So the Bible is Cool with Incest...? | S2E15

Why do the earliest generations in the Bible marry relatives? Was the bible endorsing incest, or are modern readers applying later laws to a completely different point in human history?

In this episode of the Dear God, Lettuce Pray podcast, Santana unpacks one of the most uncomfortable and controversial questions people ask about Scripture: "So the Bible is cool with incest?"

From Adam and Eve to Cain, Seth, Noah, and the generations that followed, this episode explores how humanity began according to the biblical narrative, why close-family marriages existed in the earliest stages of creation, and what changed once God established laws for Israel.

This conversations breaks down the historical and theological context behind Genesis, the development of human civilization, population growth after Eden, and why later passages in the Law explicitly prohibited incestuous relationships. The episode also examines common skeptic arguments, modern misunderstandings of ancient cultures, and the difference between descriptive events in the Bible versus God's moral commands.

If you've ever wrestled with difficult passages in Scripture, questioned biblical consistency, or wondered how people should approach controversial topics honestly without shallow answers, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

Santana 0:00

There are certain questions people think about quietly because the second you say them out loud, you already know the room is going to shift a little. And I can honestly tell you that today is the is going to be one of those questions. Because once you really slow down and think about the beginning of the Bible, just naturally your mind goes there. Humanity started with Adam and Eve. So how did the world get populated from there? Okay. And honestly, the second somebody brings up Cain's wife, and that's even for those who even knew he had a wife, everybody's brain goes to the same place. People either get awkward, they get defensive, or suddenly everybody got a theology degree in the comment section. But the question itself actually makes sense because it comes from paying attention to what you're reading instead of just flying through the stories you've heard your whole life. You're now listening to the Dear God Let Us Pray podcast. I am your host, Santana, and this is a space where we slow down, sit with the questions people don't always say out loud, and go back to scripture to see what's actually there when we stop rushing through it. Now, this conversation comes up all the time, especially online, and most of the time people start talking past each other almost immediately. You know, one person asks a genuine question, somebody else hears it as an attack on Christianity, then somebody jumps in with, you know, oh, so your Bible supports incest. And then suddenly everybody's debating instead of actually reading the text together. And honestly, I think a huge part of that problem is that most people were never really taught how to read scripture as a story unfolding over time. Like we grab random verses from different books, stack them together, and then wonder why everything feels disconnected. So instead of reacting emotionally to the question, I want to actually walk through it slowly because once you follow the timeline, things start connecting differently. Genesis gives more context than people realize when you actually stay with it long enough. Genesis 5 4. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Now this is important because suddenly the picture is getting bigger. Adam and Eve didn't just have Cain and Abel and Seth standing around in an otherwise empty world. Scripture tells you there were other sons and daughters too, which means the early generations of humanity are still one connected family. And once you keep that in mind, Cain's story starts to make a lot more sense. Genesis 4 verses 16 through 17. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and he knew his wife, and she conceived. And this is usually where people stop reading and start spiraling because at first it feels like the Bible skipped an important detail, but it didn't. Genesis already told you that Adam had other sons and daughters, which means Cain's wife comes from that same family line. And I know this is the part where people start shifting in their seat because it feels uncomfortable to say plainly, but I mean it is what it is. Early humanity came from one family, and that's the reality presented in the text. Because once that realization settles in, the next question usually sounds something like, you know, okay, so why isn't this condemned immediately? And this is where the timeline actually matters. Genesis is introducing humanity at the very beginning. Like society hasn't formed, nations don't exist, and the law hasn't been given yet. Like you're literally watching humanity unfold in real time when you read the book of Genesis. And honestly, I think people sometimes flatten the Bible into one giant moment instead of letting the story develop the way it was written. Because, you know, the beginning of humanity and the law that governs that humanity are not the same moment in Scripture. Now that's the piece people usually skip. Leviticus 18 6, none of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. And the chapter keeps going from there, naming specific relationships in detail. By this point, humanity has expanded. We have communities that exist, families have structure, and boundaries are being clearly established within that structure. So when people ask, when did it become incest? The answer is connected to when God formally defines and prohibits those relationships in the law. Like it got to a point where the world is populated now. Like there's families from families, you know. So anything, God don't need any help still creating people on the earth. So once there was an establishment of that, then God laid down the law. And I already know. Let's come in next. Good old Lot and his daughters. People bring up Lot and his daughters, like is the exact same situation as early Genesis. And when you actually read the story carefully, um it isn't. By this point, the world has grown far beyond the beginning stages of humanity. Like there are cities, communities, and people outside of the immediate family line, which makes Lot's situation completely different from what you see in early Genesis. And honestly, the story itself feels heavy when you read it because it's supposed to. Everything around that moment is driven by fear, confusion, trauma, and just survival thinking after a catastrophe. The Bible doesn't pause and frame it like some beautiful example everybody should follow. It tells you what happened, then it keeps showing you what unfolded from those decisions. And this is also where the story becomes bigger than one uncomfortable moment in Genesis. Like Lot's daughters eventually become the mothers of the Moabites and the Ammonites. These nations continue showing up throughout the Old Testament and often end up in conflict with Israel later on. So scripture isn't just, you know, recording random events and moving on. Like these stories keep connecting to later generations, later nations, and later consequences. Like you start realizing the Bible is tracing humanity in real time, like the good, the broken, the messy, and the way decisions ripple outward into family lines. Now, one thing I genuinely appreciate about scripture is that it never really hides people. You see the mess, you see the pride, the betrayal, the fear, the broken families, the selfish decisions. You see, like all of it, the Bible tells the story straight. And once you keep reading, patterns start becoming obvious because the choices that were made lead somewhere. Like what people do affects other people. Brokenness spreads when it's left unchecked. And sometimes the consequences move far beyond the original moment. You even see that beginning to happen in Cain's family line. Cain builds a city in Genesis 4.17. And later in that same line, you get to Lamech in Genesis 4, you know, verses 23 through 24, who openly boasts about violence and revenge. So while humanity is advancing culturally, spiritually, things are already beginning to fracture. I think a lot of tension people feel around passages like this comes from never being taught to read scripture in sequence. Because once you follow the movement from Genesis into the law and then into the later stories, things that felt disconnected start settling into place. Like you realize you're watching humanity move from origin to structure and eventually into clearly established boundaries. And by the time you get to stories later in Scripture, people already understand those boundaries. 2 Samuel 13, 12, no, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel. Like that awareness is already there. And what follows in that story brings devastation into the family itself. So the original question was never bad. It needed time, context, and somebody willing to actually walk through it instead of shutting the conversation down the second it became uncomfortable. Because some questions like this don't automatically pull people away from scripture. Sometimes they're the exact thing that pushes people to finally slow down and read it for themselves. Sit with that for a second. Sometimes the biggest shift happens when we stop rushing through scripture, looking for quick conclusions, and actually allow ourselves to follow the story all the way through. And once you do that, things that felt confusing start connecting in ways you didn't notice before. And again, I want to thank you all for joining me once again right here on the Dear God Let Us Pray podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to connect with us on Instagram at Dear GodLetUsPray. We should have our YouTube channel up and running soon. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, please give us a follow and leave a review so that more people can find conversations like this. Um we are still on a strive of our hundred, our first 100 followers in the next 30 days. So give us a follow. It's free 99. Give us a follow, leave a review, and if this episode resonated with you, share it with three other people that would love to jump into this conversation. All right. Again, it's your girl Santana, host of the Dear God Let Us Pray podcast. Remember to spread kindness always. I love you, but there's someone who loves you even more than that. All right, I'll see you on the next one.