Was the world populated through incest or did God create others besides Adam and Eve?

[Tuor]

I would sincerely appreciate if a Christian that knows his or her Bible could explain this to me. I'm not trying to offend anyone here, just curious.
Edit: I will not be the one to judge your responses in this thread, either. I just want to hear them.

[Helm]

I don't think the Bible says anything about them being brother and sister. But there is some hot incestual action to be had in the OT.

[Tuor]

I don't think the Bible says anything about them being brother and sister. But there is some hot incestual action to be had in the OT.

Not Adam and Eve themselves being incestuous, but them being incestuous with their children or their children being incestuous with each other. Just wanted to clarify that.

[Helm]

Good point but then most Europeans are descendents of only 7 European women, so there's a lot of incest anyway.

[Monarchist]

Genesis Chapter 4:

16: "And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth, at the east side of Eden.

17: "And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived (and brought forth Henoch), and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch.

Now, Genesis 1:1 - Genesis 4:15 make no mention of any sons or daughters of Adam & Eve, except Cain & Abel. As no man can take a wife who has not been born, it seems manifest that Genesis chapters 1-6 are not to be taken literally. If the early parts of this book are taken literally, absurdities ensue.

In the end, though, you might as well argue that since our D.N.A. is uniform across the board, all human sexual intercourse is incestuous. "We're all brothers and sisters", etc., may sound like a hippie complaint, but it's true on a biological level (even if somewhat distant).

[Manco]

Good point but then most Europeans are descendents of only 7 European women, so there's a lot of incest anyway.

You're misinterpreting that. Large populations being traced back to a select few individuals does not mean that those few were the only ones around. They just happen to be ancestors to everyone in said population. Keep in mind most genetic studies only study direct patri-or matrilinear descent.

[Helm]

Humans have lowest amount of genetic diversity of any organism on the face of the Earth, with the exception of cheetahs as far as I know, we could be considered an endangered species on the genetic level, even if we're currently enjoying a surge in numbers, enjoying it a little too much perhaps, this won't be sustainable indefinitely.

[Khassaki]

Humans have lowest amount of genetic diversity of any organism on the face of the Earth, with the exception of cheetahs as far as I know, we could be considered an endangered species on the genetic level, even if we're currently enjoying a surge in numbers, enjoying it a little too much perhaps, this won't be sustainable indefinitely.

There is nothing actually wrong with inbreeding, racehorses do it all the time. It depends entirely on the quality of the original genetic material. The disappearance of selection pressure though our high levels of medical intervention is a greater concern, but we as a species are more likely to bonk ourselves out of existence by simpling using up all the available resources (Soylent Green anyone?)

Uh? It take what 9 months to make a baby. I dont think its possible to kill 100 babies everyday from one woman.

Yep, Lilith is famous in feminist circles. She was Adam's equal and that caused no end of trouble for him. She got blasted and replaced by Eve who was made from one of Adam's ribs. Which might not be incest but is pretty freaky anyway.

[Phier]

Humans have lowest amount of genetic diversity of any organism on the face of the Earth, with the exception of cheetahs as far as I know, we could be considered an endangered species on the genetic level, even if we're currently enjoying a surge in numbers, enjoying it a little too much perhaps, this won't be sustainable indefinitely.

Of course it will. Its not like the gene pool is getting shallower.

[Helm]

Of course it will. Its not like the gene pool is getting shallower.

If we suffered some kind of global catacylsm we may not have the genetic stock to properly survive it, should it drop below a certain level we would no longer be genetically viable and would die out over a few generations. This has happened to other animal species so it can happe to us. Either way we will need to get our acts together if we don't want to go extinct at some point in the future. Well we will become extinct in the future but we should should have a good few million years in us.

[Phier]

If we suffered some kind of global catacylsm we may not have the genetic stock to properly survive it, should it drop below a certain level we would no longer be genetically viable and would die out over a few generations. This has happened to other animal species so it can happe to us. Either way we will need to get our acts together if we don't want to go extinct at some point in the future. Well we will become extinct in the future but we should should have a good few million years in us.

