Christian struggling with faith - Please help!

[LolaBumble]

The main thing that is troubling me is that Judaism originated 4000 years ago, but humans have lived for 200,000 years. This just does not make sense to me. I do believe the bible is the word of God, but why was Judaism not around at the beginning of the human race?

It doesn't make sense, because it doesn't make sense! Listen to your instincts.

People have been praying to YHWH - יְהֹוָה (Hebrew) - the personal name of the God of Judaism (and Christianity) since the time of the grandson of Adam, right at the beginning.

“Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.“
Genesis 4:26

(“the LORD” (all caps) is a literary device used to represent the name of YHWH יְהֹוָה )

Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (aka Israel) were all in covenant relationships with YHWH יְהֹוָה before Judaism became a codified religion at Mount Sinai (after Moses and Aaron led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt) as recorded in the book of Exodus.

I suggest reading (or listening to) Genesis and Exodus to get a good overview of the foundations of Judaism and Christianity.

Here’s Genesis read by David Suchet
(Just over 4 hours)

OP your question didn't really make sense to me, but @AgileGreenSeal has addressed it very well. I was thinking why do you think that God(or a belief in God) can only be around as long as Judaism?

Thank you @AgileGreenSeal - you’ve intelligently put what I wanted to, but couldn’t.

I find it difficult when people mock Judaism/ Christianity, but have never actually learned anything about it - and just think at a very superficial level.

When was the beginning of time according to the Torah and the Bible? A few thousand years? The Talmud estimates about 40,000, still way off.

There’s no specific time stated in scripture in terms of x number of years ago.

Thank you very much for your replies!

Think l really need to spend some time reading the Bible.

God and the truth are far bigger than anything human beings can describe or imagine, and maybe marvelling at this amazing fact is more important than trying to nail things down to particular beliefs or explanations, including the Bible. It is the word of God, but so are other things.
I think that this marvelling and delight is what worship is, at heart.

I guess I think humans have always had belief in God, I do feel that we are all built to seek a higher being/meaning.

But were they believing in the same God documented in the bible? What about Greek Gods etc

I feel guilty for having doubts but do feel like I need to address them to have a strong faith

Love this x

yes, reading the Bible will help you immensely.

also please consider listening to it being read too. It’s so accessible, when driving, doing housework etc, or like me when you can’t sleep at night but don’t want to turn on a light.

Consider also interspersing Old Testament readings with New Testament ones.

best wishes and keep asking questions when you feel the need! We are all here helping each other. God bless 🙏🏻 xx

Thank you!! Xx

While this may well resonate in wider society as a helpful perspective I think we, as Christians, need to have confidence that our faith is firmly founded on truth, namely the Person who declared Himself to be The Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have been gifted the historical documents of the Old and New Testaments which are authoritative in our understanding of the big issues of God, humans, sin, redemption etc. and particularly in relation to our Saviour and Lord.

I will always recommend prayerfully reading or listening to the Bible to any Christian, whatever their circumstances and particularly if they are struggling.

No there isn't, but there is a list of every generation from Adam, which being generous and allowing for 40 years a generation, would make it 5-6 thousand years from the birth of Adam. Which we know to be nonsense on every level.

Just wanted to come back on and share incase anyone stumbles across this in the future, I think I have managed to find some information that helps in my own personal understanding. Found an interesting thread on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/CatholicPhilosophy/comments/nohfnl/how_do_you_deal_with_the_fact_that_the_modern/ )

discussing the same thing with some interesting perspectives, in particular I have found this post helpful…

“according to this website
https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/#:~:text=Taking%20Poston's%20number%20into%20account,Earth%20to%20about%20121%20billion

ALL humans that have been born before the year 8000 BC only make up about 8 % of all the people ever born until this day. They seem to be counting from about 190,000 BC which most likely would not be the origins of the first theological humans (humans with rational souls, Adam and Eve).
In any case I think you get what I am aiming at. If you change your perspective from a time-wise to population-wise perspective AND account for the possibility of many more people being born before the end of times, suddenly it becomes much more plausible that Christianity could be true.”

and

“We really have no idea how old we are. However, Christ said He came in the fullness of time. Which means He came exactly when He needed to. A time when we had written languages and established trade routes in order to spread the Gosple effectively less the message die out.”

I know this won’t satisfy everyone’s brains but for I think this makes a lot of sense to me xx

Do not feel guilty. God understands your enquiring mind. Mark 9: 23-24. Lord, I believe. Please help my unbelief.

@LolaBumble I looked your links up - very interesting- thank you xx

@Thegreatestoftheseislove that is also very true. The Bible is so spot on

One of the nicest things I heard on the subject of doubt was from Matthew 28 - they worshipped him but some doubted. The speaker said that if you're doubting the best thing you can do is worship - focus on what you know of God, even if it's a tiny thing and you're not totally sure, and celebrate that until faith rises. I thought that was lovely.

Are you a Christian? This board exists primarily for the use of Christian Mumsnetters.

OP the Bible isn’t a scientific or history textbook. It’s a religious book.
I personally see it as a faith guidance book and would look to other sources for ancient history or scientific knowledge. Maybe prehistoric people worshipped God - we wouldn’t know as there was nothing written down.

Judaism, like other religions, emerged at a specific point in history to address the needs, questions, and spiritual development of the people at that time. The Bible tells the story of God's relationship with humanity through the lens of a particular group of people beginning with Abraham and his descendants. The Bible may focus on God's specific plan for the people of Israel, while the broader human story may remain untold in its pages. This doesn’t diminish the Bible’s value as the word of God.

The Torah ( first five books of the OT) are best thought of as the Older testament to the OT and drawn from a much earlier oral tradition that was passed down. Trying to impose a timeframe drawn from our own context upon such will fail. What appears to matter most is the why the Jews became a people rather than the nuts and bolts of how this happened chronologically. Eden itself may refer to a much passed on oral telling of older memories from the Fertile Crescent and a trying to understand why such was lost. OT Theologians still debate aka as argue about the first two chapters in Genesis. My pov is both must have mattered and contain something worth reflecting upon for both to have been recorded at a much later date when people became more settled. Thomas was chosen as a disciple by Christ so having doubts and questions will not dim Gods love for you nor compassion.

Surely you either believe the Word of God or man