A: There are two basic views on this topic. The first one, a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation story, is not very palatable. If there were only Adam and Eve to begin with, then their children necessarily had to marry one another for humanity to be propagated. Incest had to be the result for Adam and Eve to become grandparents. And we know that they became grandparents.
The other view is easier to stomach. The children of Adam and Eve would have found mates from other places. These mates would be unrelated to Adam and his family. The problem with this is that for it to be so, there would have to be other people, or another creation, in addition to Adam and Eve.
You decide.
Q: If stealing a pack of gum is a sin and murdering my brother is a sin- does God view these sins the same or are there degrees of sin?
A: There are no degrees of sin in God's eyes. Stealing and murder are both condemned throughout the Scriptures, including the Ten Commandments. The problem is that murder has consequences for a lot more people. There is dead person, dead person's family, the guilt of the killer and consequences for the killer's family. When I steal a pack of gum no one will probably ever know. This makes the impact of one much greater than the other. That makes it seem much worse to you and I.
An important thing to remember is that if we live with un-repentance in our lives, no matter what our sins are, we will be condemned by God. We need to confess and repent of all our sins, all the time. God will forgive us of anything but dying without repenting.
Q: Did Jesus have any blood related siblings?
A: Yes he did. Check some of the earlier posts for a full answer to this question.
Q: Is breaking a law that is morally wrong sinful?
A: The short answer is no. If a law is wrong, it should be violated. But this is a very tricky subject. Romans 13.1 is clear that governments are established and blessed by God. It is the responsibility of every Christian to follow the law of the land. We are called to be faithful, law-abiding citizens.
However, there are times, unfortunately, when the laws of the state are in conflict with the laws of God. One example would be the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation before the civil rights movement of the 1960's and 70's. Breaking laws is not a good thing ever, but it is better than going against the law of God.
Q: What is the church's position concerning Christianity and military service?
A: The United Methodist Church does not have (as far as I know) an official position on military service. Many Christian groups do. Mennonites and Amish, for example, are pacifists, or peace people. They are against any military involvement, any armed conflict whatsoever.
A good rule of thumb for all people would be to consider the reasons for military service and any war/conflict. On many occasions throughout the Scripture God not only encouraged, but commanded a military action. If motives are pure and actions are appropriate, there is no reason to stand against service in the armed forces.
Q: If God creates all things, why does he create natural disasters? Or, are they the work of the devil?
A: I believe that natural disasters are neither "acts of God," or the work of the devil. When God created the world he made it perfect. Everything about it was perfect. However, man sinned. As a consequence, all people alive today inherit that sin. We call this the doctrine of "original sin." One byproduct of the fall is that everything that was perfect, is no longer perfect. This is why there is envy, jealousy, bitterness and bigotry today.
However, a further complication is that the perfect universe was changed as well. The divine order of things has been altered. There are hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis and earthquakes today not because of the sin of certain people, but because of the sin of humanity.
Finally, although I believe that Satan rejoices at the problems of humanity, he does not create disasters. In fact, the devil cannot create anything. He does work at making disasters as bad as possible though. He uses events to meet his purposes.
Q: Was Adam black? If not, where did black people come from?
A: This question seems to assume that Adam was white. In fact, many of the pictures we see of Jesus today show the Lord looking a lot like a western, Caucasian. This is definitely not the case. There can be little doubt that Adam, as well as Jesus, had physical characteristics that were consistent with middle eastern people of his time. I am sure that both had darker skin and hair than I do. Although it is possible that Adam was black- no on really knows- we can be sure that he was not white.
The best answer for the origin of different ethnic groups is to look at geography. God gave people the physical characteristics that they needed to survive in the land in which they lived. Black people lived in areas where the sun was most extreme. Therefore, their skin was adapted to give them maximum protection from the sun.
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