Evidences and Reconciliations No.

Thank you for your clarification. I am not sure how answers to your questions will satisfy your
desire to understand spirituality or lead you closer or further away from it.

Spirituality is a matter of personal experience; what Otto called the experience of the numinous.
I would think you were better probing that kind of experience.

I will recommend that you read Mircea Eliade's Sacred and Profane" as an introduction to a
sense of secular and sacred things. You could do worse than read Otto. Brian Wilson, the
British sociologist of religion is probably the most interesting current writer/researcher who
would be able to help you explore the grounds in which you express interest.

Again, I have to say that I don't see how answers to questions usually, and with monotonous
regularity, are raised by those whose aim is to prove the Bible false.

But, at the risk of disappointing you, I will give you the answers that seem to me to be right.

1. Why exactly did God reject Cain's sacrifice/offer?

Gen. 4:3)

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering
unto the LORD.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD
had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell.

6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that
Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

Cain had equal opportunities with Abel. God told him that his offering would be accepted if he
would do right.

God pleaded with him; his father, no doubt, also pleaded with him to forsake sin and
unrighteousness.

But he took the other course.

Therefore, his offering was rejected.

An offering that is not made in righteousness is rejected. God needs the heart to be right, not
merely the ritual.

2. How many children did Adam and Eve have? If it were only Cain and Abel, how did they
reproduce?

The only children to Adam and Eve that are named in the Biblical account are Cain, Abel, and
Seth. It is not likely that three children was their sole progeny. Cain and his younger brother
Seth, married their sisters, as did their other unnamed, but doubtless plentiful, brothers.

3. Which parts of the Bible are open to interpretation? For example, Genesis says everything was
created in 6 days, yet we can prove it took a couple of billions of years for everything to appear.

To understand the Bible as well as it can be understood, one needs to learn Classical Hebrew and
become more than passingly familiar with the background of the times and events that the Bible
describes.

I will provide you with a clue to under-standing what is written. Yes, the Biblical account of
creation speaks of six creative periods, which it calls days.

However, Hebrew is a language with a small vocabulary and an idiosyncratic way of expressing
itself.

A 'day' can mean a period of twenty-four hours, but the term 'yom' is not exclusively confined to
such a period. It can mean a 'generation' for which there is another perfectly good Hebrew
words, or it could mean an undefined period of time.

In any event, belief in a six day (of 24 hours) period of Creation is reserved for an increasingly
marginalised group of literalists who read only English versions and who have no background in
Hebrew or Old Testament background.

Contact was an interesting film that I enjoyed immensely. I have never felt that true religion and
true science were incompatible or mutually exclusive. How could they be?

Thank you for your questions. I wish you well on your search.