Inbreeding Trouble?

Hello, Mr. Culiver, Laurel here.

I have a science question for you. I was talking to one of my friends in Music Man rehearsal last night and we were discussing various Biblical and philosophical topics. He asked me to give an explanation for how one excuses the problems of inbreeding if the earth was populated from only two people (Adam and Eve). I was wondering how I am to answer this question. He argued that because inbreeding eventually causes the recessive genes to appear, people would become dumber and dumber because they were coming from a gene pool of only two people. Thus, making the theory of Adam and Eve implausible. I am not sure where to find an answer, but I told him I would get him one. Any help?

Thanks,
Laurel


Thanks for the question, Laurel. First, even if you didn’t believe in the Bible, the entire human race MUST have come from only two humans, unless you posit that humans “evolved” into humans in different locations, happened to pair up and procreate and their respective progeny found each other. Thereby birthing the human race from two independently evolved “human” lines. Even THEN, you would eventually come back to a unique pair of ancestors, even if you claim that it was the first pair of APES that procreated.

In the beginning Adam and Eve were perfect. Adam lived for 950 years, even though the earth was cursed. His body, though cursed was able to survive for a long time because, by starting from perfection, it took a relatively long time to degenerate and die. Adam and Eve passed their slightly imperfect genes to Cain, Abel, (did he live long enough to procreate?), Seth and presumably a few daughters. If you look at the ages that the patriarchs died, they are truly multi-centenarians. You also notice a general trend for them to die at younger and younger ages. Even when you get to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, men were routinely living well into their second century. By the time you get to David, (3000 years ago), who lived to the age of seventy, the Bible describes seventy years as, “Then he died in a ripe old age, full of days, riches and honor; and his son Solomon reigned in his place.” (1 Chronicles 29:28)

Even with a lack of modern medicine, Bible characters lived into their 80’s fairly routinely. If we roll the clock forward to modern times, 80 years old was considered a freakishly long time to live. Benjamin Franklin lived into his 80’s and he was renowned for his extraordinarily long life. So what about today? Yes, men do live longer than they did in Franklin’s time, but only through technological means. At the turn of the 19th century the average American died at 50.

My point? I am convinced that since the Fall, man, like the rest of creation has steadily degenerated. The age that a human body can live has slowly but surely decreased. Entropy has taken its toll. The number of possible, horrible mutations that can be created from inbreeding have logarithmically increased over time. For Adam and Eve, the answer is simple. Virtually perfect people have nearly zero negative traits to pass on to their progeny. As for the “dumber and dumber” argument, maybe your friend has a point there!