conkermaniac

OK, now I'm not exactly an expert on genetics, so bear with me if I'm totally off here. If Adam and Eve had perfect genetic lineage so that interbreeding would not lead to birth defects, how did it happen that we ended up with flawed genes so that interbreeding would cause problems? And why does God forbid "approach[ing] any close relative to have sexual relations" (Lev 18:6) when that's how humanity got started in the first place?

lpetrich

That is what is commonly called a "plot hole", and I've seen various attempts to wiggle out of that conundrum.

The Bible also has a very fun sort of genetic engineering in Genesis 30 -- Jacob makes Laban's solid-colored livestock have spotted and streaked offspring by showing them sticks with stripes painted on them.

Doctor X

Oh . . . with myth you can dream up whatever you want . . . just declare Adam and Eve started "with completely different genes"--even though Eve supposedly came from a rib. That is why they lived, like, you know, hundreds of years, because, like, their DNA was, you know, perfect.

It does not work.

--J.D.

demoninho

I think they argue we are actually degenerating, getting more and more genetic errors in our genome. All genetic mutations according to the fundies are bad ones and there is no such thing as natural selction.

It makes me wonder though how come if Adam and Eve were perfect their DNA repair mechanisms weren't?

conkermaniac

I'm not really asking about Adam and Eve here but their children. According to most Xians, their children married each other, and there were no birth defects because the genetic lineage was perfect. Well, what exactly made it imperfect?

Doctor X

Ah . . . but people do forget we do not descend from Adam and Eve but, really, Noah and HIS CHILDREN--talk about keeping it in the family . . . yeessss Noah came from Adam and Eve . . . but by the time of the Flood did they have any mutation . . . no . . . I have it . . . after the Tower of Babel, Big Daddy mixed up the language which included the language of DNA . . . yeah . . . that is it . . . sure. . . .

Sadly, I think somewhere someone might take all of that seriously.

--J.D.

demoninho

Degeneration , THis site is by a dutch religious nut who "debunked" Darwin and came up with his one solution:boohoo:

Oolon Colluphid

indeed! Because creationists usually claim that screwed-up genomes -- the present-but-broken vitamin c synthesising gene we share with the great apes, for instance -- are due to The Fall (TM). So these things should have been effective from Adam and Eve on down the lineage, with immediate effect. The imperfections started to creep in after the old apple-eating incident, and so their children, being 'fallen', had knackered genomes.

So they're stuffed, basically.

Remember, though, that "most Xians" do not literally believe in all that Adam-n-Eve bullshit. Most Christians -- if they're following what their churches say -- are happy to accept evolution. So it's not a problem for them, only for cretinists. Who are too stupid or blind to evidence anyway: rational arguments are anathema to them.

Cheers, Oolon

CaptainOfOuterSpace

Well then how about all the other animals after they left the Ark? There were only two of each kind! That's a pretty nasty genetic bottleneck for them, too.

Rational BAC

It is easy to make fun of Chrisianity for this "problem".

But how does this same inbreeding genetic problem not exist in evolution?

After all, we are all descended from the African "Eve". At least DNA says so.

Same problem, nicht Wahr?

You all got some serious 'splainin' to do here. Be careful what you complain about, because you have exactly the same problem.

Not that it cannot be explained. I would just like to see it done.

Start with the African Eve, and add in Adam 70,000 years later and show me how modern man evolved without some serious inbreeding.