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Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?
Crisis Magazine ^ | November 24, 2014 | DENNIS BONNETTE

Posted on 11/24/2014 1:07:14 PM PST by NYer

the-fall-of-man-hendrick-goltzius

Pure myth! That is today’s typical view of a literal Adam and Eve. Yet, contrary to current skepticism, a real Adam and Eve remain credible—both in terms of Catholic doctrine and sound natural science.

By calling the Genesis story a “myth,” people avoid saying it is mere “fantasy,” that is, with no foundation in reality at all. While rejecting a literal first pair of human parents for all mankind, they hope to retain some “deeper” truth about an original “sinful human condition,” a “mythic” meaning. They think that the latest findings in paleoanthropology and genetics render a literal pair of first true human parents to be “scientifically impossible.”

The prevailing assumption underlying media reports about human origins is that humanity evolved very gradually over vast periods of time as a population (a collection of interbreeding organisms), which itself originally evolved from a Homo/Pan (human/chimpanzee) common ancestor millions of years ago. Therefore, we are not seen as descendants of the biblical Adam and Eve.

This universal evolutionary perspective leads many Catholics and others to conclude that a literal Adam and Eve is “scientifically impossible” for two reasons: First, paleoanthropologists deny the sudden appearance of intelligent, self-reflective, fully-human primates, but rather view the emergence of consciousness and intelligence as taking place slowly and incrementally over long periods of time. Second, in light of recent findings in molecular biology, especially from studies based on genetic data gleaned from the Human Genome Project, it is claimed that the hominin population (the primate group from which modern man is said to have arisen) has never had a bottleneck (reduced population) of a single mating pair in the last seven or more million years: no literal Adam and Eve. Many succumb to the modernist tendency to “adjust” Church teaching to fit the latest scientific claims—thus intimidating Catholics into thinking that divinely revealed truths can be abandoned—“if need be.”

This skepticism of a literal Adam and Eve begs for four much needed corrections.

First, Church teaching about Adam and Eve has not, and cannot, change. The fact remains that a literal Adam and Eve are unchanging Catholic doctrine. Central to St. Paul’s teaching is the fact that one man, Adam, committed original sin and that through the God-man, Jesus Christ, redemption was accomplished (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15: 21-22). In paragraphs 396-406, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, speaks of Adam and Eve as a single mating pair who “committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state” (CCC, 404). “Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin and turns a man back toward God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle” (CCC, 405). The doctrines surrounding original sin cannot be altered “without undermining the mystery of Christ” (CCC, 389).

Today, many think that Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Humani generis did not definitively exclude theological polygenism. What they fail to notice, though, is that the Holy Father clearly insists that Scripture and the Magisterium affirm that original sin “proceeds from a sin truly committed by one Adam [ab uno Adamo]” and that this sin is transmitted to all true human beings through generation (para. 37). This proves that denial of a literal Adam (and his spouse, Eve) as the sole first genuinely human parents of all true human beings is not theologically tenable.

Second, rational human nature itself requires that mankind made an instant appearance on planet Earth. Paleoanthropological claims of gradual appearance of specifically human traits fail to comport with a true philosophy of human nature. Reflecting classical Christian thought, St. Thomas Aquinas demonstrates that true man is distinguished essentially from lower animals by possession of an intellectual and immortal soul, which possesses spiritual powers of understanding, judgment, and reasoning (Summa theologiae I, 75). While these qualitatively superior abilities are manifested through special forms of tool making or culture or art, they need not always be evident in the paleontological record. Sometimes true men share mere animal survival behavior and sometimes truly human behavior is lost to modern sight due to the ravages of time. What matters is that genuinely spiritual powers are either present or not, and that these alone bespeak the presence of true man. Irrational animals, including subhuman primates, are capable of complex sentient behaviors often approaching or imitating the rational activities of true man. But an animal either possesses a spiritual, intellectual soul or not. Thus at some point in time, true man suddenly appears—whether visible to modern science or not. Before that time, all subhuman behavior manifests merely material sensory abilities. The fact that positivistic scientists cannot discern the first presence of true man is hardly remarkable.

