# In defense of Genesis **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745 "2022-03-26T14:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/21 "2022-03-26T21:23:48Z")
It’s a perfectly logical explanation for how we’re all descended from Adam’n’Eve ™ yet not inherently and hopelessly inbred, that’s consistent with what is in Genesis. I will, henceforth, restrict my mockery of the utterly offensive idiocy that is Genesis to other matters. Thank you for subscribing to my podcast. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/22 "2022-03-26T21:51:24Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > [Found: closest link to Eve, our universal ancestor | New Scientist](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429904-500-found-closest-link-to-eve-our-universal-ancestor/#:~:text=If%20you%20trace%20back%20the,years%20ago%20in%20southern%20Africa). > > There has to be a first of any species. No, there doesn’t. That’s not how evolution works. The plain fact of the matter is that you can’t pinpoint any one being and say they are the first of a new species. And specifically, Mitochondrial Eve is not the first human or first human woman or anything like that. She was human, but so were all the people around at the same time. The same for Y-chromosomal Adam. He wasn’t even living at the same time as Mito-Eve. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/23 "2022-03-26T22:10:58Z")
This particular explanation has been made hundreds, or thousands, or gazillions of times over history. [Fanwanking](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fanwank) has been around for much longer than any of us have been alive. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/24 "2022-03-26T22:21:08Z")
I don’t see how anyone can defend Genesis after ~~the archangel~~ Gabriel left. Can’t stand Phil Collins. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/25 "2022-03-27T08:32:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There has to be a first of any species. This is a profound misunderstanding of what a species is and how they come about. Find all the ancestors of humans and stand them in a line stretching from you back to single-celled organisms. You will be unable to point to the start of _any_ species. Each member of that line-up will be almost indistinguisable from its neighbours and will be capable of interbreeding with both. There was never a first human. Genesis can be safely disregarded as a nonsensical creation myth with absolutely zero evidence to back up any of the claims it makes. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/26 "2022-03-27T12:11:13Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Genesis can be safely disregarded as a nonsensical creation myth with absolutely zero evidence to back up any of the claims it makes. But it is hilarious, don’t you agree? Also, I’d insert “preposterous” before “claims.” ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/27 "2022-03-27T12:33:30Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. > > 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. That seems to explain it quite well. Cains wife was a Nodian. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/28 "2022-03-27T14:09:01Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > But it is hilarious, don’t you agree? > > Also, I’d insert “preposterous” before “claims.” As literature and poetry and myth it can be, by turns, beautiful, lyrical, terrifying, ugly and yes, hilarious. But “truthful”? nah! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/29 "2022-03-27T14:44:08Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Genesis can be safely disregarded as a nonsensical creation myth with absolutely zero evidence to back up any of the claims it makes. You’re assuming that its point or purpose is to make scientific or historical claims. That’s not how creation myths work. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/30 "2022-03-27T14:51:19Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’re assuming that its point or purpose is to make scientific or historical claims. That’s not how creation myths work. I assume nothing. it is a book, that’s all. No different to me than Harry Potter or Dickens. I’m perfectly happy to consider it as nothing more than mythology. Others may make claims on its accuracy regarding scientific and historical matters. That’s for them to back up. not me. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/31 "2022-03-27T14:52:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > creation myths work. “And today, my beloved and devoutly credulous brethren and sistren, we will turn to the Holy Book of Creation Myths, Chapter Five, Verse Twelve, in which some truly spectacular whoppers concerning human longevity will be served to you, and which I trust you to gobble up on pain of ex-communication and eternal residence in the bowels of Hellfire…” ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/32 "2022-03-27T18:25:46Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > Genesis doesn’t say that Adam and Eve were the only people God ever created, just that they were the first Joshua Swamidass has suggested something similar to this in his book “The Genealogical Adam and Eve”. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/33 "2022-03-27T18:30:36Z")
But then, after the flood Noah and his son’s had to interbreed, yes? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/34 "2022-03-27T18:35:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’re assuming that its point or purpose is to make scientific or historical claims. That’s not how creation myths work. But that is how they are _taken_ by more than a few people. BTW, the problem created by God creating other peoples for Cain, Abel and the rest of the family to procreate with is solved by The Flood wiping out all lineages except for the one original. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/35 "2022-03-27T18:55:59Z")
Remember (from the bible) that [Lot’s daughters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot%27s_daughters) got their dad drunk and had sex with him because they thought the world had ended and they needed to repopulate the human race. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/36 "2022-03-27T19:05:56Z")
Of course there was a first human. Logically, it’d be impossible for there not to have been. It’s impossible to pin down who that first human was or precisely where or when they lived, but whoever it was, they must have existed. Things can exist without us knowing what they are. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/37 "2022-03-27T19:08:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Logically, it’d be impossible for there not to have been. Logically, it’d be totally subjective to decide who or when that first human lived. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/38 "2022-03-27T20:08:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Of course there was a first human. Logically, it’d be impossible for there not to have been. Define “human”. That’s not remotely a neat bright line. It’s an extremely blurry one. And it certainly doesn’t fall neatly between one person and everyone before them. I’m well aware that some logic systems purely hate blurry lines. They’re how the world works, nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/39 "2022-03-27T20:32:22Z")
Interestingly, the earliest common female human ancestor and her male counterpart seem to have lived at different times, suggesting that there was a lot of mixing going on but not all of it is represented in modern-day populations. > **[Mitochondrial Eve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > In human genetics, the Mitochondrial Eve (also mt-Eve, mt-MRCA) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all living humans. In other words, she is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an unbroken line purely through their mothers and through the mothers of those mothers, back until all lines converge on one woman. > In terms of mitochondrial haplogroups, the mt-MRCA is situated at the divergence ... > **[Y-chromosomal Adam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > In human genetics, the Y-chromosomal most recent common ancestor (Y-MRCA, informally known as Y-chromosomal Adam) is the patrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) from whom all currently living humans are descended. He is the most recent male from whom all living humans are descended through an unbroken line of their male ancestors. The term Y-MRCA reflects the fact that the Y chromosomes of all currently living human males are directly deriv... ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745/40 "2022-03-27T20:33:52Z")
Well, I think that is only because, as humans, we will disagree on where a line is drawn. But there is a line. You (general “you”) just draw it in a different place than I would. The blurry lines are of our own making. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-genesis/961745.md?page=3)