Creation Moment 7/6/2025 - Adam & Eve's Skin Color

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:28 NKJV

"In Western countries, nearly every imaginative painting of Adam and Eve depicts two adult Caucasians with fair skin and blue eyes. These images, even when used as Bible illustrations, tend to shape the reader's mental image of the first man and woman. The origin of the darker-skinned races is often that they were descendants of Adam and Eve who had migrated to a hot climate where the suntan eventually became an inherited characteristic.
These images and explanations discredit Christianity.

The true explanation began to be resolved when it was shown that

human beings carry two genes for color and that each gene consists of "black" or "white" alleles. One allele was received from the mother and the other from the father. The allele is part of the gene, and the gene is part of the DNA – while the DNA resides in the nucleus of every cell in our body. Our skin color is caused by the pigment melanin, and this is controlled by two pairs of genes that geneticists refer to using the letter designations Aa and Bb, where the capital letter represents dominant genes and the small letters represent recessive genes.

A and B, being dominant, produce melanin in good quantity, while recessive a and b produce only a minor amount of melanin. Hence, our coloration depends upon the number of black and white alleles we received from our parents. The color genes express themselves in only one place – specialized skin cells called the melanocytes – that produce granules of melanin that are delivered to neighboring cells.

Eve was made from Adam's rib and was thus a clone of Adam [Genesis 2:21-22]. They would therefore have had identical genes for melanin production. If they were both AABB, they would have been black and produced children of only the darkest coloration. If this were the case, the world's population today would be entirely Negro.

In fact, only around 10-14% of the world's population is black, so we can be certain that our first parents were not of the AABB combination. By the same argument, if Adam and Eve had both been aabb, all their children would have been aabb, meaning that all their descendants would be the lightest Caucasian possible – there would be no other colors. Clearly, this is not the case, so by a process of deduction, we can conclude that Adam and Eve were heterozygous, each having two dominant and two recessive genes, AaBb.

These color differences were likely amplified following the business at the Tower of Babel [Genesis 11:1-9] when the human gene pool was divided.

Loss of genetic information in an isolated population is well known and a documented problem for breeders of pure-bred dogs, horses, and other animals. It seems that one population group that migrated from the Tower of Babel suffered a greater loss of the genetic information required to produce melanin and became the Caucasians.

The bottom line is that Adam and Eve were not white or black but a good middle brown." 

CM

Creation Moment 5/21/2024 - No Reason to Reject Literal Adam & Eve

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Genesis 2:23

"Theistic evolutionists present multiple genetic arguments against a literal Adam and Eve. 

--One key argument asserts it would be impossible for a single

human couple to give rise to the genetic diversity seen in the modern human population. 

--This implicitly assumes Adam and Eve would have been created without internal genetic diversity. 

--If this were true, all observed variations would have to arise recently via random mutations. This would require incredibly high mutation rates, logically leading to rapid extinction.

Yet, Adam and Eve could have been created massively heterozygous. --We have argued for over a decade that they could have been created with “designed diversity”. 

--We have previously shown that a vast amount of genetic variation could have been pre-programmed into their genomes. 

This could logically provide the genetic basis for: 

1) our human gifts and talents; 

2) the many forms of human beauty; and 

3) the various ways people have rapidly adapted to new habitats.

It is also claimed that the currently observed human allele frequency patterns could not arise from a single couple. The logic here is that, since there were only four sets of chromosomes in Eden, all variants would have had an initial frequency of either 25%, 50%, or 75%. Today, most allelic variants have frequencies in the range of 0–10%. Therefore, it is claimed that observed human diversity disproves a literal Adam and Eve.

--Our analyses highlight several genetic mechanisms that can help

reconcile a literal Adam and Eve with the human allele frequency distributions seen today. We use numerical simulation to show that two people, if they contain designed alleles, can in fact give rise to allele frequency distributions of the very same type as are now seen in modern man.

However, the genetic argument that there is no way that a literal Adam and Eve could have given rise to the observed human allele frequencies is clearly over-reaching and appears to be theologically reckless. 

There is no compelling reason to reject Adam and Eve based on modern allele frequencies." 

John Sanford

Last Adam OR 2nd Adam?

"Jesus is the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). 

Many commentators also refer to Jesus as the ‘second Adam’, largely due to proximity between the titles ‘second man’ and ‘Last Adam’ in 1 Corinthians 15. 

