Michael Kruse

Cheryl, this thing with the genetics really has me flustered and I can’t help but feel it is my fault.

The bottom line of the DNA evidence is that there was a first man and woman (Adam and Eve) and that there was a flood. Hugh Ross has never believed or taught that woman came before man. We are all descended from Adam and Eve through Noah his wife, his three sons, and their daughters. I will try this from another angle.

Adam and Eve had children. Adam passed on his Y chromosome to his sons. Eve passed on her mitochondrial DNA to her daughters. However, we know that with each generation there is a miniscule mutation of DNA each time it is passed on. Adam and Eve’s grandchildren’s DNA will be a miniscule amount difference from their parent’s DNA but just slightly more different from their grandparents. Keep following this out for several generations. Each individual has their parent’s unique contribution yet there is enough in common we can see the specific lines they came from like branches from a tree all the way back to the root.

If it helps, think of a genealogy chart. We put Adam at the top and trace only his sons because the Y comes only through sons. Now we create a second chart with Eve at the top that traces only daughters because mito. DNA comes only through mothers. Just to make up a number, let us say that at the time of the flood there were 10,000 male lines and 10,000 female lines.

When the flood occurs how many of these lines survive? One male line, because all living males have now come form Noah. All other men are dead with no survivors. But we have three female lines from the son’s wives who were likely each born of different mothers.

* One surviving male line from whom everyone is descended (ulitmately from Adam)
* Three surviving female lines from whom from whom everyone is descended (ulitmately from Eve.)

The scientists know the rate of mutation of the DNA. The DNA can be likened to a time machine that will go back as far as the flood. The scientists go back 100 years take samples from a number of men and determine they diversity of lines is slightly less than today. They go back 100 years more. Slightly less still. They finally get to Noah and they stop because there are no other men alive to compare to and the diversity of the DNA diversity has vanished. Thus it falsely appears that Noah is the first man. They have no way of knowing of earlier generations because there is no other male DNA to compare to.

Now our scientists get in the time machine and do the same for the women. They go back and back and come to Noah’s day and are left scratching there heads when they compare the DNA of the three wives. Because while the DNA has become far more similar it is not yet the same. It suggests (correctly) that there are earlier generations unaccounted for. But how can there be earlier women with out being earlier men? Thus, measuring the beginnings of humanity by this method falsely suggests a later date for man than woman.

Ross has never taught that Eve came before man. He has reported what the science experiments showed. Those experiments indicated and earlier date for woman than man. No scientist believed this finding including Ross. It was impossible. But how to explain it? Ross’ point was that when we insert Noah and the flood into the picture everything falls into place. The Bible supplied the answer to this scientific mystery. The generations from Adam to Noah were hidden because of the way the experiment is conducted and what it measures. The anamoly in the experiment affirms the biblical account.

I really regret raising this issue now. It was not my intention to say that the Bible is true because of something science said but rather to illustrate how the Bible actually provided the answer to a scientific question. I underestimated how complex this example was to grasp for folks who don’t read a lot of science. I have taken the discussion far a field from anything dealing with the post. I apologize for that. I just want to close making these observations of which I am certain:

1. Ross has never believed or taught that Eve came before Adam or woman came before man. That is a misunderstanding of his report on the findings of science experiments, which has always included his biblical solution to the mystery, takes us back to Adam and Eve.

2. Everyone is descended from Adam and Eve through Noah and his sons’ three wives. All other DNA lines were destroyed in the flood.

3. It gives evidence that the flood account of the Bible is historically accurate.

I hope I have explained it better but if it is still makes no sense I am content to leave it there. I hope you can at least trust me that my three statements are true.