Third, a correct understanding of the scientific (inductive) method reveals that it cannot ever logically exclude the possibility of two sole founders of humanity. Natural scientific studies employ the inductive method of reasoning. Empirically observed data is employed to form testable hypotheses. Molecular biologists use computer models in an attempt to validate such hypotheses and reach conclusions about genetic conditions in early primate populations. In this process, some researchers have committed the logically invalid move of inferring from particular data to the universally negative claim that a literal Adam and Eve is impossible. Such methodology produces, at best, solely probable conclusions, based on available evidence and the assumptions used to evaluate the data. There is the inherent possibility that an unknown factor will alter the conclusion, similarly as was the unexpected discovery of black swans in Australia, when the whole world “knew” all swans were white.

Fourth, specific scientific arguments against Adam and Eve have proven not as forceful as many presently believe (Gauger 2012). For example, some have claimed that effective population size estimates for the last several million years would not permit just two true humans to have lived during that time. Still, the technical concept of average effective population size estimates should not be confused with an actual “bottleneck” (a temporarily reduced population) which may be much smaller. Effective population size estimates can vary from as high as 14,000 (Blum 2011) to as low as 2,000 (Tenesa 2007), depending on the methods used.

Such calculations rely upon many assumptions about mutation rate, recombination rate, and other factors, that are known to vary widely. All of this entails retrospective calculations about events in the far distant past, for which we have no directly verifiable data. For such reasons, some experts have concluded that effective population size cannot be determined using DNA sequence differences alone (Sjödin 2005; Hawks 2008).

Indeed, the most famous genetic study proclaimed as a “scientific objection” to Adam and Eve turned out to be based on methodological errors. An article by geneticist Francisco J. Ayala appearing in the journal, Science (1995), led many to believe that a founding population of only two individuals was impossible. Ayala based his challenge to monogenism (two sole founders of humanity) on the large number of versions (alleles) of the particular gene HLA-DRB1, which are present in the current population. Accepting the common ancestor theory, he claimed that there were thirty-two ancient lineages of the HLA-DRB1 gene prior to the Homo/Pan split (approximately seven million years ago). Over time, these “pre-split” lineages, themselves, evolved into the new additional versions present today. Because each individual carries only two versions of a gene, a single founding pair could not have passed on the thirty-two versions that Ayala claimed existed some seven million years ago—either at that time or at any time since. A bottleneck of just two true humans, Adam and Eve, was “scientifically impossible.”

However, Ayala’s claim of thirty-two ancient HLA-DRB1 lineages (prior to the Homo/Pan split) was wrong because of methodological errors. The number of lineages was subsequently adjusted by Bergström (1998) to just seven at the time of the split, with most of the genetic diversity appearing in the last 250,000 years. A still later study coming out of Bergström’s group inferred that just four such lineages existed more than five million years ago, but that a few more appeared soon thereafter (von Salomé 2007). While two mating hominins can transmit four lineages, the few additional later ones still require explanation.

These genetic studies, based on many assumptions and use of computer models, do not tell us how the origin of the human race actually took place. But, they do show (1) that methodological limitations and radical contingency are inherent in such studies, which are employed to make retroactive judgments about deeply ancient populations that can never be subject to direct observation, and (2) that present scientific claims against the possibility of a literal Adam and Eve are not definitive (Gauger 2012, 105-122).

Philosopher Kenneth W. Kemp and others have suggested that interbreeding between true humans and subhuman primates in the same biological population might account for presently observed genetic diversity (Kemp 2011). Such interbreeding is not to be confused with the marriages between true human siblings and cousins which would have occurred in the first generations following Adam and Eve, which unions were a necessary part of God’s plan for the initial propagation of mankind (Gen. 1:28).