However, we argue that this is an invalid interpolation into the text. The term ‘second Adam’ does not appear in the Bible. Moreover, it masks both the theological richness of 1 Corinthians 15 and the history of redemption.

Jesus is not the only character besides Adam to have been given the commissions Adam was given in Genesis 1 and 2. Jesus is the last of several Adamic figures, and He ends the line because He succeeded where all the others failed. 

 

Moreover, 

--God’s replication of the Adamic vocation to multiple people throughout the history of redemption indicates these commissions and promises were anchored in a literal, historical Adam.

In 1 Corinthians 15:45–47, there is an important contrast. Drawing on Genesis 2:7, Paul calls Adam ‘the first man Adam’, but he refers to Jesus in two different ways: Jesus is ‘the last Adam’ (v. 45) and ‘the second man’ (v. 47). 

Some think, therefore, that ‘second man’ is a synonym for ‘second Adam’, since as a ‘second Adam’ Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation. However, we must respect Paul’s precision—he calls Jesus ‘the last Adam’, not the ‘second Adam’. 

 

Adam was a special man. He was the first ever human, and he is the father of us all: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). As such, he was given a special role. God gave him, with Eve, dominion over the earth: Adam was given the first task of exercising dominion over the earth by naming the animals (Genesis 2:19–20).  

Adam thus was given rule, and had a primacy of authority even among humans, since he is the one from whom all other humans have come. 

 

Adam was a priest-king: he ruled as a king over creation and served in God’s garden in Eden as a priest served in the tabernacle and temple. 

--But He failed in his role. He sinned...And so, sin, decay, and death came into the world and infected the human race.

 --Jesus is thus the beginning of a new mankind. He is the founder of a new everlasting spiritual race of mankind that is greater than the first natural race, which, through disobedience, would be subjected to death. 

 

However, 

there is a twofold contrast in 1 Corinthians 15:45. First, Adam became a ‘soul’ (psychē) at his creation 

and Jesus became a ‘spirit’ (pneuma) at His Resurrection 

(neither lacked a body, but had bodies governed by different life-principles).

Jesus is the climax of salvation history; a history that began with the creation of the first Adam."

JimHughes/ShaunDoyle/CMI

Creation Moment 3/5/2023 - The two verses on Genetics

"There are two brief passages in the Creation account we can use to draw some conclusions about human genetic history.

“And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” Gen 2:7

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.” Gen 2:21–22

These simple statements have profound implications. 

---They put a limit on the amount of diversity we should find in people living today. 

---The Bible clearly says the human race started out with two people only. 

 

Q: But how different were these two people? 

A: There is an intriguing possibility that Eve was a clone of Adam.

The science of cloning involves taking DNA from an organism and using it to manufacture an almost perfect copy of the original. 

*Here, God is taking a piece of flesh, with cells, organelles, and, importantly, Adam’s DNA, and using it to manufacture a woman. 

Of course, she could not be a perfect clone, because she was a girl! Q: But what if God had taken Adam’s genome and used it to manufacture Eve? 

A: All he would have had to do was to leave out Adam’s Y chromosome and double his X chromosome and, voilá, instant woman! 

 

I do not know if Eve was genetically identical to Adam. The only reason I bring this up is because we have two possibilities in our Biblical model of human genetic history: one original genome or two.

Your genome is like an encyclopedia (almost literally). And, like an encyclopedia, the genome is broken down into volumes, called chromosomes, but you have two copies of each volume (with the exception of the X and Y chromosomes; women have two Xs but men have one X and one Y). 

Imagine comparing two duplicate volumes side by side and finding that one word in a particular sentence is spelled differently in each volume (perhaps “color” vs “colour”). 

 

*Can you see that if Eve was a clone of Adam, there would have been, at most, two possible variants at any point in the genome? 

*If Eve was not a clone, however, there would have been, at most, four possible variants at any point in the genome (because each of the original chromosomes came in four copies). This still allows for a lot of diversity overall, but it restricts the variation at any one spot to 2, 3, or 4 original readings.

 

Q: Does this fit the evidence? 

A: Absolutely! Most variable places in the genome come in two versions and these versions are spread out across the world. There are some highly variable places that seem to contradict this, but most of these are due to mutations that occurred in the different subpopulations after Babel.

 

*There are indications, however, that Eve may not have been a clone.
The ABO blood group is a textbook example of a gene with more than two versions. There are three main versions of the blood type gene (A, B, and O). However, many, but not all, people with type O blood carry something that looks very much like a mutant A (the mutation prevents the manufacturing of the type A trait on the outside of cells). 

