done that?
You have broken God's laws. You have sinned. There must be justice, and that means eternity in hell, the lake of fire, the second death. Unless...
Unless there was someone willing to pay that penalty on your behalf. Someone who will take on themselves the consequences you deserve. And there is. There is one person who can and will do that. That person is Jesus Christ. If you trust this is true (believe), and repent (turn away from disobeying God), Jesus' death is applied to your account and you are freed from the penalty of sin to be with God forever.