Thanks to Anthropology, Paleontology, Biology, Genetic Research along with various other fields of research we now know life wasn't just created as is but evolved through gradual changes from a single common ancestors. Before we had such knowledge of our history it was common to believe that we were all magically created in our current shape and form. Pretty much every ancient culture had their own story of creation and many of them credited it to a magical god-like figure that lived in the sky. Some of these stories were original creations and others were inspired by previous cultures. The creation story of Adam and Eve is just one of thousands and has its roots in Babylonian and Egyptian creation stories.

Did you know there are two completely different creation stories in the book of Genesis? Both by different authors, each written five centuries apart and one contains multiple gods as the creator while the other only credits one. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 give two separate accounts of creation which disagree with each other on two key issues, the order of creation and who the creator was. The reason for this is that they are simply two separate creation stories by two different authors that got slapped together in the same book. Genesis 1 is from the Hebrew Priesthood created by the Deuteronomic School around 500 BCE and Genesis 2 derives from a much earlier Sumerian story of creation but was altered to apply to Yahweh, the god of Abraham.

Genesis 1 says man and woman were created at the same time, after the creation of plants and animals. Genesis 2 says that man was created and then the plants, animals and finally woman was created last.

Genesis 1 1: Sky, Earth, light 2: Water above & below Earth 3: Plants 4: Sun, Moon, stars 5: Animals (of the sea & air) 6: Animals (of land) and then Humans (male & female) 7: The gods took a day of rest

Genesis 2 1: Earth & Sky 2: Man 3: Plants 4: Animals 5: Women

Some will say that there is not a contraction in the order of creation because Genesis 2 does not give an order of creation. They claim that Genesis 2 simply goes back to explain how each creation was created, in no particular order. However this is not the case because Genesis 2 specifically says that animals were created after man which directly contradicts Genesis 1. If you read Genesis 2:18-19 the Bible specifically says that after man was already created God noticed he was alone and then decided to make animals so man would no longer be alone. God then goes on to create every animal of both land and air then brought them to Adam but it was not until after Adam could not find a companion among the animals that God created woman as a companion.

Genesis 2:18-19 "And 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. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him"

The creation story in Genesis 2 refers to the creator as Yahweh which is the specific name for the god of Abraham and most of the Bible. The creation story in Genesis 1 however refers to the creator as Elohim, not Yahweh. Elohim in Hebrew is the plural majestic form of EL and primarily refers to the head god El from the Canaanite religions but at times it is also used to simply mean "gods." Either way Elohim refers to multiple gods and this brings up an obvious problem for Christians who don't think their religion is associated with paganism. Archeology and scriptures both depict Christianity's and Judaism's polytheistic roots from surrounding faiths and that even Abraham was a pagan during the early days of Judaism.

Some have argued that on rare occasions Elohim can mean just one god but that is just an unsupported claim from Christian apologists and certainly is not the case here. Genesis 1:26 reads, Then Elohim said, "Let US make man in OUR image, in OUR likeness" Not only does verse 26 say Elohim which means more than one god but it says "Let US make man" which automatically means there is more than one creator making man. Furthermore it states "in OUR image" and "in OUR likeness" meaning that the creators were all of the same likeness and image, the image of a god as that is the image the Bible clearly tells us man was made in. This then rules out verse 26 as a possible reference to non-god creatures also in heaven such as angels taking part in making man. No matter which way you look at it the creation story in Genesis 1 it specifically states that there are more than one god and that they are the ones who made man which is a big difference from the story in Genesis 2 where just one god, Yahweh, is credited as the creator.

NOTE: In English translations the Hebrew word for gods, Elohim, was dishonestly translated to simply "God" in an attempt to cover up the claim of multiple gods. Also the name Yahweh found in Genesis 2 and most of the Old Testament was translated to simply say "LORD God." You can learn more about Yahweh in its translations here.

Let's take a closer look at the story of Adam and Eve; God creates a paradise called the Garden of Eden. He fills it with all sorts of critters, gives it a beautiful backdrop and makes it home to Adam and Eve. These two are said to be the first humans that are of pure and total innocents. They have no idea of what right and wrong is since they have not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God places this very tree in the middle of the garden, covers it with irresistible fruit and then tells them not to eat from it for they will surely die. Adam and Eve were later tricked by a serpent to eat from the tree and then God punished them and all of their decedents for doing so.		Adam and Eve were actually innocent for they didn't know what they were doing was wrong. Yes, God told them not to eat of the tree but they didn't know it was wrong to disobey him. Before eating of the tree man had no clue of what right and wrong was. Without knowing if it was wrong or not one could argue that they were at least warned by the threat of death. But how can they know death is bad if they have never experienced anyone dying before? Long story short, because two innocent people who didn't even understand the consequences of what they were doing was wrong God punishes not just them but also all of their decedents.
Done, Someone Had to Pay Some try to ignore that God wrongfully accused and punished the innocent Adam & Eve by comparing the story to a car accident. If someone accidentally crashed into your car you could "just forgive them" but your car is still damaged and someone still needs to pay to have it fixed. This defense for God works if you don't think about it but once you do it is full of holes. The punishment was not to pay for any physical damage, the apple can be replaced. It was to pay for disobeying God. But "sin" was the damage and it can only be cured by someone being punished? If that is the case why punish the innocent for it? God is the one to blame, he created evil since is the creator of everything, he set up the trap, he was the only one who knew better, he allowed the serpent to be there, he knew they would be tricked and he is the only one to blame. This is not a story of the first people on earth, it is a story of submission to authority and a threat to those who seek knowledge for themselves. The reason could not be any clearer of why the Church selected this particular story for their Holy books.

Morally Disturbing

Will Adam Die When He Eats the Fruit? In Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam that if he eats the fruit he will die that very day. But according to Genesis 5:5 Adam continued to live for 930 years. Some will say Genesis 2:17 actually meant that the concept of death will be introduced but the Bible clearly states that Adam will surely die in the day he eats the fruit.

In the story of Genesis a serpent talks Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and says it will not kill her like God warned. Famed British actor and writer Ricky Gervais (The Office, The Simpsons) brings up a good point here, why did God put the serpent there in the first place, especially one that blabs like that? With the tempting tree set in the middle of the garden and a snake tricking Eve into eating from the tree it seems rather cruel of God to set up Adam & Eve like that, especially since he already knows what will happen.

A more straightforward problem with this story is when God punishes the serpent [Genesis 3:14]. He curses the serpent to spend the rest of his life slithering on his belly. That really is not much of a punishment for a snake now is it, having to slither on its belly? Some try to cover up this flaw in the story by saying snakes originally had legs and then God took them away in this story. It is true, the evolutionary ancestors of serpents did have legs but this is before they became serpents. The difference between a lizard and a serpent is that serpents don't have legs. The story in Genesis clearly states that the talking creature is a serpent, not a lizard, thus did not have legs before God "punished" him.