*So here is a gene with more than two versions, but one of the main versions is clearly a mutation. This is true for many other genes, although, as usual, there are exceptions. 

 

The important take home point is that essentially all of the genetic variation among people today could have been carried within two people, if you discount mutations that occurred after our dispersion across the globe. This is a surprise to many." CMI

Tale of 2 Adams

 "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam, a quickening spirit." "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven." 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47. 

The first Adam having lost the earth, together with his life, 

the second Adam came to purchase and restore both the one and the other.  

Adam's race were dead in law; Jesus Christ has tasted death for them, that He might bring them forth into second life from the grave..."

Josiah Litch

Why No 3rd Adam

"There is no hope of righteousness to any soul except by that one Man,—thank the Lord,—the last Adam. True, he is the second Adam; but the Scripture calls him the last Adam; and that is better; for, if it had been only “the second Adam,” there might have been a chance for the suggestion, “There may be a third Adam, and that will give me another chance.” 

But that will never do: there will be no third Adam. 

 

The last Adam who can ever come has come. 

And whosoever shall not be delivered by that last Adam is forever lost. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

The first Adam sinned; and by him we became heirs of sin. 

The last Adam sinned not; and therefore by becoming heirs of him, we become heirs of sinning NOT.

The first Adam brought death to us all; 

and the second Adam, by not sinning, brought life to us all. 

And do not forget that he is the LAST ADAM." 

A.T. Jones

Our Competing Trees of Free Will

"God having created man, appointed to govern him by a just, wise, and holy law, the reward of which was eternal life the penalty of which was death. 

 

This reward and penalty was represented by two trees, i. e., the "tree of life," and the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9).

 Man's will was left free to choose the one 

and to refuse the other.  

Eating the fruit of these trees involved the great principles of obedience or disobedience;....

 
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 

By this passage, we learn that the penalty of the law of God threatened Adam for was disobedience was death. 

Q: But did Adam disobey? 

A: He did. 

Q: Did he suffer the penalty? 

A: He did. 

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. Genesis 5:5." 

  J. M. Stephenson

Creation Moment 12/22/2021 - Christ Connected Genesis 1 & 2 as a Coherent Narrative

"......New Testament texts which tie Genesis 1 and 2 close together in

time....... 

In Matthew 19, for example, Jesus connects the “one flesh” couple in Genesis 2 with the “male and female” of Genesis 1 and says that God established marriage “from the beginning” (Matthew 19:4, 8), not generations down the road." CMI

The Law: From Adam to Abraham - that INCLUDES the Sabbath

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Genesis 26:5

"The brevity of the record in Genesis causes us to overlook many facts of the deepest interest. 

Adam lived 930 years. How deep and absorbing the interest that must have existed in the human family to see the first man! To converse with one who had himself talked with God! To hear from his lips a description of that Paradise in which he had lived! To learn from one created on the sixth day the wondrous events of the creation week! To hear from his lips the very words of the Creator when he set apart his rest-day to a holy use! And to learn, alas! the sad story of the loss of Paradise and the tree of life! 

 
It was therefore not difficult for the facts respecting the six days of creation and the sanctification of the rest-day to be diffused among mankind in the patriarchal age. 

 

Nay, it was impossible that it should be otherwise, especially among the godly. From Adam to Abraham a succession of men probably inspired of God preserved the knowledge of God upon earth. 

 

*Thus Adam lived till Lamech, the father of Noah, was 56 years of age; Lamech lived till Shem, the son of Noah, was 93; Shem lived till Abraham was 150 years of age. 

 

Thus are we brought down to Abraham, the father of the faithful. Of him it is recorded that he obeyed God's voice and kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes and his laws." J.N. Andrews

Creation Moment 11/4/2021 -Mar's Hill Sermon Relied on Genesis

"Paul’s address to the Athenians at Mars Hill (Acts 17:22–34) ....Paul tailored his message to confront the core errors of the Greek

worldview—which resulted in some conversions among the Athenians. 

Paul’s Areopagus address seems tailored to the cultural errors and misconceptions of the Greeks. This made his message very relevant to them because it addressed particular areas where they needed correction, and where they needed to repent. Some think it is offensive or unloving to engage in this type of dialogue, but provided we do this “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15), it is actually one of the most loving ways we can engage with unbelievers. 

Paul tells them about the Creator God who is not made from wood or stone, and who needs nothing from humans, but who sustains us continually.