The difficulty with any interbreeding solution (save, perhaps, in rare instances) is that it would place at the human race’s very beginning a severe impediment to its healthy growth and development. Natural law requires that marriage and procreation take place solely between a man and a woman, so that children are given proper role models for adult life. So too, even if the union between a true human and a subhuman primate were not merely transitory, but lasting, the defective parenting and role model of a parent who is not a true human being would introduce serious disorder in the proper functioning of the family and education of children. Hence, widespread interbreeding is not an acceptable solution to the problem of genetic diversity.

Moreover, given the marked reduction in the number of ancient HLA-DRB1 alleles found by the later genetic studies of Bergström and von Salomé, it may turn out that no interbreeding is needed at all, or at most, that very rare instances of it may have occurred. Such rare events might not even entail the consent of true human beings, since they could result from an attack by a subhuman male upon a non-consenting human female.

A literal Adam and Eve remains rationally, scientifically credible.

Since the same God is author both of human reason and of authentic revelation, legitimate natural science, properly conducted, will never contradict Catholic doctrine, properly understood. Catholic doctrine still maintains that a literal Adam and Eve must have existed, a primal couple who committed that personal original sin, which occasioned the need for, and the divine promise of, the coming of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Editor’s note: The image above is a detail from “The Fall of Man” painted by Hendrik Goltzius in 1616.



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Religion & Science; Theology
KEYWORDS: adam; adamandeve; creation; crevo; crevolist; eve; evolution; fazalerana; gardenofeden; genesis; hughross; originalparents; origins
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To: Partisan Gunslinger

“Evolution? Even so, there was not enough time to change bones and such.”

Oh really? How long does it take to “change bones and such”?

“You’ve been focusing on it a lot more than I have. lol”

You brought it up, I’ve just been trying to figure out why you seem to think it matters in a Biblical discussion.


581 posted on 11/28/2014 11:18:40 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: BroJoeK

were you a believer, and studied in the word of God, you would have known that there are no “natural explanations of natural processes.

The reason would be obvious to a believer:

The universe is not something that occurred by “natural” means, but by a deliberate work of special creation.

The fact that all that has been promoted in favor of “natural processes” has been shown to be fraudulent should give you pause.

All things physical that exist were planned.

No understanding is evident in your posts.

.


582 posted on 11/28/2014 11:20:08 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Resettozero

I agree with your post and I do agree that most human achievements come from help from the Holy Spirit.


583 posted on 11/28/2014 11:30:05 AM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Elsie

>> “The BOOK says: Let Us create Man in Our image. So there you get some ‘sons of God’; right??” <<

.
No! Absolutely not.

WE are not “Sons of God.”

Yeshua stated that we will BECOME sons of God. That is what will happen at the Last Trump, as Paul so plainly showed the Corinthians.

Sons of God are not produced biologically; they are each a special creation event of their own.

Sons of God are equipped to exist in the realm of the Father, as they are not of corruptible flesh.

All of the Angels are “sons of God,” being immortal, specially created beings.

Your chance at becoming a “son of God” will come at the first resurrection; have your “garment” on, for none that haven’t the garment will be admitted (parable of the marriage of the son, Matthew 22)


584 posted on 11/28/2014 11:39:17 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Resettozero
Okay, I'm calling you on this type of accusatory posting. RCs have done the same...and on this very thread.

Stop that.

CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST!

585 posted on 11/28/2014 11:46:09 AM PST by verga (Being "squishy" on discipline is just as destructive as being wrong on doctrine; in some ways, more)
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To: verga

Sorry, but no, he denounced all that CHANGED what the apostles taught.

The ‘catholic church’ brought in nothing but change from the apostles teaching. By the time that it was created, entropy alone had done massive damage, aside from the deliberate malfeasance of Rome. Hippolytus was probably the last to preach a gospel that was true to the apostles gospel.

.


586 posted on 11/28/2014 11:50:46 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Boogieman

Scientifically, I’m sure! :o)

.


587 posted on 11/28/2014 11:52:13 AM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: verga
CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST!

I think you just threw something at me but I couldn't tell what it was.