There is no foreseeable human bottle neck which doesn't involve a asteroid or something akin to that. We are everywhere, we breed like, well humans. We are the most successful large animal species of all time. We live in the arctic, the tropics, on mountain tops, in deserts, and in equatorial jungles.

We have plenty of genetic diversity to survive.

[Gelgoog]

If we suffered some kind of global catacylsm we may not have the genetic stock to properly survive it, should it drop below a certain level we would no longer be genetically viable and would die out over a few generations. This has happened to other animal species so it can happe to us. Either way we will need to get our acts together if we don't want to go extinct at some point in the future. Well we will become extinct in the future but we should should have a good few million years in us.

actually we did suffer a global catacylsm in our early history (70,000 years ago), which is why we have such a shallow genetic pool to begin with because only a handful (as in only several thousand) humans survived it, and they went on to repopulate the earth. Before that time period the human genetic code would have been alot more diverse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory

[Monarchist]

Obviously that's proof of our Genesis-origin then, Helm!

[Tuor]

Obviously that's proof of our Genesis-origin then, Helm!

Thank you for your explanation Monarchist.
I have to point out that we do have a common genetic ancestry, but it's a little more complicated than the Genesis-origin. Ever heard of mitochondrial Eve or Y-chromosomal Adam?

[Caliph]

I would sincerely appreciate if a Christian that knows his or her Bible could explain this to me. I'm not trying to offend anyone here, just curious.
Edit: I will not be the one to judge your responses in this thread, either. I just want to hear them.

Not a christian. Though from what I roughly remember from the version of Islam, is that our mother Eve gave birth to twins on 2 occaisions, at least. Each birth resulted in a boy and a girl. When the children grew up to reach maturity, through God's inspiration Adam decided each of his sons will marry the other's twin. Though Cain wanted his twin sister and that leads to the story of him murdering his brother Abel to ensure he is the only man, literally, to be available for her.

So it is incest if you are being technical. Though it was the only way, which somewhat makes it more fathomable.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Not a christian. Though from what I roughly remember from the version of Islam, is that our mother Eve gave birth to twins on 2 occaisions, at least. Each birth resulted in a boy and a girl. When the children grew up to reach maturity, through God's inspiration Adam decided each of his sons will marry the other's twin. Though Cain wanted his twin sister and that's where the story of him murdering his brother Abel to ensure he is the only man, literally, to be available for her.

So it is incest if you are being technical. Though it was the only way, which somewhat makes it more fathomable.

Do you still believe that?

[Caliph]

Do you still believe that?

I can't pick and choose. If I decide to drop the bits I can't comprehend, then I'll lose my faith. So yes I believe in it, but I don't discount the possibility that there could be a lot more to this story and all the other stories which we will all at one point come to terms with.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

I was watching about bits left out of the bible and aparantly adam had a 1st wife made equal to him.And she would not accept adam being in charge so she left.God said to her go back to adam or ill punish you.She still said no so he killed 100 of her babys everyday as punishment for all eternity.Then eve was made out of adams rib and she was therefore not his equal and served him.I think the 1st wife was named lily and in the middle east many people blamed her for killing babys in the womb like miscarrage.Its on history channel named BANNED FROM THE BIBLE.

[MathiasOfAthens]

I was watching about bits left out of the bible and aparantly adam had a 1st wife made equal to him.And she would not accept adam being in charge so she left.God said to her go back to adam or ill punish you.She still said no so he killed 100 of her babys everyday as punishment for all eternity.Then eve was made out of adams rib and she was therefore not his equal and served him.I think the 1st wife was named lily and in the middle east many people blamed her for killing babys in the womb like miscarrage.Its on history channel named BANNED FROM THE BIBLE.

Uh? It take what 9 months to make a baby. I dont think its possible to kill 100 babies everyday from one woman.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

I know but the mysterys of the bible never cease to amaze me lol.