Greeks at the Areopagus had a wrong view that they were superior to other ‘races’ of people. In response to this false view, Paul proclaims that all humanity is descended from Adam (“one man”, v. 26) and all humanity will be judged by one man, Christ. 

Every person is sinful, and every person needs to be saved. 

Paul’s sermon clearly shows us that when we seek to evangelize, we should stand confidently on the foundation of Genesis, particularly regarding areas where creation corrects cultural error, and not compromise with secular worldviews." CMI

ARCHAEOLOGY: Through the Georgian Caucasus Mountains

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; 

because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: 

and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Genesis 11:9

 

What we have here are apparently some females buried/and or died 

in a cave with their wolves (likely used as dogs--possible early domestication of canines--since dogs stem from wolves via a loss of genetic information) and possibly bison used for meat. They were apparently following the receding ice sheets post flood still lingering beyond Babel....interesting find....It is also possible---since in Shinar they built more than just one city at the time of Babel (And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Genesis 10:10)---that a small group may have broken off from the mountains of Ararat in the Caucasus region and headed north.

"Here, we report results from shotgun sequencing and genomic analysis of a sediment sample from the Upper Paleolithic site of Satsurblia Cave, southern Caucasus, dating to the Last Glacial Maximum. In most of the Caucasus, and particularly in western Georgia, karst systems hold low and stable year-round temperatures and low acidity (no guano deposits in most systems). The sediment sample yielded up to several million sequence reads from human, wolf (Canis lupus), and bison (Bison bonasus), corresponding to genome-wide data comparable to low-coverage sequencing obtained from skeletal remains.

 

Through targeted capture we recovered 3,447 human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) reads, which when aligned to rCRS resulted in a 10-fold coverage of the human mtDNA. 

We similarly recovered 5,809 Canis mtDNA reads, yielding a 13-fold coverage of the C. lupus mitochondrial genome. 

Capture of cattle mtDNA also proved successful, but the recovered sequences showed high similarly to bison mitochondria, suggesting that the DNA identified as deriving from Bos in the metagenomic screening in fact derived from Bison sp. (that was not included in the metagenomic reference set). We recovered 2,448 reads providing an 8-fold coverage of the B. bonasus mitochondrial genome.

 

All human reads support haplogroup N, suggesting any minority sources would not be from haplogroup M and derivatives. Finally, we examined the sex of the human, canid, and bison genomic data. When comparing the amount of reads mapping to the X chromosome relative to the autosomes, we find that the human data are consistent with deriving from a female individual, or multiple female individuals. In contrast, the wolf and bison X chromosome read fractions are intermediate between those expected for male and female karyotypes, suggesting it may derive from individuals of both sexes.

 

The SAT29 sequence is positioned within the diversity of haplogroup N, close to the Dzudzuana-3 (25.5 kya) genome from Dzudzuana cave and basal to the modern samples enclosed in haplogroups N, X, and W. Haplogroup N originated outside of Africa from haplogroup L3 is common among present day Near Eastern populations but rare among present-day European populations.

 

We used outgroup f₃-statistics to quantify the amount of shared genetic drift between SAT29 and other ancient genomes. SAT29 shares more drift with Villabruna (Italy, 12,140 ± 70 bp) and Dzudzuana2 than with other ancient individuals including the post-LGM individuals from the Caucasus (Satsurblia and Kotias). Among present-day Eurasian populations, SAT29 shows higher genetic affinity to Northern and Western Europeans rather than Central and South Asians . Our results for the SAT29 human autosomal data are thus consistent with the results reported by Lazaridis et al., revealing a previously undocumented pre-LGM human ancestry from the Caucasus that contributed to various later Eurasian populations. 

 

We analyzed the 2,378,237 Canis reads using a set of variants among 722 modern wolves, dogs, and other canid species. We randomly sampled one SAT29 read at each position, resulting in a genotype call at 439,426 transversion variants. In ADMIXTURE analyses the SAT29 sample clusters with Eurasian wolves, and using f₄-statistics, we found that it clearly shares genetic drift with wolves and dogs, to the exclusion of coyotes, golden jackals, and other canids (Z >30 for all species). It does not, however, display stronger affinity to wolves over dogs or vice versa.

