I have a question for those on the list who know more about genetics than I do. In other words anyone. Is it possible to show by DNA studies that it is genetically impossible for humanity to have descended from two individuals, say Adam and Eve? I don’t necessarily mean an event where the population is whittled down to two breeding individuals. It is certainly a conceivable evolutionary scenario that a particular advantageous trait could be so advantageous that eventually, over many generations, organisms without the trait are completely removed from the population leaving no descendants. This could even be imagined in Darwin’s day without our current understanding of genetics. But of course now we know that observable traits are manifestations of genes, and virtually any trait we can think of had its origin as a random mutation. And of course if a mutation occurs by random chance, chances are it will occur again…and again. So it’s extreeeeeemly unlikely that any trait can t!
race its origin back to two, and only two individuals. But suppose the trait we are talking about did not originate as a mutation, and suppose that trait is the “breath of life”, or the spirit, which God breathed into the “first” man. Is it possible to show genetically that all human ancestry cannot be traced through two individuals, who were the first to have a spirit?
As Wendee said there are different scenarios for the evolutionary creationist. To be respectful of the anthropological and paleontological evidence we almost have to view Adam as Jim said, the first "of the chosen people," but not the first "technical human." But it’s interesting to see where this leaves us with respect to the question of whether all humans are descended from a historic Adam and Eve. Do we all have Adam’s blood in us, or are there non-Adamite humans? Whatever the answer, we are all certainly Adam’s children in the same sense that all Christians are Abraham’s children.
Brent
Wendee wrote:
This isn't what you asked, but, as I'm sure you're aware, there are a number
of different possible scenarios with the first Adam given an evolutionary
creationist perspective. You give one. Another related but not exactly the
same is that Adam was the first that evolved Spirit or consciousness. I
believe that Spirit is obviously spiritual, and consciousness is probably an
evolutionary relict but I see the two as related. In the garden of Eden
story, it speaks of Adam and Eve as becoming aware of good and evil --
something I think of as consciousness. In this way, we are different from
all other created things, and "like God." It could have happened in one gene
mutation, so there could literally have been one literal Adam. Personally if
such a thing did indeed happen, then I believe God was also behind it. Such
is the "punctuated equilibrium" Gould proposed. (ie major evolutionary
change happening in short periods of time, rather than longer, gradual
changes). The evolutionary leap to consciousness could have also happened
more gradually, in which case finding a literal Adam is more difficult.
Adam could have been a Neanderthal man as I think Glenn proposes, or he
could have been a modern Homo sapiens or anyone in between. I think its
important that we don't know, and that there are many possible scenarios
each with their own theological dilemmas.
My 0.02, Wendee :)
Brent Foster
http://home.earthlink.net/~bdfoster/bfpages.htm
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” - Jesus Christ
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