Bible - Genesis question?

The earth and everything in it was created before man.

Trees over all the Earth were created before mankind, (GE1:11-12, 26-27) .

The trees at the Garden of Eden, were created after the creation of Adam. (GE 2:4-9)

Genesis is mostly metaphorical. It is divinely inspired because it does closely parallel what science says actually happened. Trees fist. Mankind came last.

This story is not meant to be read literally. It is not a science textbook. The message "God made the world" is what is important. Not the wording. The majority of Christians understand this.

The Fundamentalist/creationist/ID movement is a conspiracy to destroy Christianity from within. Their unscrupulous leaders target uneducated but devout believers and convince them that “Genesis MUST be read literally” (even though it’s so obviously metaphorical), and that “evolution is a lie” (when it’s the very foundation of many major scientific fields). These charlatans are able to brainwash their audience by dazzling them with some pseudo-scientific jargon, fallacies, half-truths and out right lies. Since these people don't have enough information to realize they are being duped, they fall for it.

The creationist leaders actually made up this whole "false dilemma"/”either-or” fallacy!

“Believe ONLY in the bible or you are a bad Christian! Don't fall for science/evolution or you will be led by the devil.”

This entire premise is a LIE because the Catholic Church, the Methodists, the Anglicans, the Presbyterians, etc. the majority of ALL mainstream Christians have NO problem with evolution or science! Biblical scholars from all the major Christian denominations, and even Hebrew scholars confirm that the metaphorical language used in Genesis 1-2 does NOT conflict with the truth of the MESSAGE: “God created the universe and established a special relationship with mankind.” In fact, Genesis actually PARALLELS major scientific discoveries (“big bang” – “let their be light” – what’s the difference?) The majority of Christians are able to see how evolution is an elegant part of God’s plan. Evolution IS the “divine design”!

However, this small group stirs up a lot of political controversy (i.e. teaching it in school) so that all non-Christians, who could be potential converts, are made to believe that ALL Christians are morons.

So, the general public, including potential converts, want nothing to do with Christianity.

Diabolical no?

These poor deluded, but faithful people believe they are doing "God's will" when they are actually doing the exact opposite. Their websites are just filled with fallacies, lies and misinformation. If they weren’t so dangerous to our school children and Christianity in general, it would be laughable.

This whole ridiculous controversy is one entirely of their own making! It's kind of sad.

Trees were created before men.

Genesis 2:4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

You could try to make the case that man was made and then the plants but it isn't a story that says exactly in what order God did everything. Look at this verse

and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

Right after that it says God formed man. Now why would a mist have to water the earth if there were no plants made yet?

this question really has 2 answers - depending on which chapter you read. chapters 1 and 2 are confusing because while they both speak of the creation story, the order in which things were created isn't the same. this has lead to many disagreements among even clergy on which version is correct.

there are however, those that state that chapter 1 was the story, and chapter 2 was detail to the story. personally, i never was able to buy into that.

the most common accepted belief is that man was created last. all other things were created before man.

First the trees evolved. Then humans evolved. Then humans chopped down the trees and created paper so that this myth could be written down in 2 differing ways and people could argue forever.

I have recently answered a similar question:

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ap...

maybe you might like it, take a look

Edit: thanks for your comment to me. Just to clarify how these things are meant to be understood in reference to as you point out Genesis 2:4-9, it is important that we understand some points that can be overlooked.

If we look preceding these verses you point out; in Gen 2:1-2 it can be noted that everything had come to a completion and God rested on the seventh day. From this and the lead up to the end of Genesis chapter 1, we can ascertain that God had created everything to be created on the Earth by this time.

Therefore when we look further and see the verses you mention; could this be extra to the creation that God was resting from?

If we look at:

(Genesis 2:4) . . .This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that God made earth and heaven.

............

This would be talking in the past tense. Going on further:

(Genesis 2:5-6) . . .Now there was as yet no bush of the field found in the earth and no vegetation of the field was as yet sprouting, because God had not made it rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground.

..............

This too is talking in the past tense because in Genesis 1:9-13 it had already talked about the vegetation that by this time had well and truly preceded this time. Yes the time as it talks about evidently referred to early on the third creative “day,” before vegetation appeared.

Why these verses repeating the past tense is for the point of the fact as it says in Gen 2:5-6 that; "God had not made it rain upon the earth" & " a mist would go up from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground". Both of these points show how the Earth functioned at this time. These factors show why when Noah preached about how there was this rain coming upon the Earth that would flood the entire Earth; that people would have been of complete non-belief of that ever happening (compare Matthew 24:39). As the scripture says; it had not rained and their only watering system was a mist. However when Moses penned these scriptures was after the flood and at that time rain was the new watering system.

In addition to this when Moses wrote these words inspired by God, there would not have been as much questioning as we do today of the creation account and how people look for abnormalities. So when we see the contrasting words "mist & rain", it becomes clear why the need for these different descriptions of watering the Earth. It is to show how things changed from one era just after creation and up until the flood, and another era after the flood.

Back to finishing off the verses in question:

(Genesis 2:7-9) . . .And God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul. 8 Further, God planted a garden in E′den, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Thus God made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one’s sight and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

...............

All talking in the past tense and used to highlight the additional factors of what God instituted for the man in the Paradise of Eden.

It is a common quality in writing to reiterate over the same things but adding various other facts as you do this. These verses can be a little hard to understand if we try to look at them down the figurative tunnel and there only being one way to look literally; but if we use perception they tend to make a lot more sense.

The fact that vegetation was created on the 3rd day from Genesis 1:9-13, cannot turn around on the seventh day, Genesis chapter 2 and contradict it.

Hope that makes sense for you and I am happy to explain any other questions you may have.

Neither.

Both evolved from a common ancestor. Trees evolved and established themselves (though not necessarily the trees we say today) billions of years before there were any humans on the planet.

Peace.

Genesis chapter 1 gives the order.

Tree before man about 1,000 years.

See what Peter wrote about the time of heaven comparing with earth.