The Bible has always proclaimed that Adam and Eve were the first couple and all of humanity has descended from them. Science has not always agreed with this view though there might be new evidence that sheds light on the fact that Adam and Eve might not be an entirely fictional entity.
Dr Joshua Swamidass, a biologist at Washington University supports the idea of the whole of humanity descending from one single couple. In an article published in Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Swamidass said, “Many individuals are each individually ancestors of ‘all the living’.”
He added, “All humans alive descend from each of these universal ancestors. The same can be said for all alive in AD 1, or all alive when recorded history begins. Two of them could be a particular couple, named Adam and Eve in scripture, from whom we all descend.”
As reported by The Irish Star, “While Dr Swamidass is illustrating that evolutionary biology doesn’t rule out the existence of Adam and Eve as a couple, he’s not presenting it as a definitive explanation. As he noted, there’s still the issue that Homo sapiens weren’t the first humans on Earth.”
View this post on Instagram
Professor William Lane Craig from Houston Christian University has claimed that Adam and Eve were indeed the first human beings. In an article of First Piece, he said, “Adam and Eve may plausibly be identified as belonging to the last common ancestor of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals – usually designated as Homo Heidelbergensis.”
He further added, “Adam plausibly lived sometime between around 1 million years ago to 750,000 years ago – a conclusion consistent with the evidence of population genetics.” Moreover, as per reports by The Daily Mail, there is evidence that suggests the existence of Eden as a reality and also hints at its possibility of being the cradle of humanity as suggested by the Bible.
View this post on Instagram
Supporting this claim, The Mirror US has reported, “In the sacred text, Adam and Eve reside in a place called the Garden of Eden, depicted as a land of abundance and prosperity. Interestingly, the Bible provides a fairly precise hint of where this mythical garden might be located.”
The first book of the Bible, Genesis mentions that the river flowing through Eden had split into four tributaries, including, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Now, Tigris and Euphrates are well known now and it is also known they run through Iraq. However, some uncertainty remains about the whereabouts and existence of Gihon and Pishon.
Regarding the location of Eden, amid a variety of speculations, Mesopotamia emerges as the most compelling choice. As reported by The Irish Star, “Translating to ‘between rivers’ from Ancient Greek, Mesopotamia sprawls between the Tigris and Euphrates, extending through modern-day eastern Syria, northwestern Turkey, and much of Iraq.”
Therefore, while it cannot be said with scientific certainty that the whole of humanity indeed originated from Adam and Eve, emergence of new data does hint at the possibility of their existence and thus adds value to the claims made in the Bible.
