Adam and Eve? The bible forbides intercourse between relatives, so how did they do it?

Question

I've been asking my selfe this question for a long time, can anyone give me a answer?

Answer 1

As you can see, the people who answered this question don't get what you asked.

If adam and eve were real, the intercourse between them would have been fine, but the intercourse between their children wouldn't have.

Furthermore, it is enirely impossible for a species to have been wholey propogated from two individuals. The resultant inbreeding would have extinguished the species. Or, at least, they'd be too retarded to even know how to breed.

Answer 2

One main problem with parents of close relations having children is the increased possibility of birth defects. This is because, over time, your DNA can get damaged by radiation, disease, pollution, drugs, etc. If two people who are not close relatives have children, any inherited deficiencies in the genes of one parent will probably be suppressed by a more dominant, un-damaged gene from the other parent.
But when close relatives have children, it is more likely that both parents will carry the same damaged gene. When these two damaged genes match up, there is no "good" gene to take the dominance, therefore, the defect surfaces as a birth defect.

In the age of Adam and Eve, and the next few generations, this would not have been a problem. They would have had a pure, undamaged gene pool. There would have been no genetic reason why close relatives would have had an increase in birth defects.

Also, at the time of Adam and Eve, God had not yet given a command against close relatives having children together, so it would not have violated God's law. You cannot violate a law that has not yet been given. Later, the bible does record a law against close relatives having such relations, but this was generations after Adam and Eve.

Answer 3

To start with, Adam and Eve were not related. Secondly and more importantly God did not forbid incest until a later dispensation.

I would like to take a few lines to explain the reasoning behind all this. You see, most of the laws given to the Jews were for the good of society. Incest is bad for society, why you ask? because it amplifies genetic defects causing all sort of problems from the Big noses of the British royalty to Sickle Cell Anemia and down syndrome. When Adam and Eve were created they had a perfect Gene pool, it wasn't until after "The Fall" that man started to degrade. This wasn't very severe at First, but as time went on the gene pool became more and more corrupt and so it was no longer good for close relatives to have children.

Answer 4

Adam and Eve were not relatives. They were husband and wife. That is what Eve was created for. To be Adams wife. The first command after Eve was created was to go have kids and fill the earth.

Now as for the main question. Adam and Eve had pure genes, there were no flaws. So at that time, their kids and some odd grandkids would have been able to marry each other and have kids. It wasn't till some time after the flood that God commanded that intercourse between relatives was wrong until you go out to the seventh generation.

Because the gene pool was beginning to degenerate. Flaws were starting to be appear in the gene pool. Therefore God had to make a law that forbid this.

And over time the effects of inbreeding can be seen.

Answer 5

Many ask this question thinking they’ve found a "mistake" in the Bible—that there must have been other people besides Adam and Eve. Scripture tells us that Adam is "the first man" (1 Corinthians 15:45); that there were no other humans when he was created, because God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18); and that Eve is "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). Cain and Abel, then, must have married distant sisters. All of the first-generation siblings married each other in order to populate the earth. At that time there was no law against incest. But as the population grew large enough, and as the risk of genetic problems increased because of sin’s curse, God outlawed marriage between siblings.

Answer 6

A) Adam and Eve probably never existed. Consider them an example of the truth God wanted you to know, ie, HE created us; not some godling who has to be placated with human sacrifice every time you want a harvest.

B) Genetically, mitochondrial DNA points to a single female somewhere in the long ago; all of whose offspring carried that DNA. Males only carry it. females pass it on to their offspring. By your lights, that makes ALL of us siblings. Hey! Isn't that just what God said? We're all brothers? Well, I'll be. Guess you'd better either be a celibate, or realize how illogical your initial statement is.

C) Next time you have a question for which YOU have no answer, do stop wasting time asking yourself. Ask someone who might know.

D) Have a nice day. And thank for the 2 points.

Aside to anyone who reads this: Is there some way to get ALL these literalists to read my statements? I'm tired of repeating myself. Although I admit the 2 points per repetition IS kinda nice.

Answer 7

In the paleolithic, when the first humans started painting on cave walls, there was no Bible, and wouldn't be for thousands more years.

By the time the Law of Moses was given, the world had several hundred million people living in it. And presumably, two million Israelites set out with Moses into the desert from Egypt.

At the time this law was given, finding a mate who was not a sibling probably wasn't a problem.

Answer 8

Adam and Eve were more than close relatives. Eve was formed from Adam's rib, so she was basically a clone of Adam with the Y chromosome changed to X.

Midrash Beresheis Rabba states that Cain and Abel were each born with twin sisters. They didn't marry their twin sister but they were to marry the twin sister born with their brother. When Cain slew Abel, Cain's twin sister was then given to Seth for a wife. Other sets of brother sister twins were also born after that point.

The command about no longer marrying a close relative wasn't given until after Mount Sinai.

Answer 9

If you look at Abraham, the founding father of the Hebrews, you will notice that he married his half-sister. The daughter of his father, but not his mother. " And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife."

Clearly, God had not yet forbidden the intermarriage of close relatives. In fact, the law of Moses that codified intermarriage between relatives as a violation of the law was 430 years after the Hebrews entered the land of Egypt.

Therefore, there would've been no biblical warrant against marital relations between siblings at the time of Adam & Eve.

Answer 10

I understand your question since Eve was fashioned from Adam's rib, and therefore they would have shared the same DNA.
I believe It has to do with their bodies being perfect. Even after they ate of the fruit and sinned before God, their bodies were still perfect. Having perfect bodies, they were able to mate without problems. Even after they left Eden behind, Adam and Eve still retained their perfect bodies and lived long lives.