Reply #2: Not sure if it is really an "item of faith"

[kdmorris]

But the first thing I remember questioning was the whole "Cain and Abel/Adam and Eve" thing. I asked my father at the time, (and as a side note, NO ONE has been able to answer it in the last 30 years) how it could be that Adam and Eve were the ONLY people on earth? Because the problem was, Adam and Eve had 2 sons (now FOUR people on the Earth). Cain killed Abel, so now there are three people. And then, when Cain was exiled... he went and got married.

To WHOM? Did he marry his mother? If he married his mother, how did she stay behind and have Seth? If he didn't marry his mother, WHO did he marry? How could they be the ONLY people on Earth if Eve was the only woman and Cain didn't marry her? And if they weren't the ONLY people on Earth, then is the Bible lying? Or confused? If confused, how can it be the Word of God? Does God get confused?

My father tells me that that was the day he realized I was probably never going to be religious. I was 6 or 7 at the time and we had learned the story of Cain and Abel in Sunday School. And, as you can see, it didn't make much sense to me. That was just the beginning of a long road for me, though I felt so much guilt and shame as a teenager because I didn't have the right thoughts. I WANTED so badly to be a Christian and to believe like my sisters and brother and parents. But I didn't feel it like they did. Once I grew up, I finally just decided to admit it and work my way out of the cycle. I tried to find another religion for a time, because I thought it was the "proper" thing to do, but no other religion made sense either. So, I ended up where I am, an atheist.