I read in one of Stephen Jay Gould's last interviews that he found some inconsistencies between Ge. ch. 1 and Ge. ch. 2.
Most people seem not to realize that the story of Genesis is so contradictory
"It's remarkable. We love the story of Eve made out of Adam's rib. And we forget that in Genesis 1, Adam and Eve are made simultaneously from the dust of the earth. Genesis 1 is the usual story we tell, with the animals of the air and seas appearing on the fifth day, and then the land animals, culminating in humans on the sixth, and then the great rest on the seventh. But Genesis 2 is entirely different. Adam is created first and is lonely. God creates the Garden of Eden with the four rivers flowing out. He's still lonely. So God creates the animals and brings them to Adam to be named. And he's still lonely. So then God makes Eve out of Adam's rib. if you pick people on the street, 9 out of 10 would tell the story of Genesis 1 but include the Adam's rib bit. They're different stories. i don't see any way of claiming that the Bible is literally true. it opens with massive contradiction."
It is actually well known that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 & 3 (roughly) are two different creation accounts. The second is the oldest. And, yes, they are mutually contradictory if taken literally.
Genesis 2 (the story of God's creation of Adam and Eve) is most often read as a "long version" repetition of Genesis 1:26-30 (the story of God's creation of the human race). When read in this way Gen. 1 and 2 appear contadictory in several ways. Gen. 1 and 2 should not be read in this way. Rather Gen. 1:26-30 should be read as describing God's creation of the human race tens of thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands, of years before He created Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are not presented in the Bible as literally being the first human beings who ever lived. (Where did Cain get his wife? Who were the people living in the land east of Eden who Cain was afraid might kill him?) Adam and Eve were created by God to serve as representatives of the entire human race in order to illustrate the unrighteous condition of all mankind and to point to all of our need for God's forgiveness.
A good book on this subject matter is "The Origins Solution" by Dick Fischer.
This way of understanding Genesis creates no contradictions between Gen. 1 and 2 and eliminates several apparent contradictions between Genesis and science.
Genesis 1:27-And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in god's image he created them, male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:20-So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper for him.21. Hence Jehovah God had a deep sleep fall upon the man and, while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs then closed up the flesh over it's place.22 And Jehovah God proceeded to build the rib that he had taken from the man into woman and to bring her to the man.
Those are just the primary verses, read it through yourself and see what you think. This is not even getting into the debate of the serpent actually telling the truth to Eve
One thing for sure the first chapter of genesis is wrong about he order of the appearence of life. We know for sure that birds, fruit and whales came long after land animals.
Who here can tell me why scientists think they can be so sure of this?
