One of my friends is being lead to believe that there were people before Adam and Eve.  Is there truth to this?

Sincerely,
Family Tree Tracer

Dear Family Tree Tracer,

No, there isn’t any truth to that.  Sit down with your friend and read through the first chapters of the book of Genesis.  Those chapters explain what happened in the beginning of the world (Gen 1:1).  Adam and Eve were the first two created humans.  Eve is the mother of all the living (Gen 3:20). You can confidently show your friend what the Bible says about the first two humans.  After doing this, have your friend ask the other people they have been talking with to give them book, chapter, and verse for their position.

Can you explain what's going on in Numbers 31:25-41, especially regarding what happens to both the animals and people captured after being divided and given to Eleazar the priest as a tribute for God or as a heave offering of Jehovah?

Sincerely,
Heave-Ho!

Dear Heave-Ho,

In Numbers 31, Moses was to lead the Israelites in battle against the Midianites (Num 31:1-2).  After the battle, the army had to decide what to do with the plunder from the land (Num 31:12).  God told them to split the plunder 50/50 between the soldiers who fought and the rest of the nation (Num 31:26-27).  The soldiers were told to take 1/500^th of their share of the plunder and give it to the priest (Num 31:28-29).  Of the half that went to the rest of the nation, 1/50^th was to be given to the Levites (Num 31:30-31).  The verses you mentioned simply address a practical matter of dividing the spoils of war.

     I don't understand this scripture: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5 NIV)

Was I born a sinner?  I thought all children were born sinless?

Sincerely,
Troubled

Dear Troubled,

The NIV reading of that text sure sounds like David is saying that he was born in sin, but the NIV isn’t a word-for-word translation and takes liberty in translating that verse (read “What’s The Best Translation” for more details on Bible translations).  Other translations, such as the New American Standard and New King James (much more literal translations), simply say “I was brought forth in iniquity.” (NKJV)  This is a much more generic statement than saying David was born sinful.  Ps 51:5 could mean one of two things:

1. David was born sinful.
2. David was born into a sinful world.

We need to look at other verses to see what the Bible teaches about babies being born in sin.  The sum teachings of the Bible say that babies are born without sin, and babies are perfect in God’s sight (even David, the writer of Psalm 51, recognized that his dead child was going to be in heaven [2 Sam 12:23]).  Sin is not a birthright; it is a choice (Gen 4:6-7, Jas 1:13-15).  Humans sin when they choose to do wrong; they are not born in sin.

The false teaching of ‘original sin’ is very common in today’s society.  If a congregation teaches that you are born in sin, they are false teachers. Sin is a choice we make in life (Isa 7:15-16), and all humans are born upright and good (Eccl 7:29).

     Hello, I have a question about sacrifice.  I have read where the Israelites had to make sacrifices on certain days to atone for their sins.  I am also aware that the sacrifice of Jesus has made this unnecessary.  But I do not understand how taking the best portion of your livelihood and burning it would atone for your sins.  I also do not understand how Jesus' sacrifice atoned for all the sins of the world.

How does destroying the most precious things equal forgiveness from God?  How does Jesus’ perfect sacrifice save us?  What do these acts actually DO?

Sincerely,
Sacrificially Stymied

Dear Sacrificially Stymied,

The Jewish sacrifices of bulls and goats never did atone for sins (Heb 10:4); all they did was teach that forgiveness from sin came with a cost.  God teaches us that when we sin, the wages of that sin are death (Rom 6:23).  The Jews learned that lesson by making sin offerings.  When the sinner laid their hand upon the head of the innocent animal, they symbolically transferred their sin to that beast (Lev 4:27-29).  However, animal blood never was enough to truly pay for sin.  It took the God’s Son’s blood to pay the price for our sin; only Deity’s blood was enough to cover the tremendous cost of sin (Heb 10:10).

Jesus had to sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins because God is both a merciful and a just God.  By personally paying the price for our sins, God showed Himself to be both just and the justifier of the faithful (Rom 3:25-26).  Like a father paying the price for his son’s mistakes, Jesus paid the price for our mistakes.

     I don’t get it.  So much of the Bible makes no sense to me.  For example, the Flood… the Bible said God flooded the world but saved Noah and Noah's family only.  The Bible says the reason this was done was because God saw too much wickedness in the world.  But I just can’t imagine every child or baby living then in the world being wicked, but the Bible says God killed them all.  But in another verse, I remember hearing it said children and babies are not accountable until, like, a certain age… maybe puberty?  So all those kids and babies that were drowned in the flood were innocent, yet killed anyway.  It makes no sense at all to me.

Sincerely,
Too Tragic For Thought

Dear Too Tragic For Thought,

The Flood was a blessing to Noah and his family because they were saved from the sinful influences of that ever-violent generation (1 Pet 3:20)… but it was also a blessing to those innocent children.  You are right; all children are born sinless, and they aren’t accountable for sin until they are old enough to be responsible for their own behavior.  All children go to heaven.  Read “What About The Children?” for further details on the fate of the young.

It is important to realize that when God ends a life, it is not the same as when another human snuffs a life out.  God knows that when a child dies, it isn’t the end of their life but the beginning of a new one.  When God ends a life, He also has a new life to offer them.  All the innocent children that died in the Flood had no chance to grow up faithfully and turn to God because the generation was so wicked that there was no hope for their future.  God redeemed those children from such a horrific fate, and He started the world anew with righteous Noah and his family.