Are you okay today?
588 posted on 11/28/2014 11:52:19 AM PST by Resettozero
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To: Partisan Gunslinger; Elsie
Yes, Adam lived before Noah. Abel and Seth were Adam's children. Cain is not listed as a son of Adam.

It figuratively kills me to have to agree with Elsie, but in this case hew is correct. Gen_4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

589 posted on 11/28/2014 11:55:50 AM PST by verga (Being "squishy" on discipline is just as destructive as being wrong on doctrine; in some ways, more)
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To: redleghunter

And yet to bears no relevance. As I said Ooooo goody!


590 posted on 11/28/2014 11:57:04 AM PST by verga (Being "squishy" on discipline is just as destructive as being wrong on doctrine; in some ways, more)
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To: verga
As I said Ooooo goody!

Was that an official RC nihil obstat and imprimatur answer?

591 posted on 11/28/2014 12:02:41 PM PST by redleghunter (But let your word 'yes be 'yes,' and your 'no be 'no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one.)
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To: editor-surveyor
I believe that Christ founded the Catholic Church the pillar and foundation of truth., The Apostles were her first bishops. Through Apostolic succession passed that Truth and faith on to the Catholic Church today.

You see it differently. Agree to disagree on this one.

592 posted on 11/28/2014 12:03:32 PM PST by verga (Being "squishy" on discipline is just as destructive as being wrong on doctrine; in some ways, more)
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To: verga
You see it differently. Agree to disagree on this one.

You see it as a choice of opinions presented here. Instead, it's a matter of what is true and not just who has the longest religion.
593 posted on 11/28/2014 12:06:47 PM PST by Resettozero
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To: verga

He didn’t say he was founding a church; he declared that he would build (increase) his already existing assembly.

There was no apostolic succession.

There are 12 apostles; the apostolic age ended with the death of John.

>> “Agree to disagree on this one.” <<

.
For now, I guess.


594 posted on 11/28/2014 12:16:23 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Boogieman
Oh really? How long does it take to “change bones and such”?

In my example I said more than 400 years.

You brought it up, I’ve just been trying to figure out why you seem to think it matters in a Biblical discussion.

There were about 30 posts dealing with the sixth day creation before I arrived, some yours, so you have more posts on it than I do. And it was you that brought up the curse of Cain and "subhumans", which has nothing to do with the sixth day creation. So, yes, it seems to matter to you more than anyone.

595 posted on 11/28/2014 12:17:48 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: editor-surveyor
WE are not “Sons of God.”

The bible says Adam is a son of God.

596 posted on 11/28/2014 12:19:19 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: verga
It figuratively kills me to have to agree with Elsie, but in this case hew is correct. Gen_4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

Imagine her surprise on having her first child. She did say "LORD", not Adam.

597 posted on 11/28/2014 12:21:51 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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To: Partisan Gunslinger

No, the Bible does not say that Adam was a “son of God.”


598 posted on 11/28/2014 12:24:47 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Resettozero
You see it as a choice of opinions presented here.No absolutely not

Instead, it's a matter of what is true and not just who has the longest religion.

It has nothing to do with longevity, it that was true than paganism would be what I was following, or Judaism. Both have longer histories than the Catholic Church.

My wife's brother engaged me in apologetics to get me back into the Catholic Church. A number of well meaning protestant friends of mine suggested Tim LaHaye and Lorraine Boettner books to counter his arguments. I poured through them and found them so filled with error about Catholic beliefs and practices that it wasn't even funny. This caused me to look much closer at history. This drew me to in depth scripture study. When I began to compare the various beliefs of the different groups the Catholic Church was the only one that held up to scriptural practices, historical accuracy and precedent (She was the only one that could show unbroken succession back to Christ.)

No not opinion at all, longer drawn out careful study by someone that was hoping he could find the truth somewhere, anywhere else.

599 posted on 11/28/2014 12:30:54 PM PST by verga (Being "squishy" on discipline is just as destructive as being wrong on doctrine; in some ways, more)
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To: editor-surveyor
No, the Bible does not say that Adam was a “son of God.”

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

600 posted on 11/28/2014 12:31:36 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
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