I had my DNA sequenced. It found about 1.5% Neanderthal Genes in my DNA. I guess that means that my Genealogical Adam was a Neanderthal and my Genealogical Eve was a Homo Sapien?
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Oh don’t be silly @Patrick. If Adam (and Eve) existed, the would be ancestors of us all, and it would be the same Adam for all of us. Depending on when he lived, he could have been a Sapien, Neanderthal, Erectus, Antecessor…or what ever. If he was recent, of course he would be Sapien.
This has nothing to do with who was outside the garden. If they were recent, the people outside the garden would have been Sapien with a dash of Neanderthal and Denisovans =).
This is not silly. It fits with the latest discovery of an ancient Man in present day Romania who has a genome with large sections of Neanderthal genes such that one of his great great great grandfathers was Neanderthal. Definitive proof of admixture 40,000 years ago.
This science fits well with a story my grandmother told me when I was a boy about her great grandmother. She told me that her great grandmother got “in trouble” by wandering alone one day and meeting a boy from a different family. She didn’t tell her parents about the short rendezvous in the woods and never saw the boy again. But she had a daughter that was very different from her family in looks. She and my great great grandmother had a very difficult time for the rest of their lives.
At first I considered this a family story or myth or legend. But now with what is being found by ancient DNA and with what is being said about Genealogy, I can make the science and my family story fit.
Am I not free to believe that my GA is Neanderthal and my GE is sapian? Science can’t prove me wrong. And I honor my grandmother by elevating her story to highest level of family truth. That’s not silly, it is my sincerely held beliefs about the truthfulness of my grandmother who would never lie to me.
Of course you can believe that, I thought you didn’t believe in adam, right?
I see it as my family story too. They both are true.
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While I am sympathetic to the idea that there are questions like that which science can’t answer, actually it pretty much can give an answer in this case. You said you had your DNA tested and it was about 1.5% Neanderthal, right?
Well, everyone of Eurasian ancestor has roughly that level of Neanderthal ancestry. Me included. People with more of the mysterious Basal Eurasian have less, and Sub-Saharan Africans have less, but you are in the range of “normal” for a Eurasian. Thus it is highly unlikely that your great great grandmother was impregnated by a Neanderthal. Your percentage would be higher, and the segments from them would be longer, triggering a red flag that would have people like Reich knocking on your door for sure!
As for our friend from 40K ago, he left no descendants alive today. Indeed the percentage of Neanderthal genes has been slowly decreasing in humanity over time as nature, via evolution, throws out what does not really fit well.
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oh, I define my GA as any person that I would like to be in my genealogy. I don’t have a single GA, but as many as I’d like to have. Joan of Arc is one of my Genealogical Eve’s. So is the 38th great great great great grandmother of Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Hawkins. You are right, I don’t believe that Biblical Adam and Eve ever existed. They are just characters in an ancient mythological creation story. But My GA and GE are real people that actually lived and died so that I could exist. I am grateful that they survived long enough to procreate.
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But not impossible!
Well stated. I guess my grandmother was just telling me a story that her grandmother told her when she was a child. Even if it may not have been historically true, I did learned not go out alone looking for love in all the wrong place.
Not for Christians anyway. It would be a statistical miracle though.
Thank you, but your grandmother could have been telling the truth, it is just that the odd looking person was so for reasons other than being a neanderthal. I’ve seen plenty of odd looking people in these Ozark hills.
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Um, did she have children? Did she live long enough back to be a genealogical eve?
Okay, you can do that if you like. Translating to the langauge I’ve used:
There are many universal genealogical ancestors (UGAs) in our past, each individually from whom we all descend. These genealogical adams and genealogical eves are likely to appear just thousands of years ago. The terms are pluralized to emphasize that this is a large group of individuals. They are lowercase letters to emphasize that they are not all the “Adam” and “Eve” of Scripture.
When we use the term Genealogical Adam (capitalized), we are referring to just single one of the genealogical adams, taht would correspond to the Biblical account if it were true. That is different then your use.
So you can certainly find special meaning in specific genealogical adams and eves. Usually we would not refer to them as a GA (meaning Genealogical Adam), but maybe as a GA (meaning genealogical ancestor). Though, you can if you like. That is a kind hat tip to the Scriptural account, suggesting that they have high theological significance to you.
Perhaps what is bothering him, and maybe he can correct me if I am wrong, is that there is no necessity for GA to leave a genetic anomaly which can be detected by science. And even if GA did leave such an anomaly, as I suspect he did, there is no way to use science to say it was from Adam. It would just be an anomaly. But all this goes to the heart of what you are saying about Methodological Naturalism and God. Ultimately, neither He nor His action can be with any certitude confirmed or denied with science. It is always going to take faith and I can understand why this would be the way that He would want it.
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Thanks for the defining the convention used for discussion. I will try to make use of it as best I can. Please note that I use lowercase bible to mean any text consider by any religion as sacred scriptures and Uppercase Bible to mean the KJV, NAV, Christian Bibles. Also in this forum, I will use god for deities such as Zeus and Odin and Hindu gods, all undefined spirits, and uppercase God only for the Christian God of the Old Testament. Lastly, I use Jesus to describe any innocent man executed by the Romans from 20 AD to the time of the writings of the Gospel.
Naming conventions are important. Also please note that any outrage or offense taken for anything that appears to be blasphemous or heretical is of your own doing as my intent may be to purposefully be blasphemous and heretical in the most professional way possible.
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Honestly laughing out loud right now. I can’t tell if you are trying to be funny or offensive. What ever it is meant to be, I’m finding it hilarious.
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Thank you, that is the best compliment you have ever given me. You made my day.
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You got me. Joan of Arc was a virgin when she was burned at the stake for being a heretic. And she lived too recently. Note that it is a lot easier for a powerful man to have a lot of descendants as he can father many more offspring than a woman can mother. So genealogical eve is probably the wife or mother of a very powerful man in history.
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