 

We compiled a number of Bovine genomes,identified 1.4 million heterozygous transversion sites in a gaur genome, and assigned genotypes to all individuals at these sites by randomly sampling one read per position. This resulted in a genotype call at 27,724 transversion variants for the SAT29 bovid sample. SAT29 is closer to these historical European individuals, as well as to modern European bison, than to a North American bison (|Z| > 6), implying that the divergence between European and American populations predates the age of SAT29." CurrentBiology

 

What is a Haplogroup?

"If you think of humanity as a giant, towering family tree, a haplogroup is a major branch. 

Everyone sitting on that branch has a common ancestor from long

ago. 

 

The smaller branches (even down to twig size) are subgroups known as subclades. 

You can also think of a haplogroup as a clan or kinship group, based on ancestors from thousands of years ago.

There are haplogroups for paternal family lineage and separate haplogroups for maternal lineage. Each haplogroup is associated with specific times and places, as early humans spread across the globe. Studying haplogroups provides clues to a person’s ancient origins.

This is what is referred to as “deep ancestry.”

Maternal haplogroups (also called mitochondrial haplogroups) are based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that is passed down mostly unchanged from a mother to her daughter. Mitochondria, which are found outside the nucleus of a cell, convert food into energy the cell can use for fuel. They are the power plants for our cells. Mitochondrial DNA is a small, circular piece of DNA with more than 16,500 base pairs.

Females and males receive mtDNA from their mothers, but only females can pass it on to their descendants. Thus, mtDNA is a study of the unbroken maternal lineage. 

The mtDNA passed from one generation to the next often contain small “typos” in the DNA code (sometimes called variants or mutations). 

Over long stretches of time, these variants form unique patterns that can be studied and classified. Scientists call these variants single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). By analyzing variants in mtDNA, researchers have been able to separate them into haplogroups, labeled with letters and numbers. Haplogroups were named in the order they were discovered, starting with one (and occasionally two) of the letters A to Z.

 

Paternal haplogroups are based on information found on the Y sex chromosome, which is passed down virtually unchanged from fathers to their sons. 

 

Just like the “Mitochondrial Eve” linked to mtDNA, scientists believe all humans are tied back to a common male ancestor, “Y-Chromosomal Adam.” BestOnlineReviews/J.Henneman

Adam: Our Fountainhead of Death

"Adam was on probation. 

 Life and death were set before him. “In the day that thou eats thereof thou shall surely die,” (Gen. 2:17) said God.  

 

He did disobey, and was driven from the garden. And now, said God, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever;” (Gen. 3:22) - therefore the cherubim and flaming sword were placed to exclude thereafter his approach to the life giving tree. 

Quite the reverse of an unconditional immortality is certainly brought to view here. 

Adam could bequeath to his posterity no higher nature than lie himself possessed. The stream that, commencing just outside the garden of Eden, has flowed down through the lapse of six thousand years, has certainly never risen higher than the fountainhead; and we may be sure we possess no superior endowments, in this respect, to those of Adam." Uriah Smith

Lesson from Death of Adam part 2

"Because Adam wickedly became a sinner, and brought himself into a state of alienation from God, the doom was pronounced upon him, “Thou shall surely die.” 

 

Could this mean that he should suffer the punishment of eternal

death? If so, Adam never could have been ‘released therefrom. But he is to be released from the death incurred by his transgression; for “in Christ,” the Scriptures assure us, all shall again “be made alive.”  

 

These two installments, then, “death spiritual” and “death eternal,” utterly fail when brought to the test of the language in which the sentence is expressed: 

one is not reasonable, 

and the other not possible.  

 

Temporal death, then, alone remains to be considered; but the interpretation which is given to this completely nullifies the penalty, and makes Satan to have been correct when he said, “Thou shall not surely die.” 

--Temporal death is interpreted to mean the separation of the soul from the body; the body alone to die, but the soul, which is called the real, responsible man, to enter upon an enlarged and higher life, which is to continue forever. In this case, there is no death; and the sentence should have read, In the day thou eats thereof, thou shall be freed from the clog of this mortal body, and enter upon a new and eternal life. 

 

So said Satan, “You shall not surely die but you shall be as gods;” and true to this assertion from the father of lies, the heathen have all along deified their dead men, and worshiped their departed heroes.  

 

--- If ever the skill of a deceiver, and the gullibility of a victim, were manifested in an unaccountable degree, it is in this fact. That right in the face and eyes of the pale throng that daily passes down through the gate of death, the Devil can make men believe that after all his first lie was true, and there is no such thing as death. 

 

From these considerations, it is evident that nothing will meet the demands of the sentence but the cessation of the life of the whole man." Uriah Smith