Question:

I was just browsing and came upon your website. I read through some questions/answers and was surprised to read that you believe that the Bible’s account of Eve being formed/created out of Adam’s rib is metaphorical.  So your God can create a universe and yes, even Adam and Eve ex nihilo as you like to say but, he is unable to take a rib from Adam to form Eve?  Sir, I would say that your faith is questionable. I hope you repent. You may be one of those who has been trapped by the pride afforded to you by what you probably consider to be great knowledge.

Response:

It seems that you just possibly might struggle with being overly judgmental. How do you know that my faith is questionable if you never met me? I honestly do not know exactly how God did what he did, and it really does not matter exactly how he did what he did. This is not an essential doctrine, and it really has nothing to do with whether I or anyone else have faith that God could do this. What I believe (and presumably you believe as well) is that God created the universe, God created life, and God created Adam and Eve in his image. The means God used to do this is not an essential of faith in the Bible. Obviously I believe that God could have created Eve from a rib he took out of Adam. I also believe that God could create children of Abraham out of stones (Matthew 3:9). In fact, I believe that Jesus could create fish and bread out of nothing at all. Surely it requires as much faith to believe that God created Adam ex nihilo as it requires to believe that he created Eve from a rib taken from Adam. Is it not enough that we share this fundamental belief without accusing someone you never even met of having weak faith or of being prideful? This is a question of interpretation, not of faith, and I propose we should keep it there.

John Oakes