"Hi Best. I was just reading Genesis and in chapter 4 I found that 7 generations after Adam and Eve Jubal played the harp and organ and Tubalcain was "an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron". This was all within 130 years of the creation of the world as all of this took place before Seth was born."
Hi, RationalThought, thanks for coming back.
Seven generations after Adam and Eve means it was six generations AFTER Seth since Adam's descendants went through Seth's line. So it wasn't in the first 130 years. Noah was the 10th generation from Adam and he was 600 when the Flood occurred 1656 years after creation.
Check out this graph to see how the generations overlapped and how life spans dropped off dramatically after the Flood. Also note that Adam could have known Noah's father who passed on the story of creation and Noah could have taken it on the Ark. No time for the story to get corrupted and embellished into a myth.
www.linearconcepts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GenealogicalAges.png
"If this is the case, where do the millions of stone tools fit in the history of humankind? Why are these implements found at deeper levels of deposits than metal implements, if they were all buried by the same deluge? Why is there so much evidence of people living in caves and using these implements for thousands of years?"
I believe "cave men" and stone tools come in AFTER the Flood and even after the Tower of Babel incident 100 years or so later. I'm skeptical of your claims that there are "millions of stone tools" and that they are "found at deeper levels of deposits than metal implements."
I don't interpret the geologic column as a record of time (from older sediments at the bottom to younger on top) so much of the evidence for deep time disappears when you look at the earth through a biblical worldview.
"I would also be grateful if you could please explain to me where Neanderthals and other sub-species of homo sapiens fit in. Why are they not mentioned in the Bible if they existed at the same time as humans?"
I don't consider "Neanderthals and other sub-species of homo sapiens" anything else but human just as I don't consider black people or Asian people sub species of humans. Neanderthals were people after the Flood who were living to be very old and show signs of rickets and other bone deformities acquired during the ice age.
"One final point I would ask you to address. I believe I wrote earlier that in the 19th century it was the Liberal Jews began to stop believing that Genesis (or the Talmud) gave a true account of the creation of the World and the history of mankind. According to the UK Chief Rabbi (whilst debating with Richard Dawkins), in the 10th century Rabbis "laid down the principle that if a Biblical narrative is incompatible with established scientific fact, it is not to be read literally". Therefore, I believe that Orthodox Jewish understanding of the events described would have been evolving for hundreds of years. What is your reading of this?"
My understanding of this is that there are always people who are willing to compromise God's Word. John 12:43 speaks of the Jewish leaders in Jesus' day who "loved human praise more than praise from God."
Therefore it does not surprise me that men and woman who are often highly intelligent are more often atheists or at least liberal Christians or Jews. The source of sin is pride. And when you think you've got it made, you begin to think you don't need God.
If you look at Eve in the Garden of Eden, she was tempted by the fruit because she saw it was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom." These are "the lust of the flesh," "the lust of the eyes" and "the pride of life" - the same three things that still corrupt people today. Read this.:
www.gotquestions.org/pride-of-life.html
Sorry, I went off on bit of a tangent there. 